Before you dive in, if you are interested in motorsport sponsorship, check out these titles in our “sponsorship for motorsport” series:
- Resource Page for Motorsport Sponsorship
- Companies Who Sponsor Motorsport: From NASCAR to Motocross and Everything in Between
- How to Write a Motorsport Sponsorship Proposal
- Companies who Sponsor Motorsport
When it comes to motorsport sponsorship activations, the most seen service is logos across a car and/or uniform. While that remains the standard, just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s your only option. Far from it!
Motorsport sponsorship is becoming a flagship branch of sport sponsorship opportunities, and with it have come many exciting activations, especially throughout the 2020s.
Rather than just gather them up for you, I’ll dissect each one, explaining why it works and what kinds of sponsorship properties an activation of that magnitude would be suitable for.
NASCAR’s Ty Dillon and Death Wish Coffee on Twitter
I know what you’re thinking, “what’s so great about a social media post?” While maybe not the most ground-shaking activation on the block, it’s all about how you perceive it.
For example, in 2016, Richard Childress Racing Manager of Digital and Social Media, Jeff O’Keefe, told DSM Sports that he couldn’t “stand (social media) posts that say ‘Follow so-and-so on Facebook and get a free hat.”
He also said those kinds of social media activations don’t work.
That explains the RC Racing and Ty Dillion tweet promoting Death Wish Coffee. It has plenty of @ tags (it is Twitter, now better known as X), and hashtags, an image, and short and sweet copy.
And sure, while it seems kind of simple by today’s standards, this kind of tweet pulled big numbers.
What You Can Learn from It
This tweet might need a bit more pizzazz today, but its fundamentals are good. It’s short, sweet, and to the point. It doesn’t reek of corporate kissing-up, which can turn consumers away. It has tough words associated with racing like “world’s strongest” and “slay.”
In short, it feels authentic, and that’s what people resonate with.
Coca-Cola Racing Family
Coca-Cola has been associated with NASCAR for decades, all the way back to the ‘70s. That’s why it has its own racing team (the appropriately named Coca-Cola Racing) and its own NASCAR race (the Coca-Cola 600).
While Coke has had many, many activations with NASCAR over the years, its more recent one in late 2023 takes the cake. To honor its long legacy of sponsorship association with NASCAR, Coca-Cola debuted the Coca-Cola Racing Family activation.
This six-part video series featured candid and fun-loving interviews with some of the biggest legends in NASCAR history, from Bobby Labonte to Kyle Petty. Although the legacy element was presented seriously, the questions were unserious and sometimes funny.
For example, the top question asked was what the racers do when they have to pee but are stuck in the race car.
The videos gave fans a chance to see some faces they haven’t in a long time (none of the interviewees are active NASCAR racers). More so, it drummed up engagement, with five of the six videos obtaining over 15 million views and an engagement rate of more than 10 percent.
What We Can Learn from It
By now, Coca-Cola knows the NASCAR audience like the back of its hand. Even though that audience is constantly changing and evolving, Coke stays on top of it to continue marketing its products.
The six-part Coca-Cola Family videos were about more than celebrating NASCAR’s finest, but also honoring the long-term professional relationship between NASCAR and Coke. It showcases that Coke is a mainstay in the NASCAR world.
Mostly, this activation is successful for the same reason the one above worked. It’s authentic. Coke’s association with NASCAR runs so deep and for so long that the two brands and their associated communities really do almost perceive one another as family.
That caught on with fans, who fervently watched the videos and had yet another positive association with the Coca-Cola brand.
Heineken’s Neon House at F1 Las Vegas
It’s a big deal when Formula 1 comes to town, especially to a place as glitzy and glamorous as Las Vegas. That explains why its Grand Prix in late 2023 had a list of sponsors a mile wide. The names included T-Mobile, Hilton, Red Bull, American Express, Salesforce, Sports Illustrated, Neiman Marcus, Michelob ULTRA, Puma, Williams Racing, and the list goes on.
There were many activations of all kinds at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Sin City, but among my favorite was the Neon House hospitality space sponsored by Heineken. It was one of several hospitality rooms, each with different themes.
As a name like the Neon House implies, this room featured square-shaped ceiling lights in bright neon, futuristic silver furniture, glass tables, and full-screen Heineken ads. You might be asking, what in the world does this have to do with racing? I’m getting to that.
At the heart of the Neon House was silver-airbrushed large driver helmets placed throughout as a unique form of décor.
What We Can Learn from It
Have you ever attended a big race from NASCAR or F1? It’s tough work being a fan, let alone a driver! The Neon House was one of several on-point themed rooms for fans to enjoy a bit of a break from the outdoors, the roar of the motors, and the size of the crowd.
Not only was the Neon House a nice place for a reprieve, but it also had plenty of photo opportunities that just so happened to have Heineken’s logo splashed in the background.
The Neon House was anything but a photo wall, proving that creating a unique backdrop for photos can take on a different dimension and succeed.
Busch and NASCAR’s Kevin Harvick Themed Cars
I already said that sponsored names and logos on a racing vehicle are standard-issue motorsport sponsorship, which is why I have to talk about this next activation, which occurred on the NASCAR tracks.
