Business in racing: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Wrangler jeans a perfect fit
COMMENTARY
What do Dale Earnhardt Jr. and football legend Brett Favre have in common? They’re in constant rotation in ads for Wrangler jeans.
The reasons are obvious: Wrangler targets a blue-collar, middle America consumer and rings up sales with mass retailers such as Wal-Mart. In the sports world, few star athletes appeal to that crowd the way Favre and Dale Jr. do.
Now the jeans company has signed Dale Jr. for 2009, making the Wrangler endorsement the NASCAR star’s longest-running deal. (He parted ways with Budweiser after a decade-long run at the end of 2007.)
In a concession to the economy, however, Wrangler reduced its commitment by ending its sponsorship on Dale Jr.’s race car as well as his driver’s suit. The deal is now a straight personal endorsement. Financial terms have not been reported.
Wrangler representatives say they were happy with the car and uniform sponsorships but made the move for budgetary and strategic reasons (read: to save money). Expect to see Dale Jr. just as much in TV ads, print spots and in retail promotions. His endorsement, along with Favre’s, represents a major component of Wrangler’s marketing campaign. (Wrangler’s lone other
celebrity alliance is country music star George Strait.)
“Authenticity is what makes this work,” says Jim Doyle, principal at Retail Sports Marketing, an industry consultant who works with Wrangler on both the Favre and Earnhardt Jr. endorsements. “With a lot of endorsements, it’s not always a natural fit. You wonder about it. But Dale Jr. in jeans is realistic — you can see him and Brett Favre wearing Wranglers, not just in their commercials.”
The Dale Jr.-Wrangler alliance continues a long history between the apparel maker and the Earnhardt family. Wrangler served as Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s primary race car sponsor during the 1980s, and the elder Earnhardt remained a spokesman even after he switched car sponsors. In some ads from the 1980s, Dale Jr. and his sister made cameo appearances.
“That makes this a pretty unique relationship on both sides,” says Craig Errington, Wrangler vice president of marketing. “He was wearing Wrangler jeans when he was 9 years old.”
Wrangler signed Dale Jr. in 2004, just as it overhauled the jeans line with a more contemporary style. Company executives liked the legacy with the Earnhardt family as well as Dale Jr.’s younger, hipper image. Since Wrangler targets customers who wear jeans four to five times per week, Dale Jr.’s casual fashion sense makes for a good fit.
Expect a new batch of TV ads in April starring Dale Jr. Though Errington declines to disclose specific sales gains, he says the endorsements by Favre and Dale Jr. have boosted sales.
That loyalty is reinforced with personal appearances such as an annual hot-lap retail promotion. For the past four years, Wrangler has awarded a small group of prize winners a trip to Lowe’s Motor Speedway for ride-alongs on the track with Dale Jr. at the wheel.
Errington says using Dale Jr. with fans at a race track makes for a much bigger payoff for everyone involved.
Wrangler generated 40,000 entries for the contest in 2008. “It helps bring the brand to life,” Errington says. “And rather than a standard appearance, he has a lot more fun driving a car than doing something else.”
To date, Wrangler has used Dale Jr. and Favre in separate ad campaigns, a plan that will remain in place for the near future. The company has discussed a possible pairing of the two sports stars on a casual basis, but, so far, prefers keeping the current successful approach in place.
