Vol. 16, June 2006

Team Sponsorships & Partnerships

Best Buy’s Approach Brings Corporate Friends 

Along on NASCAR Ride

In its first full season as a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series primary team sponsor, retailer Best Buy has already stepped up its initial involvement with Haas CNC Racing from 12 races to likely more than 20 by season end.  In what Best Buy’s Senior Manager of Motorsports Brad Morrill termed “test, measure and revise”, the store chain has added races by partnering with some of its vendor partners, such as SanDisk and Microsoft, while leveraging promotions around specific events.

Recently Morrill discussed Best Buy’s unique approach to NASCAR team sponsorship and the relationships built with its corporate partners through participation in the sport with Joyce Julius and Associates.

Q:  NASCAR certainly allows for the creation of a variety of sponsorship opportunities.  Would you please comment on why NASCAR was such an attractive option for Best Buy?

Morrill:  Best Buy sponsors various sports and teams that resonate with our diverse customer population.   NASCAR’s phenomenal growth on-track and off makes it a natural marketing extension for us. NASCAR broadcasts all 36 races in high def. We sell high-def TV’s and the satellite and digital cable services to bring the signal into the fan’s home. Best Buy sells the digital cameras/ camcorders to record a fan’s memories at the track on race day. We sell gaming machines and content that allows fans to enjoy racing “virtually.” In other words, Best Buy stands for entertainment and NASCAR is great entertainment.

Q:  Can you explain the process of bringing your corporate partners along on the sponsorship ride?

Morrill:  Ideally, every sponsor on the car has a tie to Best Buy.  None of the partners is a competitor, and we jointly promote the sponsorship, and one another, to reach our combined goals.

Any marketer can approach a NASCAR team and cut a sponsorship deal on its own if it determines the NASCAR sponsorship meets its marketing objectives. Best Buy’s opportunity is to present partnering with us as more desirable than doing a deal on one’s own. Part of the value we bring to the table is turnkey execution. We already have the team sponsorship with Haas CNC Racing and other components in place (e.g. public relations and event marketing firm GMR Marketing, LLC.).  The other asset we bring to the partnership is customer and employee promotion through racing content on the TV monitors in our stores, in-store signage, special internal communication to employees, ads in our Sunday circular and promotions utilizing racing. Each of our current and potential vendor partners has different needs, and we do our best to understand those needs and customize a sponsorship program that meets them.

Q:  What benefits do you feel exist when a primary sponsorship is “shared” with true corporate partners versus other arrangements we’ve seen in NASCAR recently where there seems to be no obvious connection between the sponsoring brands.

Morrill:  There definitely has to be compatibility between the co-sponsors and their brands, and between the sponsors and racing fans.  Imagine a car with Best Buy, Sony, and DirecTV. That’s an easy connection for fans and customers of all the brands: “At Best Buy, get the highest quality high-definition TV from Sony and watch the best quality high-def signal from DirecTV.” Fans and customers get that. It makes sense. BBY/Sony/DirecTV can all help each other in a case like this.

Q:  Best Buy has contracted Joyce Julius to measure the complete media impact of the sponsorship (as well as that of your partners) from Cup Series event telecasts, as well as television news and highlight programming, radio, Internet, Print, on-site sources and promotions through 2006.  How is this specific research beneficial to your sponsorship program?

Morrill:  Joyce Julius data is the industry standard and gives us a common language to use within the sport, which is a valuable tool in and of itself. Impressions and media value are some of the measures of a successful sponsorship program, and Joyce Julius reporting does a great job of capturing the data.

In this first year, we’re really trying to establish a baseline. We are using the data to understand the media value Best Buy receives both on and off track. On track we want to understand the weekly variances and how different variables (start/finish, accidents, in car cameras, etc.) affect impressions. We also use the data to understand the various value placements on the car, uniforms, etc. In subsequent seasons, Joyce Julius data will be helpful in telling us if we are doing a better job year-over-year.

Battle for Signage Supremacy During First

USA World Cup Telecast Goes to Toshiba

During ESPN2’s telecast of the United States versus Czech Republic at the World Cup Monday afternoon, Toshiba’s logos on the signs surrounding the playing field in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, appeared on television more than any other corporate sponsor’s offerings. 

