Incidentally, as a side story, my only experience with rubber on the track is walking on the track at Bristol before a race. I told my wife to climb to the top of the banking in turn 4 while I stood at the bottom to take her picture. She got up there but was afraid to walk back down for fear of falling so I had to walk up and hold her to walk back down. The rubber on the track was like walking in glue and I almost walked out of my shoe. We looked like total idots in front of 100,000 people!!!!

If you were simply looking for TV time you would buy advertisements during the broadcast, which would cost you substantially less than a full scale marketing campaign. It’s when these companies no longer find value in these campaigns, or believe they have already gotten all they could get that they pull out. Jim and Jack have decided that having at track hospitality, on track representation, driver appearances, etc. aren’t giving them the return they need.

This idea that they are just using it for TV advertising though couldn’t be farther from the truth. Think bigger scale marketing campaigns, think less about just TV time.

Think of the lesser drivers as a discounted NASCAR sponsorship. If you sponsor a Jimmie Johnson, you’re going to have to spend big bucks and get everything- including the massive amount of money to be all over the car.

Well, what if you don’t want to spend that money- but still want the smaller-priced perks a Robby Gordon can bring you? You sponsor him.

Companies have complex marketing schemes, and don’t always need the greatest exposure for every piece of their marketing campaign.

What the sponsor is buying is something to leverage in their overall marketing programs.

Think about walking through the grocery store and seeing Dale Jr standups in the energy drink aisle, Greg Biffle & his dogs on the Milk Bone boxes, Dale Sr on the Oreo package, Kahne in his Bud uniform. All of those things are done to entice you to buy their product over the competitor…as you are actually making the buying decision.

Think about all of the sweeptakes….”enter to win a trip to meet Jr, Tony, Jimmy, Jeff, etc…. Tour the Roush shop. Be a part of the pit crew.” Those companies want to know your name, where you live, how old you are, etc so they can send you more information about their product.

Think about those corporate suites. The salesman invite their customers (the buyers of Kroger, Safeway, Food Lion) to spend some time with them. Plus they get to meet the driver. Get a picture taken. Get an autograph. Then they can tell the buyers about new products, promotions, pricing. “what can we do to help you sell more product?” Think about how much easier it is to talk to a customer when you have them relaxed with their family, watching a race, maybe had a beer or three vs in the stuffy conference room and they are bouncing from one meeting to the next.

Then to driver appearances. They go to trade shows to draw people to the sponsors booth. They go to corporate sales meetings and talk to people about team work, never give up, etc. They go play golf or have dinners with senior management of big customers and distributors.

They are featured in commercials and print ads. Think about Old Spice trying to change their image from the old man cologne to something cool. Bring in the funny commercials with Tony. Dale Jr and Wrangler. The Tony Stewart home Depot spots of the renovations he did to his house around race wins. Jimmy & Kobalt commercials.

So, no, the tv exposure during a race is not that important.

I do not know for sure, but I bet the companies that helped BL probably had a tent or suite and invited customers. Maybe BL had dinner with some cusomters. They met Bobby, got autographs, etc… Then the really excited customer that “will never forget that” is likely to buy more product from you.

On Robby, from what I have heard from the Beam people is that he is great with their distributors and customers. A lot of their marketing is around the “genuineness” of their product…and Robby is a genuine guy. You may not like him, but what you see is what you get. I heard he once drove the infield on a golf cart and was passing out Jim Beam apparel, banners, hats, etc… He would stop and say hello to fans, take pictures, etc… Pretty good for leaving a good impression with Joe Consumer.

What are the other reasons for companies to sponsor teams? Can you specify, since I am always curious why anybody would ever pay to be a Robby Gordon sponsor, or a David Stremme sponsor, etc. These guys are just awful.

And those “local businesses” that supported Bobby Labonte – I never even found out what those companies were. Isn’t that just money down the drain for them?

I’d love some thoughts on this.