NASCAR faced a huge blow to its sponsorship revenue when longtime partner Geico announced earlier this year that it would cut ties with the sport at the end of 2024. The insurance brand had been one of four premier partners and has left the promotion with a void in place of what used to be at least $15-20 million annual aid. On the flip side, this corner is beneficial in some ways.
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Formula 1 is quickly gaining popularity across the United States and attracting major sponsors such as Oracle and Dell Technologies. The parallel departure of brands like Geico from NASCAR represents a worrying sign.
But this same sign acts as a strong call to action. The stock car racing promotion needs to start making better commercial moves and it has already, in a way.
NASCAR Holdings announced this week that it has hired Formula 1’s Las Vegas executive Craig Stimmel as its new Chief Commercial Officer. He will also be honored with the title of Senior Vice President and be based in New York City. The thought process is that the promotion needs a top executive on the streets of Manhattan to take the sponsorship woes head-on.
One of Stimmel’s first tasks is to find a replacement for Geico. It is a job easier said than done. Alongside the premier partnership, Geico had naming rights to the restart zones of every track. It was also the naming sponsor for the spring Cup Series race at the Talladega Superspeedway. Hence, the new CCO has got quite the task on his hands.
Can Stimmel help NASCAR beat Formula 1 in the sponsorship battle?
Formula 1’s future in the United States is set to be heavily sponsor-oriented. The country is heavily consumer-driven and at 29% of the world market, it is a number that no organization can ignore. NASCAR and IndyCar have by far taken the most advantage of this in the motorsports arena.
But with Formula 1’s rise, the need to strengthen ties and create new ones is stronger than ever. Stimmel comes to stock car racing with a lot of sales experience. He led worldwide sales and partnerships for WWE and held a similar job at Snapchat. Before then, he helmed brand marketing for Procter & Gamble.
His most recent role was as the Senior Vice President of Commercials for Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. NASCAR is still a long way off from being in a safe zone regarding sponsorships, but grabbing a top executive from the opposite camp can be seen as a good step ahead.
