Indy Car Sponsors have a Different Take on Winning

Winning the Long Beach Grand Prix Branding Race

Brand managers view the world differently than the rest of us. For example, you would think the first car to cross the finish line at an IndyCar race would be the winner. WRONG. From a brand manager's point of view that is a nice bonus, but has little to do with winning. In many cases it is irrelevant.

Winning is about competing for a common goal. For a brand manager it is about building buzz for a brand and getting people talking.  The car which creates the biggest buzz wins. So winning by IndyCar rules is a nice bonus because it adds some buzz to the brand, otherwise it just doesn't matter.

I had the occasion to visit the Long Beach Grand Prix this year. It is a brand building mega-event. Logos everywhere. The fans were bombarded with thousands of product displays, posters, t-shirts and of course cars covered in logos. There was a competition going on, but the winner was clearly the brand who got the fans talking the most. 

Toyota was the clear leader at the start of the race. They had logos on the barrier walls, chain link fences and nearly everywhere else you could looked. Toyota had a clear head start on the rest of the racers as their brand was all over the track hours before the other brands took the first lap.  As I walked to my seat it looked like this race was over before it even had a chance to begin.

As the cars actually took to the track the tide had turned a little. GoDaddy started to get the crowd talking as it's driver Danica Patrick created an instant buzz.  Fans were looking for the GoDaddy car and talking about her as the race continued. The crowd was buzzing about GoDaddy and therefore GoDaddy was winning the for a good portion of the race. The fans became almost numb to Toyota and its buzz was pretty much out of the race at this point.

Then we came to lap 67 and everything changed. In the first turn there was a small accident. Ordinarily this is no big deal, but this time there was some added excitement as the Telemundo car driven by Oriol Servia had to swerve off the track to avoid a wreck. The Telemundo driver completed a dramatic 360 turn complete with smoking tires, dust and rocks flying everywhere as he threw his car back into the race.  It was a scene right out of a movie. The fans were on their feet. Clapping and talking about "the move" as the Telemundo buzz filled the grandstands. Immediately the dozen or so big screens around the venue replayed the dramatic 360 move from every angle. Each time fans saw the replay they applauded. It was definately the highlight of the race.

For the remaining 18 laps the buzz remained with Oriol Servia's Telemundo car. The fans in the grandstand couldn't stop talking about it. They kept looking for the Telemundo car.  As they waived the checkered flag everyone was still talking about the Telemundo car.  Even as the race ended and I walked back to my car the people around me were still talking about the incredible move from "The Telemundo Car". 

Of course by IndyCar standards Mike Conway's Firestone car won the race, and we owe him a congratulations. (But he was in the IndyCar race, not the brand building race so from my point-of-view Firestone didn't really win).

I have to say it over and over. Brand managers sponsor IndyCars to build a buzz for their brand. They do not sponsor cars to win races. The only real benefit to winning is it can increase the buzz (but only a little). 

From a sponsor's point-of-view here are the winners of the Long Beach Grand Prix:

Long Beach Grand Prix
1) Telemundo - Oriol Servia
2) GoDaddy - Danica Patrick
3) Firestone - Mike Conway