VANDERGRIFF: EDUCATION IS POWER
Landing a major sponsorship in today’s complex marketing environment
requires creativity that transcends the traditional approach. For a
group of displaced drivers led by Bob Vandergriff Jr. knowledge appears
to be their best recourse. Vandergriff has developed a new website, www.sponsordragracers.com , a stop on the World Wide Web aimed at educating marketing agencies who seek the best bang for their buck in advertising.
He believes drag racing has been sorely lacking in educating corporate America on its marketing value.
New Marketing Website Aimed At Showcasing Drag Racing’s Value
Landing a major sponsorship in today’s complex marketing environment requires creativity that transcends the traditional approach. For a group of displaced drivers led by Bob Vandergriff Jr. knowledge appears to be their best recourse.
Vandergriff has developed a new website, www.sponsordragracers.com , a stop on the World Wide Web aimed at educating marketing agencies who seek the best bang for their buck in advertising.
He believes drag racing has been sorely lacking in educating corporate America on its marketing value.
“Over the last two years I’ve been making a lot of friends in the agency world that represent a lot of the companies who have a prominent presence in NASCAR,” Vandergriff explained. “I’ve found over the last two years that a lot of their education of our sport is very lacking. A couple of agencies have suggested to me that I should create something like this.”
Vandergriff began this endeavor with the vision of creating a one stop shop for agenices interested in sponsorship. A prospectus sponsor can come to this site and gather all the data they need ranging from demographics to costs to who’s available.
“By doing this I think we can educate them about the basics of our sport,” Vandergriff said. “A lot of them think our costs are costs comparable to what it would take to run a NASCAR team. We need to educate people that our costs are much more reasonable than the more traditional NASCAR options.”
As Vandergriff sees it, drag racing doesn’t present a model similar to NASCAR. With that said, he believes many prospective sponsors just don’t know where to ask the pertinent questions.
“They may not know any teams or may not be familiar whereas with NASCAR you can just pick up a phone and call a Richard Childress or Rick Hendrick or somebody like that,” he added.
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Sponsordragracers.com, he believes, can develop a hassle free “meeting zone” where they can get their answers without searching high and low, and creating the overwhelming experience of inundation.
“They are going to be in a situation where they can call somebody for further information and learn what drag racing has to offer without having to hear a different type of sales pitch or something,” Vandergriff said. “It’s more of an education forum as well as a marketing and sponsorship forum.”
With that said, a marketing agency can learn everything they need to know from the specifics of the average drag racing attendee right down to the bottom line cost for activating a marketing partnership. In this cutthroat world of sponsorships and the dog-eat-dog mentality that often prevails, Vandergriff doesn’t fear any team knowing what his “package” is.
“We can offer things in our sport that no one else can,” Vandergriff said. “Once we create an interest, I think that we can start a program that speaks for itself. I’m not too concerned about any outside competition.”
Currently Vandergriff is joined by three drivers in this unique marketing quest for drag racing.
Recently displaced Top Fuel drivers Hot Rod Fuller and J.R. Todd have joined Vandergriff, as has Jessie Harris, who lost her driving gig at the beginning of the 2008 season. Plans call to expand the driver listing on sponsordragracers.com.
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“Right now we are just in the initial stages, but the reason I included the drivers that I did is because prospective companies can see we’ve covered all of the marketing bases from the minority to the female standpoint,” Vandergriff said. “We can offer certain drivers to fit a program designed to reach a specific demographic.”
Vandergriff cautions that the current group is not the be-all, end-all, and the group would consider expansion if one brings a unique and benefitting marketing angle.
Currently Vandergriff has only drivers listed on the program and there’s a reason for that. If a sponsorship is acquired, he has all the tools in place to assemble an operation in rapid fashion.
Race fans will recall in 2007 that Vandergriff discussed the possibility of fielding a four-car team, how does this coincide with that vision?
“If we can do it then we’ll do it, that’s been my aim for the past couple of years to move into the team owner role,” he said. “By doing this site, I believe we are heading in that direction.”
Ten years ago, such a plan wouldn’t have worked because of the undeveloped marketing aspects of the Internet. The information age has collided with the demand for sound marketing decisions thus making the Internet the perfect venue.
Vandergriff has read NASCAR related case studies in the past and they suggest he’s on the right path.
“By being on the internet we can reach not just the United States but all over the world now,” Vandergriff said. “There may be companies based in other countries that have branches in the United States that want to offer the same things the US companies plan to. I promise you without this I wouldn’t have access to a company over in Sweden or something. Since it’s on the internet then maybe we can open up a whole new potential marketplace.”
Vandergriff hopes his new program will make up for lost marketing time.
“Hopefully by doing something like this we can educate people about our sport a little bit,” Vandergriff said. “It’s been a problem in our sport that we’ve been the best valued secret. Now we need to get people educated about it, especially in these economic times where NASCAR teams receive sponsorships in the 20 million dollar range. We can provide a sound alternative for companies at a more reasonable cost.”
Alas, such a presence opens the door for the tire-kickers as well.
“Absolutely it does,” Vandergriff said. “But I think if we are able to find one company or two companies that get involved in this, it will be worth it.”
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