There's an
adage long applied to motor racing in general, NASCAR in particular: "Win
on Sunday, sell on Monday." Meaning the brand of car that wins the race
on Sunday, should -- theoretically -- see dealerships packed with suitably
impressed race fans on Monday.
"I'm not sure that was ever true, exactly," said Junior Johnson,
legendary NASCAR driver and championship-winning team owner. "But it must
be true enough for the car companies to keep coming back to the sport."
"That's why we're here," said Bob Nardelli, chairman and CEO of
Chrysler LLC, who appeared at the Daytona 500 in February to root his teams to
victory. "It generates excitement for the fans, and for the
dealers."
But it did
not necessarily drive those fans to Dodge dealers the Monday following the
Sunday win by driver Ryan Newman, in a Dodge Charger. Sales of Chargers
remained relatively flat through the end of February, and were, in fact, down
slightly from February 2007.
But, said Nardelli, the theory still applies, as a victory in the biggest
stock car race of the season "can only mean good things for a
brand." Indeed, Dodge brand sales were up slightly for the first two
months of 2008, compared with the same period in 2007.
And NASCAR affects not just one brand per car, but many, according to research
done by Joyce Julius & Associates, a Michigan-based firm that
places a dollar value on media exposure gained through broadcasts of sporting
events. Julius employs researchers who watch sporting events on television in
slow motion, armed with stopwatches, and time "clear and in-focus"
company logos, as well as listen for mentions of various brands by announcers
and competitors.
So, says Julius, Ryan Newman's win in the Daytona 500 gave Dodge, the Dodge
Charger and Dodge dealers a total of 6 minutes, 44 seconds of visible
broadcast exposure, plus six verbal mentions. Total value: $7,733,315.
And that paled compared to the value received by Newman's lead car sponsor,
Alltel, the communications company.
In what turned out to be a moderate disaster for Sprint, an Alltel competitor
and the title sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, Alltel received a total
of 22 minutes, 51 seconds of visible broadcast time, and four verbal mentions,
giving Alltel, Alltel.com and Alltel Wireless total of $22,516,520 worth of
exposure.
Alltel alone received $18,299,880 in exposure, said Julius, the second-highest
single value in Daytona 500 history, ranking only behind the $19.9 million in
exposure that came with driver Jimmie Johnson's 2007 win for sponsor
Lowe's, the home-improvement chain...