As the economic downturn stalls NASCAR’s success, several restaurant companies are re-thinking their sponsorship deals with the league.
Amid projected declines in attendance and TV ratings, and layoffs and mergers among racing teams as they try to stay solvent, some operators, such as Domino’s Pizza and Checkers, have put the brakes on their relationships with the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
Others, such as Burger King and Zaxby’s, are revving up their participation, sure that a sponsorship in the league still offers a powerful way to reach millions of die-hard fans.
Burger King Corp. recently returned to the league after several years on the sidelines, agreeing to sponsor driver Tony Stewart’s No. 14 car in two Sprint Cup Series races this year and acquiring his services for commercials and public appearances.
“NASCAR continues to reach millions of brand-loyal fans and provides the perfect opportunity to speak directly to our customers,” said Cindy Syracuse, senior director of cultural marketing for Miami-based Burger King. “We’ve long believed in the power of the sport and have maintained a presence through TV advertising as we worked to identify the best partner and fit for our brand moving forward.”
Burger King had co-sponsored a car in 2006 with Domino’s for Michael Waltrip Racing, but Domino’s ended its sponsorship of Waltrip in 2007 and did not renew its status as the “official pizza of NASCAR” for the 2009 season.
Domino’s, which recently brought in a new chief marketing officer and agency of record, is not likely to return to the league soon, said Tim McIntrye, vice president of corporate communications.
“We enjoyed our time with them,” McIntyre said, “but it didn’t quite move the needle like we hoped it would.”
Maintaining high visibility across NASCAR’s different channels also gets expensive, he said.
“It’s an interesting beast,” he said. “There are official relationships with NASCAR, and then there are separate relationships with every broadcast. There also are separate sponsorships of individual tracks, teams, cars or drivers. So for the companies that you see that have been there forever, that you identify with having a NASCAR presence like Tide or Budweiser, they have relationships across the board with the league.”
For some growing regional chains, however, a commitment to one sponsorship deal still presents a chance to bolster recognition with NASCAR fans, many of whom overlap as the chains’ core customers.
Athens, Ga.-based Zaxby’s, operator or franchisor of 450 units in 11 Southeastern states, has entered into its first full-season sponsorship, backing rookie driver John Wes Townley in the Nationwide Series, NASCAR’s second-tier league. The chain had been involved the past two years in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series.
“Our company has experienced significant growth over the past several years, and we attribute part of that to greater brand awareness from our association with NASCAR,” Zaxby’s chief executive and co-founder Zach McLeroy said in a statement. “As we graduate to this next level in this sport, we hope to gain even more visibility.… Competing in front of large crowds at top-notch venues throughout the United States and Canada for 35 weekends, coupled with the live television coverage on ABC and ESPN networks, will take Zaxby’s to another level in terms of brand recognition.”
Zaxby’s driver Townley will compete for Nationwide Series rookie of the year honors with Scott Lagasse Jr., whose No. 11 car bears the logo of America’s Incredible Pizza Company, or AIPC, a 17-unit chain based in Springfield, Mo. Chief executive Rick Barsness said the chain’s sponsorship of Lagasse’s team, CJM Racing, which merged this year with NASCAR powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing, keeps the brand relevant with racing fans and is an important part of AIPC’s growth plans.
“The people that follow NASCAR are our customers,” Barsness said. “It’s a blue-collar and lower-white-collar market that ties well to the NASCAR community. We’re building stores in just about every NASCAR market.”
AIPC already has a location in Memphis, Tenn., and the chain’s planned openings include cities that host NASCAR tracks, such as Indianapolis; Des Moines, Iowa; and Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.
“Our goal one day is to go to the Sprint Cup Series, but right now we’ve got to learn and be competitive in the Nationwide Series,” Barsness said. “It’ll allow AIPC to grow some more and get more marketing dollars. It takes a lot more money to sponsor a Sprint Cup car.”
He estimated that getting his brand into the big show possibly could cost three times as much as sponsoring a Nationwide Series car. To get into the Sprint Cup series now might necessitate taking on another brand as a co-sponsor, he said, which AIPC probably wouldn’t do right now but other companies might consider.
“I think a lot of teams are looking at those options,” Barsness said. “Creativity in sponsoring these cars is going to be the way of the future, and maybe the old contracts won’t apply anymore.”