Pole positioning

Discount Store News, June 23, 1997

It's no wonder that Kmart and Target sponsor auto racing teams, and that packaged goods manufacturers and automotive product suppliers ride with them. This kind of fast-paced exposure sends a powerful, checkered-flag message to their customers.

The thrill of motor sports captures the attention of millions of consumers. The marketing opportunities are particularly numerous in the southern half of the country, where National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) tracks are the most prevalent. The top-tier Winston Cup Series, for example, draws more than 170,000 fans to each of its 34 annual races. Such statistics represent an approximate 50 percent surge in racing attendance since the start of the decade.

Fans turn events into weekend outings, often camping out with family and friends. When they return to stores to shop, they register their loyalties to favorite drivers and their sponsors. An impressive 71 percent of NASCAR fans say they purposely attempt to buy sponsors' products, compared with 52 percent of tennis fans, 47 percent of golf fans, 38 percent of professional basketball and baseball fans and 36 percent of professional football fans, according to Performance Research, which conducts studies for NASCAR.

Steadily improving television ratings are another sign of nationwide racing fervor, which is why so many retailers and manufacturers are hot to have their logos adorn race cars.

Target and its associate race team sponsors scored well last season when driver Jimmy Vasser strung together successive victories and zoomed to the top of the standings in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) PPG IndyCar World Series. Target leveraged its on-air exposure with special in-store displays selling merchandise from its associate sponsors.

For its part, Kmart guns extra mileage out of its sponsorships of CART racers Michael Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi. The chain also is taking marketing advantage of an association with auto racing by running a $1,000,000 Team Kmart CART Sweepstakes, with the winning drawing slated for mid-July. The winner will attend the Sept. 7 CART race in Monterey, Calif. If the Kmart/Texaco/Budweiser racing car wins the race, the winner gets a $1 million annuity; if not, the winner gets a 1997 Ford Explorer valued at $25,000.

Among oil and lubricant brands, Exxon and Pennzoil are active racing sponsors. Exxon Superflo sponsors the Superflo 12 Hours at Sebring race in Sebring, Fla., a distinctive endurance race with four classes of cars. Around the event, it builds retail trial by giving away free general merchandise tickets with th purchase of two cases of Superflo motor oil, and by participating in giveaways at AutoZone and other area auto specialty stores.

This is Exxon's seventh straight year as title sponsor of SportsCar racing. The company also has sponsored teams in unlimited Hydroplane Racing and NASCAR's Winston Cup and Busch Grand National series. It is currently an associate sponsor on Ricky Rudd's Winston Cup car.

Exxon is also sponsoring driver Scott Taylor in the Short Course Off-Road Drivers' Association Racing Series (SODA). "Our association with SODA and the Exxon Superflo Pro Points and Off-Road series programming on ESPN2 is a leap into the light truck and off-road marketplace," says Loren Lazear, Exxon Superflo brand manager. "And by joining a championship-caliber program with Taylor Racing, Ford and BF Goodrich, Exxon is positioned to showcase our Superflo motor oil products. Racing has given us a format for developing a new product--Superflo Synthetic Racing Blend SAE 20W50.

Motor sports is a perfect arena for our category to not only get brand awareness, but also showcase the products," he adds.

For its part, Pennzoil is the official motor oil of Indy Racing League, which puts on the Indy 500, and the company sponsors driver Roberto Guerrero. The company also sponsors The Pennzoil World of Outlaws National Sprint Car Series and backs driver Jac Haudenschild.

In addition, it sponsors NASCAR driver Johnny Benson, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Tony Raines and dragster Eddie Hill. Pennzoil also ties in a retail promotion around the NASCAR Brickyard 400 each June.

"Racing is truly our laboratory," says David Kunkel, vice president-national accounts at Pennzoil. "It is where we test new products, see our results and send extremely high-profile messages to consumers about the strength of the brand."