Cell Phones Make Their Mark on NASCAR

As an avid Indy Racing League fan, I found myself multi-tasking on a Sunday evening in January. As I text messaged my brother via cell phone and answered email on my laptop, I kept an eye on the final ten laps of the Daytona 500 on the big screen TV.

I was glad to see Ryan Newman (#12, Alltel car) win his first Daytona 500 this year, but more excited for a friend and business partner of mine who works at Alltel Wireless. I knew my friend Ron at Alltel was probably jumping up and down right now, celebrating along with the Alltel NASCAR Team. So I picked up my Blackberry and sent him a quick text message congratulating him.

As I’d expected, Ron was watching the race intently and couldn’t have been more excited for Ryan Newman and his Alltel car. After a few quick text message exchanges with Ron, I put my cell phone aside and didn’t give it much more thought. So you can image my surprise when the following Friday I received an email from Ron announcing that Alltel Wireless was honoring Ryan’s Daytona 500 victory with a FREE 500 Bonus Minutes offer for new cell phone subscribers. At Wirefly, we picked up that Alltel offer the following day.

The racing fan in me likes seeing race sponsors use their motor sports programs to promote their product. But being involved in marketing myself, I’ve always questioned the investment in motor sports sponsorships. With the overwhelming popularity of cell phones, cell phone use, text messaging, and Smartphones - and knowing that NASCAR fans are three times as likely to try and purchase NASCAR sponsor’s products and services - there’s a strong argument to be made that NASCAR is the perfect fit for cell phone manufactures & carriers. I’d imagine if Jeff Burton (#31, AT&T Mobility car) wins this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race, we’ll see him promoting AT&T cell phones the following week.

Where’s the Verizon Wireless car?