Toshiba’s signs appeared clear and in-focus for eight minutes, 41 seconds (8:41) throughout the telecast.  When  comparing the on-screen time to the estimated cost of a commercial during the coverage, Toshiba reaped $460,000 of exposure value during US television coverage alone.

Additional sign sponsors surpassing the eight-minute exposure mark were adidas, MasterCard, FujiFilm, Gillette and Budweiser.  Combined, 16 brands appeared for one hour, 35 minutes, 20 seconds ($5,052,645), for an average of 5:58 per brand.  The following chart lists the clear and in-focus exposure time and comparable exposure value for each sign sponsor monitored during ESPN2’s telecast.

  Brand                                                    Exp. Time                                             Exp. Value

Joyce Julius measured the impact of the World Cup signage through the utilization of its Image Identification Technology, which allows for precise digital measurement of logos appearing during televised events.

Motorsports Sponsorship

  Motorsports sponsors love Memorial Day!  During ABC's live telecast of the 2006 Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 telecast on Fox, sponsor logos were monitored for a combined 25 hours, 25 minutes, 47 seconds (25:25:47) throughout the 1,100 miles of holiday racing action.  When adding in some 630 sponsor verbal references during the broadcasts, a total comparable exposure value of $320 million was realized.  Despite these staggering exposure statistics, this year's Daytona 500 telecast still stands as the undisputed exposure champion, posting an overall exposure value in excess of $412 million.

  Audi is off to a roaring start in the 2006 American Le Mans Series, having accrued 3:04:11 during broadcasts devoted to the first two events of the season to lead all sponsors in the series.  The impressive on-screen time is just 14 minutes shy of Audi’s entire total for all broadcasts last season.  2005 saw Porsche dominate ALMS telecasts with more than seven hours of clear, in-focus exposure time.

  Aaron’s sponsorship of the ”Lucky Dog” award in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – a new safety feature which allows the first truck a lap down to gain its lap back during a caution period – is paying off handsomely.  Just five telecasts into the 2006 season, Aaron’s has already garnered 19:39 of on-camera time ($206,325) from this new lucrative source.  Additionally, Michael Waltrip’s propensity for mentioning Aaron’s in conjunction with the award has led to 195 verbal references ($341,250) for the brand. This is quite a leap in comparison to 2005 where Aaron’s acquired just 11:00 and some 20 mentions for the entire broadcast season.

  Reigning Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford champion Sebastien Bourdais could be en route to another series title, having swept the first two events of the 2006 Champ Car season. Bourdais' early-season lead among the competition is mirrored by his primary sponsor, McDonald's, as "The Golden Arches" had bagged $538,780 in comparable value through the second event of the season.

  Although 15-year old Hooters ProCup Series driver Joey Logano is too young to be issued a regular driver’s license, it did not stop the precocious youngster from taking the checkered flag at Round 2 of the 2006 season, held at South Georgia Motorsports Park.  Logano’s winning performance buoyed his team sponsor, Joe Gibbs Performance Racing Oil, as the brand racked up $49,925 of in-broadcast exposure during television coverage of the race supplied by Speed Channel and other television outlets.

  Chip Ganassi's signing of Dan Wheldon this past off-season has already paid dividends to Target in the IRL IndyCar Series.  Thanks to Wheldon’s and teammate Scott Dixon’s fine early-season performances, Target more than doubled its exposure from last year through the same point in the season.  After the first 3 events of 2005, Target had earned $1.2 million of exposure value, while the retailer’s 2006 tally stood at $2.5 million.

  The promotional activities surrounding the opening of the film “XMen 3” included the sponsorship of Speed World Challenge GT Championship driver Tomy Drissi during the Long Beach event. The results:  1:08 of on-camera time and four announcer mentions – good for $4,060 and a 12^th place season ranking among all team sponsors within the series.

  With gasoline and oil prices skyrocketing, ethanol has become a hot-topic of conversation. Now ethanol will make its debut into the auto racing arena, as it partners with the Indy Racing League, which began introducing the renewable fuel into the open wheel racing series this year.  This season, the IRL IndyCar Series uses a max blend of 90% methanol and 10% ethanol, but beginning in 2007, the fuel will be 100% ethanol, the same fuel that has the potential to replace at least 10% of the nation's gasoline supply.  During qualifying and race coverage of this year’s Indy 500, Ethanol garnered $2.5 million of comparable exposure value.

