Driver Show Customers Love by Using the F-word ("Fans")

When you run any business, it's always a good idea to thank your customers and fixate on getting them to do business with you again and again (and tell their friends).

So extra props to two drivers who I heard using the F-word ("fans") -- who are the customers for the Indy Racing League -- in high-profile situations during race weekend at Kansas. Their attitude is the key to league success.

First, race winner Scott Dixon dropped an F-bomb in his post-victory news conference. Dixon, P2 Helio Castroneves and P3 Tony Kanaan were asked by an employee of race-sponsor Time Warner Cable to emote on the beauty of sponsors.

It was a legit request and drivers are more than happy to describe the beauty of sponsors. Tony and Helio both answered the question well, saying without sponsors everyone is selling televisions at Target or some alternative career. Which is very true. And both drivers take opportunities to thank fans all the time. (Helio will even hug fans if they get close enough.)

But when Dixon showed up a bit later, he busted it off right then and there: "Sponsors are key and right up there are fans. Without fans and sponsors, racing is non-existent." Insert me having a Kleenex moment in the back of the room.

About the same time, Vision's Ed Carpenter was sharing some customer love right on semi-national cable television. When Jack Arute asked Ed to talk about the wild ride after the race, Ed said: "First of all I'd like to thank the fans that did come out to watch us. I think a lot of people were scared to come out, afraid another tornado was going to strike today, the weather was so crazy."

Insert me spewing beer of the race all over the HD wonder as I reviewed the DVR. Yes, Ed. YES. First of all, are always the customers (fans) both in the stands and watching on TV. If I was running the league, I think I'd start every answer to every question with, "First of all, I'd like to thank our fans and sponsors for supporting the league ..."

Don't get me wrong. I love the sponsors. Sponsor love should be constantly flowing and a high priority for the league. But here's a tip: the sponsors aren't parting with millions of dollars just because they are big race fans and want to hang with Dario Franchitti in a tent at Kansas Speedway. That's all light and lovely, of course -- especially now with Dario's flowing, luxurious mane -- but the real reason companies sponsor racing is to get their brands in front of fans and thereby sell more stuff. That's return on investment (ROI), and if it doesn't show up, then companies won't continue to sponsor races. In other words, no fans, no sponsors, no racing.

Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling put it this way during a press conference with his sponsoree, Sarah Fisher, at Kansas Speedway on April 25:

"We don't do a lot of television. We don't do a lot of radio. We run a monthly (newspaper) insert. Our customer is a race fan, both the IRL and NASCAR. (Dollar General sponsors teams in both leagues.) We see it as a wonderful opportunity to leverage our exposure across the country over the course of a weekend and more importantly, leverage the many participating brands across the country at the same time. It's a great partnership."

"Leverage our exposure" is corporate speak for "get our brand in front of people who will then come buy from us." When Dreiling was asked if his sponsorship of Sarah was a trial run for maybe a full-year sponsorship next year, his response was couched and polite but very clear: "We believe the secret and the success of any motor sports program is being able to leverage it across the retail chain, so we're working very hard on that this year."

In other words, if the sponsorship can't be "leveraged" (to create more in sales than the cost of the sponsorship), it won't be a partnership for long.

I believe the revenue issues NASCAR is having right now are because the ROI just ain't penciling out for their sponsors.

With the economy tanking, sponsors at all levels of racing are taking a much harder look at where their increasingly precious marketing dollars are going. If sinking $10 million into television, radio, print or Internet advertising generates more sales or brand awareness than sinking it into a race team, guess what? Bye-bye sponsor.

I believe that NASCAR has focused too much on sucking up to sponsors and maybe television networks and not enough on sucking up to fans and is paying a price now. If fans leave, so will sponsors. It's that simple.

The opposite is also true, and presents an opportunity for fans to move the needle for their drivers. If you want your driver to stay in the race, buy from his or her sponsors. Send a copy of your receipt to the company with your letter of thanks for their sponsorship.

Email them thanks for supporting your driver. Tell random cashiers where you buy your stuff that you're in the store because of your driver. Nothing gets sponsors attention like seeing proof that their sponsorship has created a sale. If just 100 people send a copy of their product reciept -- let alone 1000 people -- to corporate HQ with a note of thanks, I guarantee the CEO of that company will hear about it.

Fisher fans like me have a golden opportunity to impress her sponsor by simply buying a bag of Frito-Lay chips or can of Amp and registering the resulting sales receipt code online in the Dollar General Indy ticket sweepstakes. (Details here.) 

Most drivers seem to get it: the more customers the league has overall, for whatever reason, the better it is for everyone. Sarah said her sweepstakes deal with Dollar General is good for her, but it can also help create more customers for IndyCar racing in general.

"We appreciate it because we see the value of having (Dollar General) get their customers involved in the IndyCar series. We're big picture. We believe in the series, long term," said Fisher.

Bottom line is fans -- not sponsors -- are IndyCar's customers. As the CEO of a company that lives or dies based on how well it attracts and sells to customers, Dreiling is hyper aware of what matters most. And it ain't sucking up to the makers of the Tide or Snickers bars they sell in their store.

Dreiling said Dollar General's brand as a low-cost retailer is great in this bad economy, but there's more to their recent success than that.

"It's a wonderful channel to be in right now," Dreiling said. "There's no doubt there's a new consumerism out there. I think that people will shop totally differently than they did before the current recession but I also think that there is a lot of hard work that has taken place at Dollar General in the last year, and we have 75,000 people who are working incredibly hard to deliver for the customer day in and day out. I think the fruits of that are bearing out as well as the economy."

Working incredibly hard to deliver for the customers (fans) day in and day out. IndyCar should paint that at the top of the Pagoda.

Comments

[Mike Krapfl]

Pressdog: Made my second ever trip to Dollar General yesterday. Bought some more chips, got another code. Hope I'm not the only one supporting the cause.

[pressdog]

You're not. I've heard from others. Keep it up.

[Roy Hobbson]

*applauding*

[Boilerrx]

PDog-
I consciously eat at McDonalds now instead of say Wendys or BK just because they support the Son of Stache...Fans=Consumers=PDizzle should replace Terry Angstad

[pressdog]

Boilerrx -- to quote Helio, "that's what I'm talking abooooouuuuuutttt! Way to be a sponsor love-showing warrior. I'm wiping manly tears over here.

[Bash]

My desktop and laptop are both HP because of their support of Davey Hamilton. (Of course, they are reliable, or I couldn't be so sponsor-minded.) I even skip Staples and hit Office Depot now because I have a soft spot for Tony Stewart. I hit DG, but we don't have those in Cali...