From what I’ve heard a lot of major corporations have huge marketing budgets but hardly use it. Seems to me like a no-brainer for a Cup team to have Google be the primary sponsor and would be a no lose situation for all parties.
Posted Mar 8, 2022, 11:10 PM UTC
Google is now a word used in common sentences. That’s how massive and recognizable the company is. How much would they benefit by putting their name on a car?
They wouldn’t see much benefit, but there is value to sponsorship when you’re a well known company. There’s a reason McDonalds, Busch, Hooters, M&Ms, Shell, Sunoco, Coca-Cola, and Monster are out there.
Those incidental purchases of small consequence are often based off impulse. You’re kinda hungry, most people don’t care which cheeseburger they get and it’s of little impact to their life which they choose. Often times it’s either the closest one or the first one that comes to mind. Same for sodas, energy drinks, gas stations, candy, etc.
They’re competing to be the first thing that comes to mind.
Google doesn’t compete that way. It’s a different market. Advertising for Google or Facebook targets people buying ads, and a campaign that reminds people how rich their demographic targeting tools or how prevalent their reach is matters more than being the first name that comes to mind.
So, you’re kinda right, but I wanted to add some context.
There’s not much value in the sponsorship alone. There’s some value in the nostalgia of the sponsorship. Everyone can remember a fun time eating McDonalds. Nobody remembers their first Google. Most of the companies mentioned are rooted in title sponsorship, fuel sponsorship, or location (coke in Atlanta). Nostalgia can be a powerful marketing tool or, at the very least, a cheap way for a corporation to promote that they’re loyal to something other than money.
The problem with nostalgic partners is that there are 40 Cup cars and you just about named all the sponsors.
No…I just explained to you why there is value in the sponsorship. This is the same reason you’ve already heard of nearly every single TV advertiser. It has nothing to do with nostalgia.
I think you need to check the tide if you think there’s still ROI value in NASCAR sponsorship. There’s a good reason none of these sponsors is a primary full year contributor.
True, but when you have F U kinds of money why not chuck some money at a race team or other frivolous things like sponsoring the next trip to the moon
Because there is a CMO and numerous layers of under management who have to justify every dollar spent to the shareholders
they didn’t get that big by making poor financial choices
The ROI isn't there anymore. The whole point of sponsorship is to gain brand awareness, so if you're already a household name, why invest in NASCAR sponsorship.
This misses a lot of major components of marketing.
Yeah I definitely gave a very stripped down version of it, but I think the point still stands that there has to be a value for these companies to pay for sponsorship, and I don't think the value is there like it was 15-20 years ago
True
If you already know the name of a company, there is no point in them sponsoring a nascar team. Maybe running a TV Ad to get you to go out and “buy now” during the race.
Brand expansion just because it’s possible? Sure, major corporations don’t really need to advertise, but i don’t see why more of them don’t throw money at frivolous things just to get their name on it.
Because they only do things that benefit their business. Google won’t make $10 million more in revenue from spending $10 million on a sponsorship. It’s just math
i don’t see why more of them don’t throw money at frivolous things
Because businesses have shareholders
They legally can’t do frivolous things once they are a public company believe it or not. They are required to justify every costly action.
Google doesn't really gain anything from that. DuckDuckGo or Startpage might.
Nascar has a limited viewership. Google hardly markets itself. It's already to largest used search engine. What would a global corporation gain by marketing to a group of people who already likely use their services? Maybe they could market their pixel phones.
There are far more effective ways to market things today on social media than there were 20 years ago.
We do, as long as your household is really into random cryptocurrencies
the only reason to sponsor a race car is because you want the viewers of said race to consume your product which they might not already be consuming. b2b deals are becoming a more important part of it nowadays like we see with Advance Auto Parts and Shell Gas Stations but surely somebody like GOOGLE doesnt require any assistance with b2b partnerships.
Think about names like Miller Lite, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Tide, M&M’s, Gatorade, Pepsi, Target, Dollar General, etc. The goal for most advertising agencies is to get the word out about their name to millions of people. The problem is most people are already familiar with all of those names. Unless a CEO of a company is a big Nascar fan or trying to get people familiar with their product, there’s no need to spend millions
Sure everyone knows about companies like McDonald’s and Dr. Pepper or M&Ms but by putting one of those logos on a car in front of eyeballs people will start craving McDonald’s or a Dr. Pepper or whatever and that equals more sales. Also, this probably more applies to die hard fans but if I see a company like McDonald’s sponsor a car I am much more likely to buy their product rather than a competitor like Wendy’s for example because I understand they are investing in the sport I care about.
Most of them have already been and gone and found the money they pay isn't worth it.