  It is a simple fact, a clean brand logo will pop best on television, and that truism is being proven once again this season with Q Motor Oil.  With its highly-recognizable yellow one-letter Q logo, the brand has elevated to a top-10 ranking among sponsors during broadcasts devoted to the first 12 races on the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series tour.  All told, Q has appeared on screen clearly and in focus for just over two hours throughout those telecasts.  Combined with 16 mentions of the Quaker State brand, that exposure has resulted in more than $6.2 million worth of comparable value.

  During the second round of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series on Speed Channel, drivers Chris Bingham and JC France garnered significant exposure for their sponsors by trading punches on the track.  Bingham's primary sponsors, Coyote and Preformed Line Products, earned $5,785 and $9,780 of comparable value, respectively, during the coverage from Mexico City. France's primary backer, Brumos Porsche, took in $7,045.  Almost all of Bingham's exposure came as a result of the fisticuffs and the resulting interview with his team owner.

  Relying upon a steady diet of race results graphics during the Outdoor Channel’s coverage of the 2006 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, Optima Batteries was the most exposed sponsor during the first five event broadcasts.  Altogether, Optima Batteries landed nearly $170,000 of in-broadcast exposure value.

  Of the 132 brands monitored during Speed Channel’s telecast of the 2006 Grand-Am Cup Series opener from Daytona, 45 were auto makes or models.  BMW’s logos enjoyed the most on-camera time (12 minutes, 14 seconds) during the two-hour telecast, while the Ford Mustang won the war of words with 49 mentions.

  Driver Erin Crocker put in a full day of racing in Nashville last April 15 when she ran both the ARCA and NASCAR Busch Series events.  Thanks to the double-dip, Crocker landed her sponsor, Hamburger Helper, 14:26 of total on-screen time during the FX and Speed Channel race telecasts – good for more than $200,000 of comparable value on the day.

Two of Three Triple Crown Horse Races Take Advantage of Presenting Sponsorships

With two of the three legs of horse racing’s Triple Crown featuring presenting sponsors in 2006, coupled with VISA’s decision to end its Triple Crown entitlement deal and two networks sharing the broadcasting duties, this year’s events certainly had a different look and feel – happenings on the track notwithstanding.

As the first-ever presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby, Louisville-based Yum Brands garnered in-broadcast exposure measuring $1.85 million during NBC’s live Derby telecast last May.  When also factoring in the additional on-screen time and verbal mentions collected by the five restaurant chains comprising Yum Brands, the corporation reaped nearly $2.7 million in total comparable exposure value.

The Yum logo appeared clear and in-focus for three minutes, 15 seconds (3:15) during NBC’s 1.5-hour broadcast, while the presenting sponsor was also mentioned by the network’s announcers on 18 occasions.   While NBC’s graphics provided the bulk of Yum’s visual exposure, signs containing the company’s logo in the paddock area and on the starting gate were the most potent on-site exposure sources, in terms of gaining valuable TV time.  Both sets of signs were monitored for 0:13, with each accounting for $65,000.

Taco Bell carried the day for the five Yum restaurant entities with 0:24, a single mention and $170,000.  KFC was next with $165,000, while A&W, Long John Silver’s and Pizza Hut each amassed $160,000.

Two weeks later, Preakness Stakes Presenting sponsor Vonage garnered $1.2 million of in-broadcast exposure during NBC’s coverage of the second Triple Crown event, falling about $1.5 million off of the pace set by Yum.

This time around, the Vonage logo appeared clear and in-focus for 2:31 during NBC’s broadcast, while the presenting sponsor was also mentioned 14 times.  The greatest portion of Vonage’s visual exposure (2:25) stemmed from NBC graphics, while a lone sign situated near telecast host Bob Costas appeared clear and in-focus for 0:06.

A New Headquarters Building for Joyce Julius

The Ann Arbor, Michigan, headquarters of Joyce Julius and Associates has moved to a new facility.  Our new home is located at:

525 Avis Drive

Suite 3

Ann Arbor, MI 48108

  A Second Look is a newsletter published by Joyce Julius and Associates, Inc., updating recent developments, trends and happenings in the areas of sports, special events and entertainment marketing.  All information contained in this newsletter is available for journalistic use, with all rights reserved.