Motorsports – Word of the year: Value

While enjoying my holiday away from school, I’ve had some precious time to reflect on my experience in Orlando at the Motor Sport Business Forum. Among almost every session, I found the distinguished panels to keep repeating one word: VALUE.

I want to a share a few memorable anecdotes.

Eddie Gossage, President of Texas Motor Speedway, was asked a question about what his track has done to ease the burden on fans at the track. According to focus groups conducted in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the ability to bring a cooler into the racetrack and free parking are two amenities that set TMS apart from any other sporting option in the region. Contrast that to the new Texas Stadium, home of Jerry Jones’s Dallas Cowboys where it costs $75 just to park a single vehicle!

While some perceive the series to be struggling, IRL President, Terry Angstadt was able to shed a lot of light on American open-wheel racing, which I know far less about. Clothing company IZOD originally began a relationship with IndyCar as an Official Apparel sponsor in 2009. It has since embraced the diversity that IndyCar represents (having a driver lineup far more diverse, with many competitive foreign and female drivers), and wanted to increase involvement. Starting in 2010, the IRL has changed its name to the IZOD IndyCar Series. It will kick off 2010 with a third race outside of the US, on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in addition to races held in Toronto and Japan.

NHRA President, Tom Compton, spoke about the objective of delivering value to four main constituents. First, the fan – through delivering high quality entertainment. Second, the sponsors – using the sport as a vehicle to sell products, services, or promote awareness. Third, the tracks – holding their events provides income, and long-term stability for the series. Last, the competitors – by maintaining the prestige of the series to provide satisfaction and an income.

Susan Lute, from Canadian Tire, title sponsor of NASCAR Canada, laid out four strong points for when a company searches to activate their sponsorship. First, objectives for your plan must be defined. Deviating from those objectives can cause you to lose sight and miss your point. Second, move from “I think,” to “I know.” Third, a company’s goal should invest in a marketing message that reaches 100% of your intended target. Last, this would apply for any working relationship, being excited about working together helps both parties succeed.

To conclude, Eddie Gossage and TMS have worked to increase the value for fans by keeping a little bit of cash in fans wallets. The IZOD IndyCar Series has a more diverse culture, which has attracted new partners. NHRA has outlined who they serve, and strive to meet their goal. Canadian Tire, has outlined their strategy which not only increases value (sales) for the company, but experiences a mutually beneficial relationship working with NASCAR Canada.

These just a few pieces of information I was able to pick up while attending the Motor Sport Business Forum. I hope you find it interesting. Please, feel free to ask questions or leave comments. I look forward to responding to your thoughts and writing more over the next few weeks.

As always, follow me on Twitter, connect via LinkedIn, or email kylecedington@gmail.com.

Is NASCAR Opening Up?

Often considered the sport most heavily dictated by executives, NASCAR may be opening up a bit. If so, it is only a small estimate. NASCAR is at least providing an easy avenue for which to interact and communicate with fans.

Starting last week, NASCAR is going 2.0! One of my favorite blogs to read, The Daily Planet, released an article last week, discussing how NASCAR officials have expanded their offerings on the web to MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook (You will find each of the NASCAR pages linked). In addition to the article, I also obviously noted the signage on the NASCAR.com homepage (which is operated by Turner-Sports) touting the new and enhanced community features.

The development that seemed of the greatest importance, noted by The Daily Planet, was the MySpace page. Last time I used MySpace was in high school, and I deactivated my account. Instead, I am on Twitter following the official NASCAR account, in addition to the tweets posted from NASCAR_com.
Since I started studying the social media phenomena, the main idea is that everything revolves around relationships. Considered a fan friendly sport, NASCAR seems to be providing an easier, more direct line of communication for fans. After all, we the fans are what make the sport go round, or at least what I'm supposed to believe.

The first topic of conversation I noticed on the Facebook, Twitter, and NASCAR.com home page was the topic of a shift to more two-day events. For you non-NASCAR followers, the average race weekend consists of arriving at the track Thursday night, qualifying on Friday, and practice Saturday, before the race on Sunday. The thought is to condense the weekend by practicing and qualifying on Saturday and go racing on Sunday. Logistically, a two-day weekend would work wonders for a team's financial burden of travel and hotel accommodations.

My opinion aside (although I’m not opposed), the various sites lead fans to places like the Community on NASCAR.com or direct Twitter followers to comment on the Facebook page, to leave opinions and thoughts. On Tuesday, the Facebook page had 145 comments. As of Friday evening, I saw more than 560! What a great way to easily, and relatively effortlessly gain voluntary opinions.

Knowing that the stakeholders besides fans, like track-holding companies, team owners, etc, will have a greater influence over any major decisions, NASCAR has proved that they are willing to make changes to please fans and generate better competition (i.e. Double-File Restarts). Plus, any way that owners can save more money to help the cars go faster, should have support in the garage area.

Of all these advances with the social media and the sport I love, I have a couple concerns/thoughts:

1.      People take the opportunity to speak with some authority and intelligence (yes I’m aware of the NASCAR stereotypes)

2.      NASCAR continues to learn and grow with the social media trend, and establish stronger relationships

3.      Hire me! I’ll help do it!

That’s my time for the evening. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, or take any other ideas to blog about in the future.

Today's Marketing Leader - A Student Perspective

Earlier today, I was browsing around LinkedIn, and came across this discussion in the Answers section. The question is "What do you believe are the three most important attributes of a great marketing leader?"

Some of the common themes I saw from the active LinkedIn responders were:

• Listening to others/humility
• Strategic Planning
• Communication skills (from interpersonal to verbal)
• Leadership/Motivation
  
• Creativity

Those are just to name a few. Every response had something relevant or important characteristic or quality for a Marketer to posses.

It leads me to one general conclusion: today's marketers must be versatile. This past summer, as a marketing intern, not only was I directing my own Stage-Gate development plan, I was responsible for contacting and working with members from departments from design and accounting, to finance and production. Marketers need to be able to motivate co-workers, delegate tasks, but most importantly, have an overall grasp for the plan, and then evaluate the execution. 


I am far from an expert in anything, but consider myself knowledgeable enough to get excited about opportunities to practices such qualities. I've already had a variety of internship experience, but tomorrow, I get to find out what my projects shall be, for my Senior Capstone course. I will have one individual case and a group case, where I'll be a single Marketer, working with a variety of majors outside of my own. This course is not just another group project, but a culmination of my college career, and a way to enhance my value to future employers by practicing qualities I mentioned above, and more - BEFORE I hit the real world.