Partial sponsorships paying off for Michael Waltrip Racing; could become norm in sport
Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann will have Tums as a partial sponsor for five races in 2010 and 2011 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Scene
Michael Waltrip Racing’s announcement that Tums will sponsor the NASCAR Sprint Cup car driven by David Reutimann in five races in each of the next two years demonstrates what many industry people expect to be a big part of the model of future sponsorships in the sport: A small, partial-season deal with a company that increases its investment in the sport.
With NAPA being MWR’s only full-season sponsor and the only announced full-season sponsorship for next year that came up for renewal following this season, most deals that are being announced are for half a season at most. That means that other deals need to be in place to pay to complete the season.
That’s just what MWR had to do with Reutimann, whose car is sponsored for half the year by Aaron’s.
For MWR, Tums was the third new sponsor announced as part of the JTG Daugherty Racing-MWR alliance. JTG Daugherty gets its cars from MWR and JTG Daugherty co-owner Tad Geschickter works for both organizations on the sponsorship side. JTG Daugherty added Lance and Kleenex as partial primary sponsors for the Marcos Ambrose car for next year.
A significant part of the Tums deal was that Tums actually increased its investment in the sport. It will remain as an associate sponsor at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and also continue to sponsor races at Martinsville Speedway.
“We’ve created a program where we keep adding on,” said Darren Singer, Tums’ vice president of marketing. “We’ve found different components like sponsoring races and working with race teams. … What we’re going to do with the 00 [of Reutimann], what we’re going to do at retail with our partners, is truly an incremental investment that will give incremental return.”
Singer said part of the Tums strategy is to spread out its footprint throughout the season. It won’t have a Tums car competing in the Tums-sponsored race.
Singer also said the company’s management is seeing that NASCAR is working for the Tums brand and some of its other brands.
“They instantly saw the connection from a speed and a fan standpoint,” Singer said. “But justifying the return on investment that we need with the money that we put in, we have done a lot of analysis around it and it does return for us.”
Tums is part of GlaxoSmithKline, which has had a long tie to NASCAR through its Goody’s brand and other brands such a Nicorette.
“You have to find marketers who are ready in this time and era of everyone worrying about their own jobs; some people are scared to take a gamble,” said MWR Vice President Ty Norris said. “The people who are confident in their company and see NASCAR as a good value are the ones who are going to take advantage of the ones who are sort of playing defense.
“We have been fortunate enough through several conversations to find people who want to go on offense relative to marketing their products.”
The other sponsors that are part of the MWR-JTG Daugherty platform are part of another trend – a move from the Nationwide Series to the Sprint Cup Series. Kleenex has spent several years on the Nationwide side but has now opted for a partial Cup schedule. Lance had been a full-time sponsor in the Nationwide Series but has not been as active in the sport in recent years. Lance did sponsor the JTG Daugherty car in the Nationwide Series for a handful of races this year.
“It’s so difficult to raise the dollars [to be competitive] in the Nationwide Series – it’s almost cost prohibitive,” said team co-owner Brad Daugherty. “It’s very tough to give your sponsors value for what you’re trying to do in that series. If you can be a part of a Cup opportunity, you have to take that opportunity.
“In this example, Kleenex comes to us. They want to be on the big stage. Marcos is new and fresh, and he’s exciting. We have great brand synergies [with other sponsors] with them. … It’s a business relationship that we have with our partners. We’re almost a huge marketing team that has a race team.”
Little Debbie serves as primary sponsor for Ambrose’s car for nine races, the most of any of the sponsors. Clorox and Kingsford also are sponsors on that car. The multiple sponsorship for one car is the only way for his team to get sponsorship for a full season, Daugherty said.
“That’s the way we’ve got to do it,” Daugherty said. “We’re not a Hendrick or a Penske, where people want to be associated with a name. We have to prove it every weekend.”
Norris said that his organization is proving that sponsors are out there.
“I get so frustrated when people just aren’t creative enough to figure it out,” Norris said. “These companies want to market. This is a great time for them to market. It’s still a buyer’s market. The industry is still an incredible marketing platform, and we are starting to see where a team such as ourselves, there is still [ability] to get new sponsors at the right rates and good value for the sponsor.”
