Racing JR Motorsports "too good to be true" for Unilever

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In this day and age -- with a looming financial slowdown above all -- sponsors in the Nationwide Series are searching for the best bang for their bucks they can possibly arrange.

Count packaged-goods giant Unilever among those sponsors who coveted a certain sponsorship on a certain No. 5 Chevrolet from JR Motorsports.


The 10 races will be divided among the above brands, and drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin and Landon Cassill will do the driving.

This year, as in the past couple, the Unilever brands have been on the No. 9 Dodge from Gillett Evernham Motorsports and driven by Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and Chase Miller. That program, according to Unilever's director of integrated marketing Marc Shaw, is a big success in its own right.

But we're talking about Dale Earnhardt Jr. here.

"We had a phenomenal partnership with Kasey Kahne and the whole Gillett Evernham team, but to have a chance to get in with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports to help him build this team was just too good to pass up," Shaw said at Lowe's Motor Speedway last week. "Honestly, there are millions and millions of fans who are tremendously loyal and we feel like we can take this to the next level.

"We wish all the best to Kasey and we've done a lot of good things with him. It has nothing to do with his performance; he's obviously one of the best drivers out there. This was just a chance we couldn't pass up."

Earnhardt's visibility in the sports and entertainment world is one aspect of the brands' shift to JR Motorsports for 2009, Shaw said.

"If you look at the numbers, Dale really does transcend the sport," he said. "You should see some of the folks that his Q score is better than. It's impressive."

Q scores aside, NASCAR is a still a good marketplace for Unilever despite the economic tumult of the past few weeks.

"Absolutely," Shaw said. "[NASCAR has] legions of fans, their loyalty to the brands that are sponsors in the sport, the folks that are into the sport really get what the sport is about, how important sponsors are to the teams and they respond to what we did.

"We have activated in the media, in the stores, at trackside and this is a great place to build brands. If anything, what we're doing is stepping it up another notch. It's only going to be bigger and better."

Despite the sponsorship being for just 10 races, Unilever and its family of brands will be making noise in other ways next year with a consumer-based promotion. Since plans have not yet been finalized, Shaw was limited in what he could say about the program, but did say that it would hit consumers in a good place.

"We're looking for that real fan, a way for those real fans to express themselves as a real fan," Shaw said. "This program will involve all the brands and will be activated at each one of our races."

If there's a hint anywhere, Hellmann's is known as "Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise."

In an interesting twist, the three drivers will be linked to specific products in 2009, Shaw said.

"Mark Martin is going to be more linked to Lipton, while Dale Jr. and Landon will be activating against the other brands," Shaw said. "Mark Martin is perfect for Lipton. He's such a respected figure in the sport, and so is Lipton, so that's a good match there. The other drivers will do a big job for those other fun brands. We have three awesome drivers."

Unilever has major brands in its portfolio, across most spectrums of consumer goods. Among those brands are Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Knorr, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Suave, Sunsilk and Vaseline.

Several of those business units have been utilized by Unilever against its NASCAR assets. Shaw said the consumer aspect of the sport is breath-taking to an experienced marketer.

"It does kind of take your breath away," he agreed. "When we came in here [to Lowe's Motor Speedway], we were on a hilltop kind of overlooking the whole scene. One of the folks who was with us looked out and said, 'this is our market.'

"So many times you get a little removed and you're up in New York City and you are not really seeing as much of what the country really is. This is the kind of thing that will really get you grounded on who your consumers are, what they are really interested in, what their passions are. I think we should be bringing more of our folks down here to NASCAR and seeing what America is all about."
 
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