Sponsorship Activation Spotlight: The Entitlement Race

There is a lot you can do when your brand "owns" an entire weekend in sports. Few other platforms allow you to build out a multi-dimensional and dynamic weekend like motorsports can. Our partners at Pennzoil continue to iterate and expand on their entitlement of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, even during the transition out of a pandemic. The shift in 2021 has focused to virtual engagements, tokens of appreciation, and unique points of view over onsite experiences.

Everyone misses the real-time presence of the race track. An entitlement brings a host of unique assets to use even when you remove anything to do with the onsite component. As a sponsor, your guests (virtual or otherwise) can be anyone from leading customers to high-producing employees. They can also be prospects, or people you are looking to build relationships with. Being at the race track provides a casual and friendly environment to get to know each other and move discussions forward.

Enhancing ROI

With the clear need for marketing ROI and an importance on company culture, brands are continually looking for unique ways to engage customers and employees. Sponsorship and strategic brand activation can allow this type of engagement to happen simultaneously. Developing this platform has allowed our partners to provide an entertainment experience that is unique to the event weekend.

The 2020 Pennzoil 400 was one of our largest-ever events with over 700 in-person guests. Little did we know, it was also our last large-scale event before the pandemic hit. We worked closely with our partners to shift everything from onsite to a more virtual approach to address the new environment in 2021. In one instance, we packed up the race track (and in some cases even packed up Las Vegas) and shipped goodie boxes wide and far to customers, partners, employees and media.

The value equation is furthered when employees, partners and potential customers see Pennzoil become larger than life with brand activation all over Las Vegas Motor Speedway while they are watching it from afar. This is the cherry on top of a week full of branded experiences and touch points. Having this consistency allows equity to continuously build year after year, something that is difficult to achieve with other forms of media and marketing that is increasingly fleeting.

Does this type of program sound right for your brand? There are opportunities big and small for you to start activating.