GREENandSAVE recently partnered with Eco Race Car Driver Leilani Münter and Mark Gibson Racing to promote energy efficiency and will be sponsoring her at the season opener at Daytona International Speedway on February 6.
The groundbreaking initiative has already garnered press coverage from leading race industry media ranging from cover story articles on ARCA Racing to Catchfence.
GREENandSAVE President Charlie Szoradi is eager to extend a co-sponsorship opportunity for American eco-minded companies to reach an unlikely sector of the mass marketplace.
“Our goal is simply to bring the message of environmental sustainability and energy independence to the American mainstream with a roar rather than a whisper,” he said.
The challenge in any economic climate, let alone the current recession, is garnering the support from corporate co-sponsors that have the means to participate in the multi-million dollar stock car marketing arena. The difference between intent and action comes down to dollars and cents.
Szoradi has created what his team believes is an unprecedented and cost-effective opportunity.
“Strength comes in numbers, so we have built a model where other companies can participate for as little as $5,000 rather than spending $50,000, $500,000 or $5 million and more. There is only one ‘first time’, so we welcome the participation from companies that will be proud to say that they are one of the founding co-sponsors of this historic first run of a GREEN Team at Daytona International Speedway.”
The $5,000 team sponsorship level covers a small portion of the race expenses, but it does include logo graphic inclusion on the coveted race car hood among up to13 other companies, and a host of other marketing perks.
“We picked 13 support companies as the target because of its historic relationship to the American colonies that stepped up to the plate, and this is in its own way our collective fight for American Energy Independence. We hope to expand the roster and rotate the branding on the race car for up to 50 different companies over the subsequent races in the season.” Though the shared branding approach is not the mode of typical NASCAR car wrap marketing, the value to co-sponsors may come way beyond the graphics on the car given that media darling Danica Patrick is also making her stock car debut on the same day. The ARCA Series Presented by RE/MAX and Menards will air live on SPEED at 4 PM February 6 and is expected to be an unprecedented media event given that Danica and Leilani are the only women racing in a male dominated sport on the high banks of Daytona.
The race also has a large trackside audience because it takes place immediately after NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying for the Daytona 500 and precedes NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star race, the Budweiser Shootout. In a Dec. 18 issue of Sporting News, Jim Pedley, managing editor of Racin' Today, says, “The announcement that Danica Patrick will drive in the series' season-opening event at Daytona has been gold for the series … ARCA will be in the center ring of the auto-racing media circus.”
GREENandSAVE welcomes the participation from American companies that either provide eco and energy saving services or those companies that have taken steps to make their own operations more sustainable. For more details contact: Charlie@GREENandSAVE.com.
