I know this seems like a weird question, but it’s a legitimate concern for many of the sport’s marketers.
Michael Smith, who among other things covers NASCAR at Sports Business Journal, wrote a piece this week looking at the changing face of the NASCAR sponsorship – namely the proliferation of fragmented sponsorship deals. He notes there are just 10 teams (he missed the #37 Extenze sponsored car, so 11) that carry the same sponsor for the entire season (of those, three are owned by the sponsor).
Through this, many in the sport and around the sport are questioning the effect it has on fans – many are even suggesting it drives fans away. The thinking is that it becomes hard to associate the driver, the team and their corporate partner – in other words they all look different every week. It certainly is a strange new world.
From the beginning of sponsorship in the sport one of the real values has been the ability to tie a sponsor to a driver, and vice versa. Think GM Goodwrench and Dale Earnhardt, STP and Richard Petty, Skoal and Harry Gant, and many, many others. This, so the thinking goes, builds fan loyalty.
Today it’s almost difficult to tell who sponsors whom, when. Carl Edwards has four? sponsors, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have three, and Marcos Ambrose has six different products and/or companies adorning his car at various times throughout the season. It’s impossible to keep up with.
Now my question to you is, does this make any difference to your enjoyment of the sport? Does it change the way you see your favorite driver or team?
I don’t know if I necessarily believe it’s driving people away from the sport, but I can see how this might make it hard to follow for someone who is new to the sport. It would be like the Chicago Cubs calling themselves three different names during the season. You know the players play for the same team, and you know the Cubs are also the Pups and the Fawns, but you can’t keep your apparel straight and you’re not sure when you go into the stadium just what team you’re following.
As the article suggests this fragmentation and confusion dilutes the sponsorships and the brands. It’s hard to see how anyone is getting any value from these few race deals, or from ever changing paint schemes. And I can’t imagine fans are connecting all that well.
What do you think about all of this? Since this is likely the future of sponsorship in the sport, will that change how you feel about NASCAR? Do you find this frustrating? Is it a non-issue?
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