-
Bob PockrassNASCAR
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — As disappointing as it felt to hear in March that Jimmie Johnson would lose his longtime sponsor, Lowe’s, the announcement of Ally Financial taking its place at least gives those in the sport hope that companies are willing to spend tens of millions of dollars to sponsor a driver.
Certainly this is a unique relationship. Some of the same leaders at Ally were with the company when it was GMAC and a sponsor of Rick Hendrick’s son, Ricky (who died in the October 2004 plane crash near Martinsville), and Brian Vickers.
“Some of those folks are still there from GMAC and I kind of love that because that was Ricky’s first sponsor,” Hendrick said Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. “And then Vickers won the championship with GMAC, so I’ve been doing business with them a long time. They are just a class act.”
Ally’s automotive loan business — the company is a digital bank and $115 billion of its $165 billion balance sheet comes from automotive loans — certainly could use even more of a boost from Hendrick Automotive Group. No doubt they hope the deal creates synergies on that end.
“Mr. Hendrick and the entire Hendrick auto group has been a customer of Ally’s for a long time and so certainly that plays into the relationship, but we look at that just going forward,” Ally CEO Jeffrey Brown said. “This is really an opportunity to carry our partnership even deeper through time.”
Johnson’s social presence — he has 2.66 million Twitter followers, 1 million likes to his Facebook page and 387,000 Instagram followers — also is something Ally wanted to tap into. The shot of potentially having him make history with an eighth championship is something that could turn into a windfall, if it happens.
When Hendrick made the call to his friends at Ally, he was hoping they could do some races. He was a little speechless when they came back and said they wanted the whole season for 2019 and 2020.
“Obviously, two years was the initial term and the initial contract, but we look at this as a long-term commitment,” Brown said. “We have known the Hendrick Motorsports group and Hendrick Automotive [Group] for a long time and Jimmie and Rick are both men of integrity and that is very important to our brand that we partner with people that really have high standards, high integrity, … so this checked the box from a variety of perspectives.”
No one would comment on the financials of the deal, with Hendrick just saying it was similar in scope to the one Hendrick had with Lowe’s. But it wouldn’t be shocking if the two-year deal will cost the company $30 million or more, especially after activation.
Ally bought television time to advertise during the race telecast.
“With the media buys they’ve done and the way they’re going to advertise in our sport and as you see them engage next year, they’re really using NASCAR as a marketing tool for their company,” Johnson said. “You will all be very impressed with their vision and the importance they see in NASCAR racing is the main reason why they are here and involved.”
Ally doesn’t have many sports sponsorships. It sponsors a PGA Senior Tour event and some international soccer games in the United States.
“This is a major step forward for our brand in really committing to sports marketing,” Brown said. “For us, this is a huge outreach to our brand — millions and millions of people, loyal followers to NASCAR in addition to Jimmie’s social media followers. This was a great and smart branding decision.”
Johnson, whose contract goes through 2020 and now has a sponsor deal in conjunction with the terms of his deal, wasn’t worried once calls started coming in to replace Lowe’s. Hendrick has announced 17 deals this year with sponsors across its four cars, so while Lowe’s is leaving, it has been able to show its cars and drivers are worthwhile investments. None of the deals, obviously, were as big as this one for Johnson.
“The nerves faded relatively quickly, and it was finding the right partner and getting all the pieces put together,” Johnson said.
Ally also hopes its millennial reach could help boost NASCAR.
“They’re automotive people and a big bank,” Hendrick said. “They’re kind of the disruptor in online banking, and so I like that. I like a company that’s fresh and growing like crazy. It’s perfect.
“The only other deal that I’ve ever done that was this big in this way was the DuPont deal.”
One question does remain: Is the car going to be that plum color Ally uses? Or will it be white with the plum lettering?
“There are hundreds of renderings floating around,” said Johnson, indicating he won’t have much of a choice. “There are multiple colors in their palate of choice. So, I would say yes.”