Companies clamor for Earnhardt's magic touch

It seemed like the Vegas kind of thing to do. Partner with a local hotel and casino, bank some tickets for the next year's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and tie it all together with NASCAR's most popular driver. Thus, Dale Jr.'s South Point Jackpot was born. In February of 2008 the track offered tickets to the following year's event, with the caveat that the money would be refunded if fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Sprint Cup championship. Track president Chris Powell even took out an insurance policy to recoup losses just in case the Hendrick Motorsports driver wound up celebrating on the big stage in November. Tickets were limited to a magic number -- 8,888 -- and sold out within two days.
Everyone seemed pleased with the promotion -- except, that is, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Perhaps that's because it was followed by another on the part of Memphis Motorsports Park, which in January issued a release offering Earnhardt a lifetime supply of the city's famous barbecued ribs in return for a the driver's participation in the track's October Nationwide Series event.


“He's the single most important

icon in this business, and whoever

is No. 2 -- and you could argue that

about a few other guys --

the gap between them is long.”
-EDDIE GOSSAGE


"It would have been cool to get a heads-up that they were going to do that -- hey, man, we're going to use your name in this, instead of getting it sprung on you," Earnhardt said earlier this season. "Vegas did the same thing. What was the deal a couple years ago? Some ridiculous deal for them to try to get people to buy tickets. I told everybody to go buy tickets to Talladega. It's a hell of a better race."


Never mind that, according to track presidents, facilities are allowed virtually unlimited use of the names and likenesses of NASCAR drivers in order to sell tickets to their events. For Earnhardt, it all comes with the territory. Everybody wants a piece of him. His often smiling, sometimes scruffy visage has adorned everything from billboards to television commercials to ticket stubs and candy bars, while his signature or car number has appeared on consumer products too numerous to mention. Despite an ongoing recession, despite a streak of just one race victory in his last 102 Sprint Cup starts, Dale Earnhardt Jr. remains a one-man economic powerhouse, a figure who by his very association can lift share prices of a company's stock more than two points or sell nearly 9,000 race tickets in two days.


That's the power of Junior. No wonder his management team receives roughly four pitches per week -- ranging from the realistic to the ridiculous -- from companies or business owners interested in having the driver of the No. 88 car representing their product. No, he hasn't enjoyed the best of seasons recently on the race track. But in the marketplace, nobody else can touch him.


"He's the single most important icon in this business, and whoever is No. 2 -- and you could argue that about a few other guys -- the gap between them is long," said Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway. "He's it, and everybody else is eating his dust in a big way. That's why it's so important that he have a good year, that he win races, that he contend for the championship. The quickest fix for whatever ails our sport is Junior winning races."
But to the brands Earnhardt represents, he doesn't necessarily have to win. He just has to be, well, Dale Jr. Just ask the folks at Amp Energy, the PepsiCo product that serves as co-primary sponsor of his race car. Before it joined forces with Earnhardt prior to last year, the company was a relatively minor player in the energy drink market, and enjoyed only a fraction of the brand awareness of industry leader Red Bull. Now it's ubiquitous, as all those race fans wearing all those green and white caps and jackets will attest. He hasn't won a championship, hasn't come close. He's won only one race in Amp colors. But when it comes to product visibility, Earnhardt has the closest thing in NASCAR to a Midas touch.


"Within NASCAR, we've seen tremendous growth," said Ken Strnad, Amp Energy's senior manager. "We've seen over 120 percent growth for the Amp trademark within NASCAR strongholds, so it's just been a huge success for the brand as well for Dale, I would think. I think the results just speak to how powerful he is as a sports property."




Growth rates


“When you think about that sea of red

turning into a sea of green, it's just an

amazing testimony to the power of the

Dale sponsorship.”
-KEN STRNAD, Amp Energy


It seemed an incongruous combination -- a race car driver and cologne? This was 2001, before the Daytona 500 became a fragrance, before Jeff Gordon began to pitch Halston, back when the only smells associated with NASCAR were those of tires and fuel. So what on earth was L'Oreal doing, signing Earnhardt to represent its Drakkar Noir brand? Getting way ahead of the curve, as it turns out. The result was an astonishing 46 percent growth rate, which vaulted the fragrance from 18th to second in the market. And this was before most of Earnhardt's Most Popular Driver Awards, before most of his race wins, back when he was a kid with blond highlights living in his father's considerable shadow.


