It’s no surprise that IZOD would be leaving their title sponsorship with IndyCar, as reported earlier this year, but the partnership will end a season earlier than was originally contracted.
IZOD became IndyCar’s official apparel provider in 2008 and then the series sponsor two years later, thanks in part to former CEO Randy Bernard. The title branding deal was a six-year, $60 million sponsorship that was to end after the 2014 season. Management had changed at the Phillips-Van Heusen owned apparel maker IZOD last year and the new COO, Michael Shaffer, wanted to go in a different direction.
Indeed, IZOD has already pulled much of their activation support of the partnership, shifting their funding elsewhere. Watching IndyCar races on television, you may have noticed there hasn’t been much in the way of IZOD advertising.
Shift in spend
IZOD executive vice president Mike Kelly said,
“After an exciting relationship that has been as enjoyable and fast-paced as IndyCar itself, PVH Corp. has made the decision to not continue IZOD's title sponsorship with IndyCar beyond the 2013 season.” Furthermore, “As we and our retail partners shift the IZOD brand's product focus, we need to shift our marketing spend to complement it.”
This leaves the league without a title sponsor heading into the 2014 season and what’s more, their lead negotiator left this past summer, leaving IndyCar’s pursuit to find a new sponsor at a standstill.
IndyCar has been embroiled in major upheaval since its unexpected firing of Bernard nearly a year ago. The series has had some good things happen including the addition of former NASCAR drivers; but the turmoil has left the American open wheel racing organization without direction. They lost a successful Baltimore street race and also, it appears the race in Brazil may come to an end. In effect, to replace the Sao Paulo event on the schedule in early May, the series has added a new race using the Indianapolis road course. However, it’s not known if that event will cannibalize the Indy 500 at the end of May.
No title sponsorship?
There have been arguments made in marketing circles that title sponsorships aren’t as effective as partnering with teams and/or drivers. The brand fan loyalty factor is much stronger with individuals than as a sign on a building or as the series sponsor.
Of course, the economy has been sickly for several years now, which hasn’t helped the motorsports world or IndyCar. In addition, the time-frame for finding sponsors is quickly passing as IndyCar continues to seek a new title partner. If the season ends without a replacement sponsorship, the likelihood is the series will go without a presenting sponsor in 2014.
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