How many people genuinely use Axalta or formally DuPont products outside of professionals? That was a sponsor I never understood. Unless I’m a painter, I’m not thinking about Axalta. I sure wasn’t thinking about going out and buying DuPont Kevlar
Cheddar’s seems to be one of the few bigger-name (more well-known outside of NASCAR circles) sponsors that will even acknowledge their driver outside of NASCAR-related media (I.e. race broadcast commercials). Liberty University is also VERY proud of William Byron. Heck, they’ll bring him to Lynchburg on occasion for various events on-campus.
Google has their names on hundreds, if not thousands of Google Street View cars around the world, driving in front of millions of eyes. Sadly, our audience wouldn’t impress them enough to invest.
You’re clearly smarter than ad execs at Fortune 500 companies lol.
This is a simple question with a very complex answer. First let’s look at reasons a company may sponsor a race car
Brand awareness (I.e impressions“What’s a X?”)
Brand loyalty/ Hospitality/ experience (Bringing customers, employees and other VIPs to see “their” car). Creating an emotional connect with their customers (“remember that time Kroger took us all to see Stenhouse win!?”)
Business to Business (B2B). This has been and continues to be the most prevalent form of sponsorship in NASCAR at the highest level teams & with “family backed” drivers. Example: Owner says to Pennzoil “Sponsor my team for $30m* and I’ll put Pennzoil in all my dealerships. Which is $200m* in business for them *made up numbers!
Promotional. You may have seen where my sponsor Fast Checkout last year did a $1 hoodie promo. This was to drive brand awareness but also get you to use their product. Can be effective for a smaller spend on the actual marketing side. You see this often with “seasonal” sponsorships like Halloween etc
After you know the core reasons, than you have to ask what a company like Google could use in there? And if the fan base fits the demographic of what they are selling, promoting or making a relationship with.
Add in the effectiveness of digital marketing (altho it is getting expensive. Google owns it tho), alternative marketing (making your own events, virtual or real) and the evolving demographics of the United States. In there will be your answer as to why Google does not sponsor a car.
In terms of cost, it has since tobacco left the sport been inflated by a combo of B2B sponsorships that are valued far above the marketing value & family funding. This allowed the gap to continue to expand between value and cost. BUT this is getting better and we may see a natural cap with this new car. This is a discussion for another time though!
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Let’s see. There’s:
• Busch Beer • McDonald’s • Dr. Pepper • Subway • Keystone Light • Menards • NAPA Auto Parts • Advance Auto Parts • Shell • FedEx • M&M’s • Hooters • Cheddar’s • Monster Energy • Coca-Cola • Geico • Ally Financial • the list goes on…
Frankly, those are all household names. Plus companies like Google don’t need to sponsor race cars to be recognized.
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It’s expensive for the limited amount of exposure an advertiser will receive. The telecasts seldom show cars that are not in the first ten places, and even then it’s often an aerial shot. The product name doesn’t get much air time relative to the money spent.
Paying tens of millions to sponsor a car doesn’t get as many eyes as an ad on social media
Not just a raw amount of eyeballs, but big online ad companies like Google and Facebook offer a large degree of information and customization for advertisers. If you want to target women who are mothers aged 25-34 and tend to vote for Democrats, you can do that with all of the data Facebook has. It's an issue for TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines too. The internet totally upended advertising.
It's kind of sad that we lost a lot of household names in NASCAR. I miss seeing Lowe's, Target, Kellogg's, Miller, Best Buy, UPS, the US Army, and Tide as sponsors. It was always fun to watch The Home Depot car race the Lowe's car. It helped new fans make connections. I even picked my all-time favorite driver based on the fact that he drove the M&M's car. It's hard getting excited over Violet Defense or 3CHI or CURE Token or Dent Wizard.
It’s very easy to get excited over 3Chi lmao. Also Miller and Tide are technically still around, but only for like 1 race a year each. Cindric I believe does have a Keystone car this year
Haha yeah I guess there's a way to get excited for 3CHI and their products. Cindric is running a Keystone Light car at the All-Star Race but it's a far cry from how invested they used to be in the sport. I'm not sure if there have been any announcements about Tide but hopefully they'll pop up on the 43 again this year.
3Chi is like diet weed or something, the real stuff is more fun lol
Excellent point
That is true. Most companies tend to sponsor sports leagues that are guaranteed to draw huge audiences like the NFL, NBA and MLB. While NASCAR is still the most popular racing series, it isn't as popular as it was in the sport's early-mid 2000s heyday.
I don’t think you need 10s of millions to sponsor a car. These days I think that increased social media presence would drive a lot of interest in sponsors.