Shaking Hands, Kissing Babies and Sponsoring NASCAR?
Posted: 2/8/2010 3:25:55 PM by
Rob Campbell | with 4 comments
Although yet to officially begin, the 2010 NASCAR season has seen a flurry of sponsorship activity.
Perhaps the most interesting deal came last week when U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat, announced his one-race primary sponsorship of JD Motorsports’ No. 01 entry in this Saturday’s Nationwide Series opening race at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
As lead sponsor of the Mike Wallace-driven car in the Drive4COPD 300, Meek’s sponsorship clearly targets Florida NASCAR fans both attending the event and those watching on TV.
Although not the first of its kind—another Florida Democrat, former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham’s fledgling presidential campaign sponsored a Craftsman Truck Series team in 2003 and President Obama’s campaign discussed the idea in 2008—Rep. Meek’s sponsorship demonstrates a forward-thinking approach towards effectively reaching his target audience.
In addition to simply reaching an important electoral demographic, aptly labeled “NASCAR dads,” the Senate hopeful also is using the sponsorship to solicit donations. On his campaign Web site, Meek is activating the sponsorship by giving supporters a chance to win the opportunity to attend the race with the candidate by contributing to his campaign fund. (Visitors to the site also can enter to win without contributing, as required by law.)
Despite engaging fans on many levels, this sponsorship is not without risk.
For example, a multi-car crash caused by the Meek-sponsored car could anger potential voters and NASCAR fans, especially if it affected the finish of their favorite drivers.
By sponsoring a NASCAR entry, as opposed to the event, the adversarial nature of the sport comes into play as well. At varying levels, fans will be cheering against the Meek car and invariably Meek himself.
Going to an even greater extreme, sponsoring a car in NASCAR links the sponsor to the driver. If Wallace were to fall into disrepute, it could provide ample political fodder against Meek in the future.
In a perfect world (dollar figures notwithstanding), a safer play would be sponsorship of the race as opposed to an individual team. This approach would negate many possible pitfalls, yet still provide for Meek’s activation campaign encouraging donations.
Possible negative scenarios aside, Meek’s sponsorship of NASCAR is a refreshing alternative to political smear ads.
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