"NASCAR was kind of on the upswing in terms of its popularity, and Dale Jr. was just kind of coming out of the box, and we were really the first person to position him not in his uniform, not as a typical race car driver guy, but to position him as a lifestyle," said Thayer Lavielle, who engineered that campaign for L'Oreal, and is now vice president for marketing and branding at JR Motorsports. "That allowed us to open up an entire new market to our department store distribution and to bring NASCAR fans into those department stores for a different reason, and conversely bring our brand into a sport that had never been tapped before."
Over at Amp, Strnad can relate. The energy drink had a marketing platform built primarily around extreme sports before PepsiCo's existing relationship with the Hendrick team -- and Earmhardt's admitted affinity for Mountain Dew, of which Amp is a spinoff -- led to the creation of the now-familiar green and white No. 88 car after Dale Jr. joined the super team prior to the 2008 campaign. The six-year-old beverage brand wanted to recast itself around a new image and raise awareness of its product. Thus far, the results have exceeded everyone's expectations.
"When you think about that sea of red turning into a sea of green, it's just an amazing testimony to the power of the Dale sponsorship," said Strnad, referring to the colors worn by members of Earnhardt's fan base today, and during his long tenure with former primary sponsor Budweiser.



"We know that when you go down to a race, the Amp brand is just everywhere. It's overwhelming. From a business performance standpoint, the results are extraordinary."
Wrangler, which enjoys a long history with the Earnhardts, features Dale Jr. in every one of its marketing platforms.


How extraordinary? Consider that even the best-selling energy drinks, on average, enjoy a household penetration of about 24 percent. Among Earnhardt fans, Amp's penetration is 50 percent. In geographic areas where NASCAR is popular, Amp has experienced a growth rate of 120 percent. Overall awareness jumped 17 points, helping the brand move from sixth- to fourth-most popular in the industry. The rise of Amp, the fastest-growing energy drink in America last year, even helped buoy sales of the entire energy-drink category. Oh, and shares of the company's stock went up 2.5 points, too. That's the Junior effect in action.


"We did that with Dale in light of an oil crisis and a recession," Strnad said. "These growth rates are phenomenal. The energy drink category grew about 9 percent in 2008, so we far surpassed category norms as far as growth. With the economic climate being what it is and those growth rates, it shows you how tremendous this sponsorship has been for the Amp brand."
With results like that, no wonder the Wrangler jeans brand recently extended its partnership with Earnhardt for a sixth consecutive year. The company -- which enjoys a long history with the Earnhardts, going back to the Wrangler sponsorship of Dale Sr.'s race cars in the 1980s -- features Dale Jr. in every one of its marketing platforms, from television commercials to in-store displays. Unlike an emerging brand like Amp, Wrangler has long been No. 1 in its class.



Earnhardt helps it stay there.


"I definitely think he has helped us increase our brand awareness," said Jenni Broyles, senior marketing communication manager for Wrangler. "We have a really strong, healthy brand, and he adds to that and helps build that brand awareness and in general brings a positive perception toward the brand. People who can identify with him can also identify with our brand. I think to be realistic, there are numerous factors that help us sell product or sell product to our retailers. But I have no doubt that Dale, or who he is or how natural it is for him to be in Wrangler, has benefited us tremendously."




Anatomy of a pitch


Four times a week. That's how often Thayer Lavielle, vice president for branding and marketing at JR Motorsports -- and the point person when it comes to control of Earnhardt's image -- is approached by someone interested in having their company or product associated with NASCAR's most popular driver. Some of them are legitimate sponsorship opportunities. Others ... well, not as much so.


"It can range from anything from, I have my own fruit basket business and I want to buy a sticker on the car and have Dale Jr. do all my advertising, to, I own a company that makes leather chairs and I want Dale Jr. to be my spokesperson and I'll send his entire company chairs. It really runs the gamut of stuff from lifestyle to racing," Lavielle said. "I'm always appreciative, but we get a lot of people who in their mind think Dale Jr. is a fit, and then in our mind we think,



I can see where you're going with that, but that's not really where he is today."
Earnhardt's likeness, signature or car number adorns more than 100 different kinds of products, running the gamut from bedding to T-shirts to decals. That licensing empire, overseen at JR Motorsports by Joe Mattes, is separate from the marketing side, where Lavielle and JR Motorsports president Kelley Earnhardt oversee a more stringent vetting process -- understandable, given that they're dealing with companies that Earnhardt Jr. will be personally associated with. Right now there are about nine major partners that Earnhardt represents, ranging from car sponsors Amp and National Guard, to apparel makers Wrangler and Adidas, to the Web hosting site godaddy.com.


