NASCAR racing teams and their sponsors have a symbiotic relationship. Corporate sponsorships are a key source of revenue for the teams, which emblazon their cars and uniforms with partner logos. For those partners, the relationships and fan loyalty those sponsorships can build is invaluable.
As Forbes.com reports, probably the most successful NASCAR team on the sponsorship track is Richard Childress Racing (RCR), which has over 40 corporate partners, including Dow Chemical, W.W. Grainger and Caterpillar. Writer Maury Brown talked with execs from those B2B companies, to find out how NASCAR sponsorships can help build B2B relationships.
Gaining accessibility to top executives with prospective customers was one of the primary reasons W.W. Grainger partnered with RCR, according to R.C. Lawler, director, consulting services, Grainger.
“What we have fostered through our partnership is connectivity with potential customers at every level,” Lawler told Forbes. “Historically it had been mostly marketing personnel of companies that we were engaged with. Now, we’re meeting with the business leaders and decision makers for those same companies.”
Rick Penn, director, global sales and sports partnerships for Dow, agreed. “NASCAR is hosted nationally, but it really plays well regionally. We know that executives are traveling to each track, so it creates an ecosystem of accessibility, not only to assets that you’re investing in from a sponsorship, but also this accessibility into the other companies that are participating in the sport.”
Grainger’s partnership with RCR has resulted in double-digit growth in some instances, noted Lawler. “There are business development teams within NASCAR and within RCR that facilitate matching business interests and visions which build those relationships on race day, but turn those conversations into actual deals during the business week.”
Read the complete Forbes article here.
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