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Toliver's Schtick for Schick
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With
a win at Pomona, Toliver is looking like the salesman of the Century
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By Louis Brewster Photos by James Drew, Brian Wood |
Jerry Toliver was missing. Less than 90 minutes before a scheduled qualifying run at the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series season-opening Winternationals, public relations man Joe Sherk was a tad flustered as he tracked down his client.
Moments later, Sherk reappeared and started his sentence with the phrase that seemingly pops up every other minute at a drag racing event: "You won't believe this," said Sherk, trying to shield a slight smile. "Jerry's at Home Depot buying some trash cans." The sportswriter's quick glance at the large pit area was not so fast, nor discreet enough, that it escaped Sherk's attention. "He needs them for the sampling." Quite suddenly, the picture became instantly clear. Toliver -- out of drag racing for 18 months and certainly one of the sport's most colorful characters - was taking care of business, literally.
Toliver, who raced out of his own pocket just long enough to know he doesn't want to do it again, was taking care of his sponsor. Not just any sponsor, but another "mainstream, consumer product" company new to drag racing. Toliver has a track record for luring such sponsors into the sport; first with DC Comics and Warner Brothers in 1998 with the wildly popular Mad Magazine" Funny Car and then a year later with the World Wrestling Federation.
NHRA discovered a new world once long-time sponsor RJ Reynolds Tobacco, through its Winston brand, left the sport after the 2001 season. Its deal with Powerade included a national campaign unavailable through Winston Today's current non-traditional major sponsors include the U.S. Army and Oakley.. Mattel Toys is on the side of Ashley Force's alcohol dragster. It's the future of the sport. And Toliver knows it. This time around, Toliver is in a Toyota Celica that will carry the colors and logo design for Schick's Quattro razor. The car also has associate sponsorship from Lion's Gate Entertainment and Kroger, the country's second-leading retailer. Certainly NHRA is paying attention. "It's extremely important to have such sponsors," said Gary Darcy, vice president for marketing. "It's part of the strategic direction we embarked five years ago. We have a diverse sponsor base and they now have the ability to promote and take us into the marketplace.
"This is right where we want to be." It's more than enough to leave competitors, and other professionals in Top Fuel dragster and Pro Stock, shaking and scratching their heads. How does Toliver do it? "Pure business principles," Toliver said in the comfort of his lounge in the team hauler after his return from Home Depot. "I sell the product for what the product is worth, that's my approach." And what is it that Toliver is pushing? What is his secret in a time when sponsorships are so difficult to put together? "I know all about what NHRA has to offer," said Toliver, who has won four national event titles. "I know all the elements of it. That's what I sell when I approach a potential sponsor. "NHRA has unique characteristics about it, unique opportunities for sponsors they can't get in other forms of motorsports." Including the ability to sample. For the deal with Schick, it was
the
"Schick will touch two million this year with the razor," said Toliver, who planned to distribute nearly 60,000 Quattro razors at the event. "Our fans will take it home with them and use the blades. Hopefully, they'll say, 'Boy I like this razor' and then go out and buy one. "That's the madness to sampling. They like it, they buy it." But don't forget about the loyalty factor. According to Darcy, ongoing studies indicate more than 70 percent of NHRA fans will buy a sponsor's product as a way of saying thanks to fueling a team, or the sport.
"We offer our fans unique access," said Darcy about the
open pit area. "It's unprecedented in sports marketing or sports
entertainment. It's unprecedented access for our sponsors with the "It's the ability to interact." Throughout the history of the sport, racers have found it very difficult to seal the deal. Proposals often fall short, not of the money needed to keep the race car on the quarter-mile, but of giving the potential client what they need in return. Toliver is nearly as comfortable in the boardroom as he is under the carbon fiber body. "No two proposals are the same," said Toliver, whose best finish in the points race was third to John Force in 2000. "I take a look at the client -- my potential sponsor, my customer - and tailor a presentation specifically for them. What's going to ring their bell? 
What's going to get them interested in what we're doing. "You really have to put together a whole marketing plan," said Toliver, whose best career time was set in the Pomona win with a 4.738. "You have to show them, sell them on, 'Here's what you can do with it' and make them believe it." The plan has to be convincing. Racers like Toliver who approach big companies are competing for the advertising dollar.
"They have a thousand ways to spend their money; all kinds of avenues," said Toliver. "And everybody in the world is banging on them. So a professional approach, with a sound business plan, I think is important. "No, it's more than important. It's mandatory." To achieve that goal, Toliver has found it easier to partner with agencies that deal directly with the sponsor. "I found it's easier to get an agency to listen to you than going straight to the company itself," said Toliver. "Companies seem to listen to agencies a lot, and for good reason. They've hired them to sell their product and create programs." Toliver sided with the William Morris Agency for the WWF deal and Full Dimension Marketing with Schick.
Actually, Toliver is following in the footsteps of Kenny Bernstein, Don Prudhomme, Force and Don Schumacher, all of who have attracted Fortune 500 companies into the sport. Toliver calls it the "evolution of the sport." "I think the sport is evolving, and when a sport evolves it
gives you horsepower, if you will, to sell with, more bang for the
buck," said Toliver. "NASCAR wasn't always the way it
is today. Good God, they were a bunch of Southern guys running in
the dirt with old beat up "But it became big money, a national pastime, " said Toliver. "If we ever achieve that level…Good God." If NHRA does get there, it will be with God's help and an approach like Toliver's, Louis Brewster covers motorsports for the Daily Bulletin in
Ontario,
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