Leave it to NASCAR. The stock-car racing association undertook its first-ever national in-store promotion this quarter, and who did it score as retail partner? Kmart and its 2,100 stores.
Actually, it’s amazing that there is any kind of promotion that the ubiquitous NASCAR hasn’t yet undertaken. “We’re still in our infancy as a licensing group,” says a modest Dee Scott, managing director of NASCAR’s three-year-old licensing division. “We had the vision to do something like this before, but there were a lot of things that had to be in place first.”
Enough is in place now for Kmart to call the effort the “largest sports-related retail promotion in history,” according to a letter from divisional vp Ken Kramer mailed along with media kits.
“There are so many vendors involved, and we’ve got some of the most prominent national brands on board,” adds spokesperson Frank Buscemi. “There are a lot of options for customers.” Throw in the fact that nearly all of Troy, MI-based Kmart’s stores in the contiguous U.S. are involved, and whatever hyperbole might be involved in Kramer’s boast can be forgiven.
The NASCAR 500 at Big Kmart centers on a collect-and-win game designed to increase purchases by Kmart-shopping racing fans and hopefully lure other fans into stores. “To be honest, the NASCAR fan base is Kmart shoppers,” says Buscemi. “We think this is strong enough to bring in new customers, too.”
The program began Jan. 16, when Kmart began distributing four million-plus 16-page game books via direct-mail circulars, in-store displays, bluelight.com, and an insert in Inside NASCAR magazine. The books feature a game card listing 65 products from 24 manufacturers that “players” buy to accumulate points. Anyone who collects 500 points receives an exclusive die-cast collectable car and a coupon book with “hundreds of dollars in savings.” The car is a replica of a racecar retiring driver Darrell Waltrip drove in a Feb. 13 Winston Cup race.
Shoppers hitting the 500 mark are also entered into a sweepstakes giving away “The Ultimate NASCAR Experience,” which entails a trip for four to the Coca-Cola 600 in May, an honorary spot in Waltrip’s pit crew that day, and the racecar.
POINTS WELL EARNED
Kmart is, of course, also allowing sweeps entrants to simply mail in the standard three-by-five card, which in this case is a much cheaper and easier method: To reach 500 points, players will have to spend $167 – which may be why neither Kmart nor NASCAR was willing to put a price tag on the collectable car. Players must also submit their receipts with the qualifying products circled and numbered.
There is, at least, a wide variety of products from which to choose, ranging from a box of Band-Aid adhesives (six points) to a Mega-Bloks NASCAR Pit Row toy set (60 points). In between are a variety of SKUs from Johnson & Johnson, Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, M&M/Mars, Kimberly-Clark, Mattel, Nabisco, Procter & Gamble, Hasbro, and Kal Kan. The manufacturers all kicked in funding dollars to participate in the sales-lifting promotion.
“The initial plan was to limit the number of [marketing partners] involved,” says Kmart divisional sales manager Julie Kent. “But we had a pretty good response, so we opened it up as much as we could.”
Although it’s the first time Kmart has brought NASCAR in-store – or run any national sports-related promotion in-store, in fact – the retailer has been “a good partner to the industry” by sponsoring races, tracks, and two driving teams (including Waltrip’s), says NASCAR director of new business development Don Rothwell. “We have a model retail partner who is fully involved in the program. They’ve put in a tremendous amount of time and energy,” adds Scott.
Early feedback from the program was sketchy as promo went to press. But any lackluster results won’t be blamed on a lack of support. Kmart planned to advertise via 216 million circulars over the promotion’s 10-week window. Pervasive P-O-P includes up-front and end-cap displays, shelf signage, and floor decals that play up a “Where NASCAR Fans Race for Savings” tagline. Charlotte, NC-based NASCAR chips in with ads in four licensed magazines and on its Web site. Retail Sports Enterprises, Charlotte, NC, handles.
“We had people redeeming their points after two weeks, and one customer who earned three cars already,” says Rothwell. “It’s driving people to stores.”
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