The marketing folks at both Verizon and Penske are to be commended for their efforts. When I first saw the paint scheme for David Stremme’s #12, I’ll admit I was skeptical. But after seeing what it looked like during the broadcast I couldn’t help but see how much the car looked like it was sponsored by Verizon despite the absence of logos.
I wasn’t the only one who thought this either, we got a question from Michael who saw the resemblance and asked if Sprint had any issues with it. While I am sure they probably did, there was little NASCAR could do. With the exception of the colors, nothing on that car advertised Verizon. They honestly had no reason not to approve the scheme.
If you looked closely you noticed that Penske changed their own logo, making the normally black road surrounding ’Penske,’ red, obviously mimicking the Verizon logo. From one of the aerial cameras or honestly any camera that didn’t give a close up, you wouldn’t know that wasn’t a Verizon logo. The human mind tends to put similar things together even if they aren’t there. If they can build the perception that the car is sponsored by Verizon, then a Verizon logo never needs to be on the car; it is part psychology, part marketing.
Adding to this perception was the advertising blitz the company went on this weekend (and one I assume they will continue throughout the season). Fans were so inundated with Verizon logos you couldn’t help but place it on that car. I even saw at one point they went on board with Stremme and the on-board camera was sponsored by none other than Verizon.
The nearest thing I can think to call this is guerilla marketing. While they are taking part in normal marketing practices they are having to get very creative to get people to put two and two together. The funny thing is, this isn’t the first time Penske has done this.
When Marlboro was no longer able to appear on Penske’s Indy Car effort, Penske removed the logos, replaced them with familiar Team Penske logos and kept the paint scheme. Marlboro was still giving them money and fans still identified the car as the Marlboro car. The company continued to see returns for their investment.
I would be willing to bet good money that by mid-season, or earlier, the seed will have been planted and everyone who regularly watches a race will easily put David Stremme, the #12 Cup car and Penske together. And they were all able to avoid costly litigation (AT&T could learn from this). Bravo to both companies for finding a way around NASCAR’s restrictive policies.
Daly, You Will Be Missed
On a side note, we want to say thank you and good luck to one of our earliest supporters, John Daly, who operated the blog, The Daly Planet. Anyone who regularly reads his site knows that he has decided to close it down.
In a very short amount of time, the blog, truly a labor of love on his part, became a favorite among those who report on the sport and those who watch it. His thoughtful and detailed analysis of the broadcast coverage will be missed by not just TC and myself, but many others around the sport.
We wish him the best of luck in the future and hope he doesn’t stay away for too long.
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on Feb 9th, 2009 at 5:25 am
Can you elaborate why John shut down his blog? I know that he was recently critical of Fox/NASCAR/Speed, and even prompted a response by someone who was assumed to be Mike Joy, but I never saw anything to suggest that issue would lead to a shut down.
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 6:44 am
KP: I’ve only had some quick correspondence with JD since he shut down his site, and from what I gather, he just wasn’t having fun with it anymore. There are larger issues affecting the sport and the country right now, and John felt it was necessary to step aside. But don’t think that John was asked or forced to shut down because of his criticisms of NASCAR and the media entities. That was what made The Daly Planet such a great site, was that John wasn’t afraid to stand up and say what he really thought about what was going on. He certainly took heat from time to time from both the NASCAR media and fans, but it never stopped him from being honest. If only every NASCAR media member would do the same. Daly and his site will certainly be missed…
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 8:34 am
I too liked The Daly Planet and was a contributor to the site. It’s all good to say what you think and not get harrassed for it. Opinions are just that, even if the Waltrips are a royal PAIN.
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Very interesting isn’t it. I was keeping an eye on the whole the whole situation as I’m an Alltel employee (ooops, sorry I mean Verizon now) and also a huge Ryan Newman fan. Even got a site for him http://ryannewmaninfo.info (sorry for plug).
Anyway, I was real curious how this was going to play out. I was also think what they are doing is a great marketing campaign.
I had thought of something a little different (shows what I know), but leave the ALLTEL on the car for at least half the season. During that time advertise like crazy and let people know that Alltel is now Verizon. Then switch to the Verizon colors while still marketing.
But what they are doing now seems to be a great idea. And sponsoring the shows is great.
And I didn’t notice that the new Penske Logo. I assume a new logo probably came about with their merger and now being Penske Championship Racing. But making it look like Verizon is genius. I will have to take a look at it.
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 9:01 am
I don’t understand Sprints position on the sponsorship especially when teams are having trouble with obtaining sponsors. Would they rather not have enough cars in the field due to financing and take a chance of losing their cup level all together? Since Nextel/Sprint has taken over the cup, there has been other rival companies sponsored in cup and I cannot believe that hurt their name in anyway. There were problems with acceptance when Cingular was changed to AT&T, but they worked that out. How is this different? Nextel/Sprint needs to lighten up and support the owners in their challenge to obtain sponsors.
