King & Almirola Bring Home Bacon; Thank You, Paula Deen
Current NASCAR
It was nice to see the announcement of the longterm sponsorship by Smithfield Foods of Richartd Petty Motorsports and Aric Almirola. At least they have a pretty good clue where the bulk of the sponsorship for #43 will derive over the next three seasons. The announcement story below is from the Norfolk, Virginia paper. If Patsy Thompkins-Keisler hears strange sounds during the night, it might just be the King picking up the bacon in Tar Heel and taking it back to Randleman!
Smithfield expands partnership with NASCAR team
Posted to: Business Smithfield Foods Western Tidewater
By Philip Walzer
The Virginian-Pilot
January 16, 2014
Smithfield Foods Inc. wants to drive more NASCAR fans to its pork and bacon.
Thats why on Wednesday it announced a major expansion of its sponsorship of Richard Petty Motorsports in one of the largest marketing campaigns in its 78-year history.
The data supports the fact that this is the right way to reach our customers, Smithfields president and CEO, C. Larry Pope, said in a conference call with reporters.
Smithfields research shows that NASCAR fans eat an average of 20 percent more bacon, ham and sausage than the typical American, Bob Weber, the senior director of business development, said in an interview.
Estimates put the number of NASCAR fans at 75 million to 80 million, about one-fourth of the U.S. population.
Smithfield will be primary sponsor of Pettys No. 43 Ford Fusion, driven by Aric Almirola, in 29 of 38 races in this years NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. That allows Smithfield to splash its logo and those of its subsidiaries on Almirolas car.
Smithfields commitment to the Petty group will run through 2016, Pope said.
In turn, Petty and Almirola will appear in TV ads and other media on Smithfields behalf, Pope said.
Pettys likeness, in cardboard cutouts, will be seen more often in promotions at stores. But the real Petty will be talking up Smithfield to its purchasers.
Richard does a terrific job by being available off-track to visit with our customers, Pope said.
Smithfields arrangement with the Petty team, Pope said, is substantially larger than anything we ever had with Paula Deen. Deen, the former TV food host, served as Smithfields spokeswoman for seven years until she was dropped last summer after making comments criticized as racially insensitive.
Pope did not say how much Smithfield is spending. Weber said this years commitment would be eight times as much as it spent in 2012, when it began the partnership by sponsoring Almirolas car in 15 races.
Smithfield was purchased for $7.1 billion by Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. of Hong Kong in September. When Pope was asked whether the NASCAR arrangement ran into resistance from Shuanghuis executives, he said: Im in control of this decision. Theyre not a branding-oriented company, so theyre learning from us.
Marketing researchers said Smithfields investment sounded promising. I think, absolutely, they can reap value from this, said Mark Jeffery, senior lecturer of executive education at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, who has studied NASCAR marketing deals. It could be a very good fit for them.
NASCAR has incredibly broad reach, said Jeffery, author of Data-Driven Marketing. The characteristics of its fans, such as income level, surprisingly match the demographics of the U.S. population. And theyre split almost evenly by gender.
Kiran Karande, a marketing professor at Old Dominion University, added that fans loyalty to NASCAR brands is very high. Smithfield might be able to switch people who are buying other brands, said Karande, associate dean of ODUs business school.
With Smithfields increased support, Almirola said, we have the resources now and the tools that we need to be a lot more competitive. The Petty team, based in Concord, N.C., announced that it signed a three-year extension with Almirola.
Pope said hes more concerned with Smithfields bottom line than Almirolas race results.
Im in it for the money, he said. As long as you sell bacon, ham and sausage, were going to have a great relationship. When you stop selling bacon, ham, sausage, this relationship is going to deteriorate fast.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
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