Interview with Jim O'Connell Vice President Corporate Marketing, NASCAR

Abstract

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing Inc (NASCAR), celebrating 60 years in 2008, is the sanctioning body for one of North America's premier sports. NASCAR is the number one spectator sport--holding 17 of the top 20 highest-attended sporting events in the US--and it is the number two rated regular season sport on television. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and in more than 30 languages. NASCAR fans are the most brand-loyal in all of sport, and as a result more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than in any other sport. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series), four regional series, one local grassroots series and two international series. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 US states, Canada and Mexico. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, NASCAR has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte (NC), Concord (NC), Conover (NC), Bentonville (Ark.), Mexico City and Toronto. SR: NASCAR is celebrating its 60th anniversary. Can you tell me how it is has developed over the years and why it has reached the position it holds today? J O'C: We are fortunate to be racing in our 60th season from a start in Daytona Beach, Florida, where we literally raced on the beach. Through the great vision of Bill France Senior, NASCAR grew from a beach race to what has become a huge international business with the participation of more Fortune 500 companies than any other sport. I think what's important to talk about is that it's been built on values, and the values today are the same as those of 60 years ago. That is: great racing, a great experience for the fans and making sure that NASCAR maintains those core values. SR: You have more than 30 official partners whereas Formula One, for example, has no top-tier partners, although plenty of team sponsors. It is, in many ways, an alternative model to many other major global events, where partnership numbers are limited, often to less than 10. If you add the teams' sponsors, NASCAR as a whole has literally hundreds of partners. Does this cause brand clutter? J O'C: I think the number of official partners is between 35 and 40 and that is down from a couple of years ago when it was closer to 50. What we've been trying to do is to make sure we are creating opportunities that offer the most value for sponsors. We do that in a couple of ways. First through making sure that the sponsors we have are all good companies. They say 'you learn a lot about someone by the company they keep' and that's very true with sponsorship. So we want to ensure that the types of companies and executives are types that the other partners are proud to be associated with. As far as clutter is concerned, we look for best-in-class partners, those that are either international or national in nature, that activate and advertise nationally. NASCAR started as a regional sport. Today we are very much a national sport so we need to ensure that both our fan base and our sponsor base represent that national outlook that we have. SR: What is your long-term commercial strategy in terms of the types of sponsors and the relationships you wish to forge? J O'C: Long-term strategy is very similar. We want to make sure that we are providing great value for our sponsors. The sponsors help us race and there's nothing more important than well funded teams and a well funded industry to make sure we have great racing on the track each week and that fans go to tracks that provide a wonderful experience for the race day. The model means that our sponsors are providing great value for fans. SR: But would you be looking to have a smaller, more high-profile family of partners? J O'C: We wouldn't put a target number on this. We've reduced the number in the past couple of years and there may be further reductions down the road; its a natural attrition to make sure that we are with the best-in-class partners out there. …