Stacy
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Stacy I agree with you also. But you have to take it from Sprints (a crumbling company) position as well. They are paying big bucks to sponsor the series and they understandable don’t want competition in there.
That said I was mad as heck to see AT&T forced out. They were a good sponsor.
They (NASCAR) solved the problem alright. You won’t see AT&T on any car this year.
But I know AT&T wants to keep a presence so we will see how that pans out.
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 9:39 am
T.C. or Journo: Do you know how the logo restrictions work for off-the-track use? Can Penske use the Verizon logo on show cars and fan merchandise?
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Rosstavious,
I would guess any merch licensed by NASCAR couldn’t have Verizon on it which may cover everything. You can’t buy any Stremme gear at all on Penske’s sight & Verizon is not mentioned at all as one of their sponsors on the web site…. Very strange.
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Rosstavious…very witty.
Yeah, I would think that you can’t throw the NASCAR logo on a t-shirt along with a Verizon logo but I wonder how far the ban reaches. Can Penske sell tees that aren’t NASCAR licensed if they don’t have the NASCAR logo? (BTW, Verizon is listed on the site under “sponsors” but there’s no reference to Stremme.)
I guess it’s not that important since people want the NASCAR crap on their stuff.
Maybe Stremme can get “chug points” for being on his Verizon phone during every interview or appearance. That’s be cool. “Hey DW…hold on a minute. I have a call coming in on my Verizon Blackberry…”
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Ha!
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
“I didn’t notice that the new Penske Logo. I assume a new logo probably came about with their merger and now being Penske Championship Racing.” – This isn’t a new Penske Racing logo, it’s been the same since about 1998/99 when all the Penske Motorsports Speedways and companies adopted it. Plus, black/red/white are the “standard” Penske Racing colors I would say.
“You can’t buy any Stremme gear at all on Penske’s sight.” – Remember that the Alltel/Verizon deal was just finalized a few weeks ago, there hasn’t been enought time to develop the gear yet. The final version of the car probably wasn’t approved until last week. Hopefully there will be something soon!
Keep in mind the the Penske Nationalwide car has full Verizon sponsorship for the season.
If I remember right, any NASCAR car item has to have the NASCAR logo on it (can you say royalty $$), so doubt you’ll see any DS/Verizon items. Although if he just 1 NNS race….
Just wanted to add my $.02!
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
another TDP-er here, journo and i’m already missing jd and my fellow bloggers. thanks for noting the great work jd’s done in the past two years. those of us who spent race weekends w/jd and the TDP gang are less than thrilled with the crap that got sent jd’s way. seems that it’s easier to shoot the messenger than to listen to what’s being said and respond like adults.
bottom line is that it stopped being fun and that’s enough of a reason in my world to bid everyone “adios” for a while. i respect jd’s decision but it’s tough to envision this season without TDP.
and in the meantime? i’d like some of the nascar media to maybe read back thru the archives and try to understand what we were responding to each week. all we want is honesty, journalistic integrity and to be able to actually watch a race without all the geegaw that’s being jammed down our throats by the networks. it’s all about the racing, after all.
i love our sport. i’m just not so sure about those who surround it sometimes.
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
You can credit JD for directing me to this site and he will be greatly missed. (I keep hoping that he’s just taking a couple months off and will be back).
Count me as someone who was seeing Verizon logo’s were there weren’t any, I have a Verizon phone so I do see the logo a lot and that may be part of it. This was a much better way to handle the situation then spending all that money in court and only getting an extra year. Hey when is Sprint’s contract up because I really can’t see them re-upping unless things drastically change. Just think who’s sponser’s could be in jepoardy next
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
thanks, journo, for your TDP comments. Like red I was a regular, and will miss the whole deal. I have become a regular here too, although I haven’t commented before.
I hadn’t paid that much attention to David’s paint job. I think that is very cool–leave it to those clever marketing people. It’s like when you buy generic products that are in boxes colored nearly just like the originals…you know what it’s supposed to be (it actually helps you identify it.) I hope Verizon will be around a long time; and glad they picked David–I think he deserves another shot in this sport.
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
After a Busch race the Verizon crew guys need to change their uniforms before entering the cup garage area.
A couple years ago Sunoco was whining because the Shell emblem on the 29 car was larger than the Pennzoil. wawawawa!!!
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
The Verizon deal reminds me of diecast cars that are sponsored by either Tobacco or alcohol. The diecast might say “Harry Gant” on the hood instead of Skoal. However,you recognized it as “The Skoal Bandit”