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By Sarah Talalay
Staff Writer
Posted November 14 2003 on sun-sentinel.com
| An auto racing fan since childhood, Lisa Banks
darted around the Ford Championship Weekend RaceFest at Las Olas Riverfront
on Thursday checking out the M&Ms car and picking out car posters for
her 3-year-old son Alexander. Banks, of Deerfield Beach, took a moment to sing the praises of Mark Martin, who will drive the No. 6 Viagra car in NASCAR's 2003 Winston Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. "The boy can speed and he can go," Banks said excitedly. Yes, women -- lots of women -- love NASCAR. Ellie Reuba, a 25-year NASCAR fan from Boca Raton, is also among the legions of female fans. "Why just men?" Reuba asked, as if it were obvious that women would like the speed and thrill of stock car racing. NASCAR executives agree. While the sport doesn't have a specific women's marketing initiative, its overall approach to consumers includes female fans. Earlier this year, Coca-Cola produced a television and movie theater ad called "Sexy," which rather than showing drivers as macho athletes instead portrays them as sex symbols. One woman clamors to get a glimpse through binoculars, others pose for photos with a favorite driver, and another even mouths the words "I love you" as a different driver passes. The tag line reads: "30 million women love NASCAR." A newcomer to NASCAR and a Michael Waltrip fan, Gayle Brackett of Coconut Creek, said she howled with laughter when she saw the ad. "There's a lot of great-looking guys in NASCAR," said Brackett, who has been a fan since her husband took her to Homestead-Miami Speedway a year ago. Known for its aggressive marketing and business savvy, NASCAR has figured out how to tap consumers in a way no other sport has. NASCAR fans are three times as likely as non-fans to buy products whose companies sponsor NASCAR. Brackett, who is partial to NASCAR brands ranging from Coca-Cola to Craftsman Tools to Home Depot, says the sport reaches out to female fans with Speed Channel shows that explain the sports' intricacies. "They market to everybody," said Tampa resident Lana Kozel, who sported shorts and a matching top that her mother-in-law fashioned from fabric bearing her favorite driver Dale Jarrett's car and No. 88, along with car earrings and a Jarrett visor. "One sport women are into is NASCAR." With so many female fans -- 40 percent of the sport's 75 million fans, Roger VanDerSnick, NASCAR's managing director of brand and consumer marketing, says the sport has a great opportunity to reach those in the home who typically make buying decisions. "Tide is purchased by women, the same for cereals, M&Ms, all of those good classic consumer products," VanDerSnick said. Women make 80 percent of the household buying decisions, said Kathleen Davis, executive director of Sport Management Research Institute. The Weston firm conducted economic impact and fan survey research for the NASCAR weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 1999 and in 2002. SMRI's research showed about 38 percent of the fans at Ford Championship Weekend last year were female. "NASCAR is well ahead of the curve when it comes to attracting female spectators, ahead of the Major League curve, they outperform the NFL, and are a little higher than the NHL," Davis said. "They focus on the female spectators. There's a wide variety of apparel, jewelry to T-shirts, that appeal to women. They've done a pretty fabulous job of being able to retain that segment." Target, which sponsors Chip Ganassi's Racing Team, has tailored its campaigns to women, who comprise more than half of the visitors to the team's Web site and 80 percent of its shoppers. A Target coupon book reads "Driven to save? Start your engines, fueling a passion for savings ... " and includes photos of drivers Casey Mears, Scott Dixon and Tomas Scheckter alongside coupons for batteries, film and cat litter. Tide, which has been a NASCAR sponsor for 17 years and is among the sport's most recognizable sponsors, says its advertising targets families, but company officials recognize women make most of the decisions about laundry detergent. "Tide was one of the very first household packaged goods, non-tobacco to sponsor NASCAR," said Bev Larkin, Procter & Gamble spokeswoman for fabric and home care, which includes Tide. "It's kind of a no brainer for Tide, because our biggest consumer is women and with the whole NASCAR kind of evolution we're seeing more and more women at the track. Those consumers are so loyal." Sarah Talalay can be reached at stalalay@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4173. |
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