When it comes to choosing partners, Earnhardt -- who does, after all, have a race car to compete in -- allows his management team to do much of the heavy lifting. Sometimes partnerships will occur organically; that's what happened in the case of Adidas, whose products Earnhardt has worn for years. In other instances, a licensing partner may choose to ramp up efforts and step into the marketing arena. But when it comes to an outside pitch, there's often an initial feeling-out process. Is the company familiar with NASCAR? Is it familiar with Earnhardt and who he is? If the answer to those questions is yes, Lavielle may ask to see a commercial script. After that script has been reviewed, edited and tweaked so both sides are comfortable, it finally lands in the hands of the driver himself.


Nine times out of 10, Lavielle said, Earnhardt will give the concept the green light. He also has 100 percent veto power. And it isn't uncommon for Earnhardt to become personally involved in the creative process; this is, after all, a driver with a keen sense of both his fan base and his own image, who oversaw many of the cosmetic details of his No. 88 car when he first moved to Hendrick.


"I think all of our partners have been extremely receptive to him being involved as much as he wants to be," Lavielle said. "What we try to do before we get to the place where he's involved is, try to set the foundation with the partner and say, 'Here's what he's comfortable with, here are some of his suggestions, and here are some things he may be comfortable or not comfortable doing.' An ideal situation is Amp, where we collaborated on what that creative was ahead of time, and it wasn't solely the brand coming to us trying to retrofit into it. It was, how do we try to create something that feels true to both brands?"


Of course, as some recent race track promotions would suggest, not every advertisement involving Earnhardt receives a prior stamp of approval. A minor flap arose in early 2008 after Texas Motor Speedway erected a series of billboards, each stating different reasons to buy tickets to the Fort Worth track. Four of them declared, "Reason #88: Step-Mom," a reference to Earnhardt's falling-out with stepmother Teresa over control of Dale Earnhardt Inc. Kelley Earnhardt asked that the billboards be changed, and track president Eddie Gossage acquiesced.
The billboards may have pushed the limits of good taste, but Gossage said he was completely within his rights as a NASCAR track promoter to erect them in the first place.


"We can produce any billboard we want to, any newspaper ad, and radio ad, any TV ad using his name, his likeness, his image," Gossage said. "There is absolutely no limits to what we can do, and even the drivers don't know that, I don't believe. But when they sign that entry form to enter the race, that is part of what they're signing away, the ability of the promoter to use it, as you should. We're paying millions of dollars. We should have their likeness to use, and we do. Whether it was that silly billboard last year or anything else, we don't have to run it by anybody."


Las Vegas Motor Speedway president Chris Powell said the same thing about his South Point Jackpot promotion. Powell emphasized that he thought he had cleared the idea with Earnhardt's representatives, but word evidently never got to the driver.


Still: "We didn't have to have Dale Jr.'s permission to do what we did a year ago," Powell said.



"We [contacted his representatives] as a favor. As a courtesy to say, 'We want to put your name on this promotion.' We don't even have to do that. Because of the agreement each driver has with NASCAR, we are able to use their likeness, we are able to use their name, in order to promote selling tickets. Now, if we try to promote, say, something other than a NASCAR event, then we would certainly owe it to them to get their permission. But to promote a NASCAR event, we can use any driver's likeness or name."


And tracks aren't shy about using Earnhardt. Gossage said Texas uses the driver in every type of advertising it does -- outdoor, television, radio, even e-mail blasts. Every year the facility produces a poster that it sends out to hundreds of thousands of potential ticket buyers. Usually, Earnhardt is the driver featured on it.


"I'm a promoter," Gossage said. "If I can't feel it here in my gut, then I shouldn't be doing this. It's just clear. I don't know the sales figures, but I anecdotally go, look at the huge crowd out there behind Junior's hauler versus whoever else is down the way. Driver introductions, listen to that crowd. It's just obvious. There are some guys who certainly rival him -- Jeff [Gordon], Jimmie [Johnson], Tony [Stewart], Carl [Edwards]. But they're not there, and I think they'd tell you that, too."