Busch is as long-term of a NASCAR sponsor as Coke, just about, but doesn’t get nearly the same level of acclaim. Busch joined the NASCAR sponsor lineup in 1978 and has been around ever since.
In 2014, Busch came aboard the Stewart-Haas Racing league as a sponsor in addition to continuing to operate as one of NASCAR’s premier partners. Several years later, in 2020, Busch and Kevin Harvick, a NASCAR leading drivers and member of the Stewart-Haas Racing league, began driving a sponsored car with a different type of graphics than most.
For one, the Busch-sponsored graphics changed constantly, spotlighting funny memes, vanity products, and Busch-related promotions. Rather than a static logo, Harvick’s car became more of a “driving billboard,” as Sports Business Journal referred to it.
Although it seems silly, it did the trick. According to Sports Business Journal, Busch sales increased in the first part of 2020 by 10.1 percent. Busch Light was the biggest seller in that period at a rate of 17.7 percent.
Busch says its NASCAR sponsorship with Harvick helped shape those sales figures. After all, NASCAR fans have long perceived Busch as NASCAR’s official beer.
What We Can Learn from It
Continuing to curate winning activations when you’ve been associated with the same brand for decades is difficult. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, Busch stuck with a tried and true activation—logos on a race car—and jazzed it up to make it unique, engaging, and interesting for the fans.
It did the trick. Of course, it helps that Busch has decades of history and a sterling public reputation among NASCAR fans, but the activation was like the icing on the cake.
The American Express Fan Experience at F1 Las Vegas
Getting back to Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Heineken Neon House isn’t the only activation from that event I want to shed some light on. The American Express Fan Experience is another one worth chatting about.
For a limited time during the Las Vegas Grand Prix (three days only) in the North Koval Zone, fans could stop by the American Express Fan Experience. This multi-story activation took guests trackside.
Since it was three stories of fun, there was a lot to do. For example, guests could make an avatar of themselves and then watch it climb into an F1 car. They could also customize F1 merch, send custom postcards, make friendship bracelets, and enjoy some of the best views of the racetrack.
The Race Recovery Lab on the second floor had caffeinated and un-caffeinated beverages, from Liquid Death (a water brand) to Moet Hennessey and juices. Oh, and Wolfgang Puck, a famous chef, was also on hand to sate your hunger.
Sounds great, right? Here’s the catch. The only way to get into the American Express Fan Experience at the Las Vegas Grand Prix was to have an American Express card.
Depending on which card you have, you could get further into the activation. For example, all American Express cardholders could enjoy the first floor, but you needed either a Centurion or Platinum Card to get onto the second and third floors.
What We Can Learn from It
American Express is no stranger to sponsorship, often appearing on billings like festivals and motorsports races. It frequently puts together these VIP experiences catered exclusively to its cardholders.
The American Express Fan Experience generates an instant sense of FOMO. If you don’t have a card, let alone the right one to get to all three levels, you’re going to wish you can change that ASAP so that the next time F1 and American Express come to town, you can enjoy the perks.
The sense of exclusivity that an activation like the American Express Fan Experience creates resonates with audiences. This is their opportunity to feel like MVPs and be treated extra-special.
Heineken Greener Bar at Formula E’s Heineken London E-Prix
F1 isn’t the only motorsport brand Heineken is associated with. It also teams up with Formula E, also known as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, during its E-Prix race. This electric car championship race began in 2011 and is still running strong.
Since electric cars are all about reducing emissions and making better choices for the environment, it’s unsurprising that Heineken created an activation in that vein. The Greener Bar is an event bar that Heineken says is “designed to reduce waste, water, emissions and energy usage.”
Everything is recycled, reusable, or upcycled, from reusable cups to barley husk coasters and even staff uniforms.
Although the Greener Bar wasn’t created for motorsports and didn’t make its exclusive debut at the London E-Prix, it’s awesome that Heineken has brought its conscious consumerism brand of bar to the racetrack.
What We Can Learn from It
The reason Heineken has had so much success with the Greener Bar, especially in this instance, all has to do with knowing its audience.
Someone who is into electric racing enough to attend an event is going to be passionate about doing what’s right for the environment, a stance that Heineken accomplishes quite well with the Greener Bar.
This is one of those activations that can find a home in many motorsport events, from NASCAR to F1. As sports as a whole becomes laxer on alcohol sponsors, who knows? The Greener Bar could pop up at a motorsport race near you.
Wrapping Up
Motorsport sponsorship continues to grow by leaps and bounds, especially with the increasing popularity of F1, but many brands that pave the way for what sponsorship activations can look like have been in the game for decades (such as Busch and Coca-Cola).
A motorsport sponsorship activation has no limits. Taking standard activation ideas and making them better, like photo-op themed zones and ever-changing advertisements on a race car have become increasingly popular.
So too are themed zones and green initiatives good ideas to consider incorporating into your next motorsport sponsorship opportunity.
At the end of the day, remember that the best activation for your unique sponsor is one that fulfills their needs and your audience’s needs. Review these activations only as inspiration, not as a rulebook for what you must do!
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Chris Baylis is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Sponsorship Collective.
After spending several years in the field as a sponsorship professional and consultant, Chris now spends his time working with clients to help them understand their audiences, build activations that sponsors want, apply market values to their assets and build strategies that drive sales.
Read More about Chris Baylis