Speed & Technology
Photo Credit: Gerry Calub
The Gist
In this two part series, we analyze how far Indycar truly has to go in order to get back to "the glory days" which are so often mentioned. You may be surprised at the similarities and the obvious opportunities that exist.
By: Champweb Staff
December 10, 2019
Without a doubt, the biggest issue facing motorsports and Indycar today is sponsorship. Convincing brands to spend millions of dollars to “put their logo” on a car that goes really fast around a track. And other than a few years in its history, this has always been teams pulling rather than brands pushing.
At the end of the day, it's all about value. Will a brand see a return on their investment of say 5 million dollars if they are the title sponsor for a car for an entire year? But it starts with a need first and foremost. If there isn’t a need from brands than an Indycar is useless.
Think of Indycar as a delivery mechanism. A platform for brands to get in front of customers and consumers that otherwise would be unreachable. That platform has a cost and that platform has a value. We all know what that cost is, thats the easy part.
So what is Indycar's value? Speed + Technology.
Speed - Showcase brands that speed is a primary aspect to their marketing message to customers. This has always been the primary value of motorsports in general but has this been adapted to modern brands?
Technology - Motorsports is high tech. Associating a brand with hight tech platforms allows for my product to viewed in a similar manner. Formula 1 has always been at the forefront when it comes to high tech. NASCAR does not typically come to mind, but Indycar could and should fill that void.
It doesn’t need to be more than this. The saying don’t try to boil the ocean comes to mind where selling value across too many disciplines waters down the value.
So if we were going to go after brands and their media agencies to say “I can show value to your brand through Speed and Technology” the obvious brands to go after is the food delivery industry. What better way than to tell your customers we will get what you want fast and you can do it through technology.
Here are a few ideas
Uber Eats
Door Dash
Postmates
The Pitch: By putting their names on an Indycar this reiterates that you will get your food, and get it fast and you can order it through technology (app). I would offer up a sponsorship package at St. Pete to showcase the ROI by featuring a specific promo code that can be used both nationally (say from 12-4pm on Sunday Raceday) and locally in the Tampa/St. Pete region throughout the entire race week. “Use promo code INDYCAR to get your first delivery free” as an example. Put a package together with NBC to get bugs popup during the broadcast and then buy digital ads around the NBC/Indycar platforms throughout the week. Evaluate the performance of then promo code as well as the local impact.
1995 has often been referred to as "The Glory Days" of Indycar racing when Jacques Villeneuve won the Indy500 and the championship. Can Indycar get back to this level of popularity?
Jimmy Johns
The Pitch: Already familiar with motorsports as a sponsor for Kevin Harvick the last few years, this could be an easy expansion into Indycar. I would start specifically and only on the Indy500 since that is an event that is now only second to the Daytona 500 in terms of motorsports TV ratings. I would also treat it more as a play off the NASCAR sponsorship. Have a driver that is “opposite” of Kevin Harvick like a Pato O’Ward to go after the Hispanic market but at the end of the day they both accomplish then same thing. Material could be viewed as the “Jimmy Johns Delivery Duo” where social media content could be created where Kevin and Pato race to delivery sandwiches to real customers.
Dominos
The Pitch: Dominos continues to be on the cutting edge when it comes to Pizza delivery and the technology behind it. This could be a simple sweepstakes based integration where you could win a chance to have your pizza delivered by an Indycar. Could be random or in select markets that Indycar races. One delivery per race weekend (16 in total). There of course is the historic tie in from the Dominos sponsorships of the late 80’s and early 90’s as well which would be well supported by the Indycar community.
Amazon Prime + Fresh
The Pitch: Amazon has been on the forefront of delivery and wow is it fast. With the one-click ordering or the delivery of groceries to your doorstep with same day delivery reeks of speed and technology. This would be a campaign similar to the structure that FedEx and Gil deferran had in the 2000’s… but imagine a user shopping online and instead of selecting Amazon Prime they select “Amazon Indycar”… with a speedy delivery by Colton Herta in the Amazon truck. It ends with “the only thing faster than Amazon delivery…may be an Amazon Indycar.”
Ultimately when you look across the board at the current roster of sponsors there aren’t any that fall into the food delivery category and could be an opportunity to attack.
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