The genuine article

From her first days at work at JR Motorsports, Lavielle can recall Earnhardt walking into the office wearing Adidas sweatpants and a T-shirt bearing the company's tri-foil logo. So when it came time for the driver to partner with a sportswear company, there really was only one choice. "He's always been an Adidas guy," Lavielle said. "So it was never really an option to go to another brand on that. That's where his heart and soul is."
Companies love Earnhardt because of his unparalleled popularity. They love Earnhardt because an association with the driver is almost always followed by increased growth rates and sales figures. And they love Earnhardt for his penchant for using the items he represents, which only helps to tighten the bonds between the product, the driver and his legion of devoted fans.
"It's extremely important, because for us, if we're saying our brand is authentic and real and genuine, and then you put someone out there who definitely doesn't wear the product or believe in the product, it's a disconnect," said Jenni Broyles, senior marketing communication manager for Wrangler jeans. "For us, our brand positioning is all about that authenticity. So we definitely wanted someone to be wearing the product and believe in the product."
Earnhardt does, often because his association with certain companies stems from a previous association. A lifetime of wearing Adidas -- which declined to be interviewed for this story -- spawned into an Adidas sponsorship. His family's long history with Wrangler, which backed the car his father drove for owners Rod Osterlund, Jim Stacy, Bud Moore and Richard Childress from 1981-87, made him a natural to represent the clothing company. Executives at Amp knew of Earnhardt's fondness for Mountain Dew and the beverage brand's place in NASCAR, as evidenced by the retro paint scheme, taken from Darrell Waltrip's 1981 Mountain Dew-backed car, that Earnhardt drove at Darlington Raceway last year.


“I think as a marketer, everyone

strives for relevance and authenticity,

and I think Dale Jr. is the embodiment

of just that.”
-KEN STRNAD, Amp Energy


"He really does use a lot of Amp, as testament to the 4 a.m. e-mails we get from him. He really does use it. He and I have talked a lot about the fact that maybe the fans don't really buy into the fact that he does, coming off of Budweiser. So he spoke at length with the creative team about how to present the relationship with their product in a way that is authentic to who he is. Because it's true. It's nothing contrived, it's not being a salesman, it's him being who he is. And that's Dale Jr. He always is who he is," Lavielle said.


"I think that's why he resonates with people. He doesn't stray from that. When a brand that wants to get on board with him is looking for this huge climb, we look at them and say, 'Is it a product that he would use? Is it true to something that is functioning in his world currently?' We're not going to all of the sudden sign up with the fruit basket lady because she thinks it's a good idea."


But for an emerging brand like Amp, the Earnhardt connection provides a degree of pertinence the company might not have enjoyed before. After all, how many other drivers would look cool on top of a camel in a Super Bowl ad? Amp continues to build a campaign around Earnhardt, with plans to introduce a can shaped like a race car, and for Earnhardt's real vehicle to carry the signatures of 70,000 fans during the Amp-backed November race at Talladega Superspeedway. It works because people buy into the guy behind it.


"I think as a marketer, everyone strives for relevance and authenticity, and I think Dale Jr. is the embodiment of just that," said Ken Strnad, Amp Energy's senior manager. "One thing is clear about Dale, and it's the reason why his fans celebrate him so much. He is the genuine article. He's very relevant within NASCAR and has broad mainstream appeal as well. We know that Dale wouldn't just sponsor any product. Amp is a real part of his daily life. It goes beyond a product shot in a post-race interview. Dale uses Amp, he loves the product. It was the perfect fit for Amp, because we were looking for authenticity and relevance."
It's a testament to Earnhardt's ability as a product representative that he's at his commercial peak despite some rather uneven results on the race track. His lone victory in his last 102 starts came last spring at Michigan International Speedway, and a problematic opening to this season has forced him to make a gradual climb from the depths of the point standings. Heading into Sunday's race at Bristol Motor Speedway, he ranks 24th among Sprint Cup drivers, with a single lap led.


Earnhardt has his share of critics, people who believe he hasn't done enough on the track to justify all the attention and fan devotion he receives. More victories behind the wheel would surely silence them, not to mention provide his marketing partners with more of the authenticity they're looking for.


"I think it would help him, as well as those who are trying to sell anything with his name on it, if his performance improves a bit in the 2009 season, because he is so popular," said Las Vegas track president Chris Powell. "He's wildly popular. We've got a young man on our staff here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway who believes Dale Jr. walks on water, and he is just salivating for the time when Dale Jr. gets back in Victory Lane. He won that one race last year at Michigan, but I think with some people, because it was a gas mileage victory, it didn't get probably the respect it would have gotten if he would have been racing door handle to door handle with somebody and been able to pull off the victory. I think for his legions of fans, Dale Jr. needs to win as much as for himself."


For the companies that partner with Earnhardt, race wins are certainly nice. But they know that success on the race track waxes and wanes. The driver's popularity, meanwhile, does not. And that's what they're buying into, more than anything else.


"I would say certainly when he's winning, that's great," said Wrangler's Broyles. "We support him and want him to be winning, not just because he's with the Wrangler brand, but because we really believe in him as a brand. But at the same time, he's the No. 1 most popular driver, and he isn't always the winner. I think realistically, winning is great. But his popularity and his appeal and his likability ... is much more important."