SurfaceUnits
06-30-06, 10:05 PM
One of the fundamental ways to achieve success in the business world is to bring your product to the people. Companies around the world are finding that one of the best ways to do that, is to have their product involved with the Champ Car World Series.
Boasting some of the strongest attendance numbers in all of sports, the Champ Car World Series is rapidly becoming a showcase for corporations to reach more than 150,000 fans per weekend. From recent events in Portland and Cleveland through upcoming races in Toronto and San Jose, corporate and sponsor support is increasing weekly for events and teams as well as for the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford itself.
"We have been able to build on unprecedented fan support, and through the hard work of our promoter group, we have been able to provide many opportunities for the corporate community ," said Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Will Wilson. "Champ Car and its three-day Festivals of Speed provide one of the most dynamic product platforms in sports and companies are finding great value in them."
Led by presenting sponsors Bridgestone and Ford, series partners McDonald's and Sherwin-Williams have taken steps to increase their involvement in the series, while team sponsors such as CDW, Bell Micro Products, Gulfstream, Aussie Vineyards, Mi-Jack, Tide and Muermans have brought a fresh approach to corporate involvement in the series.
The event promoters have followed suit, providing local corporations with increased value for their sponsorship dollars. The corporate interest has given events new chances for growth, allowing them to provide a fresh, exciting atmosphere for race fans that extends beyond the race. Concerts with national recording artists, pageants, interactive displays contribute to the festival feel that yields even more value for sponsors.
During the Portland weekend, Red Bull sponsored 12 events in downtown Portland surrounding the race while Chevron developed an innovative program featuring driver trading cards. Cleveland's race weekend attracted 22 sponsors up nearly 50 percent from the year before, and included a Saturday ticket package with Coca-Cola that led to the highest single-day ticket sales in the 25-year history of the Cleveland event.
San Jose has attracted nearly 50 corporate sponsors for the 2006 event including such high-profile companies as Bud Light, Toyota, FedEx, Taylor Woodrow Homes and Allstate Insurance. Fans attending the July 7-9 Molson Grand Prix of Toronto will see products from 35 corporate sponsors including Yahoo! Canada, Samsung, Molson, MBNA and John Deere. Montreal will kick off an exciting new promotion with Wal-Mart this year where fans can purchase special tickets only at Wal-Mart that celebrate the number 27 carried by Canadian racing legends Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve as well as current-day star Andrew Ranger. The Wal-Mart tickets are three-day passes in a special grandstand for $81 ($27 per day) with a third of the proceeds from each package sold going to the Children's Miracle Network.
"Fans that are coming to Champ Car races this year are seeing a new and improved product both on and off the track, which is a direct result of increased corporate activity surrounding the events," said series co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven. "This is the kind of dynamic that feeds off itself in the business world and we are very pleased with the direction it is taking."
Additionally, the trend that led to a new Champ Car attendance record one year ago is continuing through the first six races of 2006. Long Beach reached the 200,000 mark in attendance for the first time since 2003, Milwaukee and Portland each saw 20 percent increases in attendance over 2005 while last week's event in Cleveland featured a 25-percent jump. Ticket sales in Toronto are up over 2005 while the two-race stretch in Edmonton and San Jose that follows Toronto drew more than 350,000 fans a year ago.
Boasting some of the strongest attendance numbers in all of sports, the Champ Car World Series is rapidly becoming a showcase for corporations to reach more than 150,000 fans per weekend. From recent events in Portland and Cleveland through upcoming races in Toronto and San Jose, corporate and sponsor support is increasing weekly for events and teams as well as for the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford itself.
"We have been able to build on unprecedented fan support, and through the hard work of our promoter group, we have been able to provide many opportunities for the corporate community ," said Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Will Wilson. "Champ Car and its three-day Festivals of Speed provide one of the most dynamic product platforms in sports and companies are finding great value in them."
Led by presenting sponsors Bridgestone and Ford, series partners McDonald's and Sherwin-Williams have taken steps to increase their involvement in the series, while team sponsors such as CDW, Bell Micro Products, Gulfstream, Aussie Vineyards, Mi-Jack, Tide and Muermans have brought a fresh approach to corporate involvement in the series.
The event promoters have followed suit, providing local corporations with increased value for their sponsorship dollars. The corporate interest has given events new chances for growth, allowing them to provide a fresh, exciting atmosphere for race fans that extends beyond the race. Concerts with national recording artists, pageants, interactive displays contribute to the festival feel that yields even more value for sponsors.
During the Portland weekend, Red Bull sponsored 12 events in downtown Portland surrounding the race while Chevron developed an innovative program featuring driver trading cards. Cleveland's race weekend attracted 22 sponsors up nearly 50 percent from the year before, and included a Saturday ticket package with Coca-Cola that led to the highest single-day ticket sales in the 25-year history of the Cleveland event.
San Jose has attracted nearly 50 corporate sponsors for the 2006 event including such high-profile companies as Bud Light, Toyota, FedEx, Taylor Woodrow Homes and Allstate Insurance. Fans attending the July 7-9 Molson Grand Prix of Toronto will see products from 35 corporate sponsors including Yahoo! Canada, Samsung, Molson, MBNA and John Deere. Montreal will kick off an exciting new promotion with Wal-Mart this year where fans can purchase special tickets only at Wal-Mart that celebrate the number 27 carried by Canadian racing legends Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve as well as current-day star Andrew Ranger. The Wal-Mart tickets are three-day passes in a special grandstand for $81 ($27 per day) with a third of the proceeds from each package sold going to the Children's Miracle Network.
"Fans that are coming to Champ Car races this year are seeing a new and improved product both on and off the track, which is a direct result of increased corporate activity surrounding the events," said series co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven. "This is the kind of dynamic that feeds off itself in the business world and we are very pleased with the direction it is taking."
Additionally, the trend that led to a new Champ Car attendance record one year ago is continuing through the first six races of 2006. Long Beach reached the 200,000 mark in attendance for the first time since 2003, Milwaukee and Portland each saw 20 percent increases in attendance over 2005 while last week's event in Cleveland featured a 25-percent jump. Ticket sales in Toronto are up over 2005 while the two-race stretch in Edmonton and San Jose that follows Toronto drew more than 350,000 fans a year ago.