Social Marketers in the Driver's Seat: Motorsport Sponsorship as a Vehicle for Tobacco Prevention

This paper discusses sponsorship as a vehicle for social marketing, and specifically an initiative by the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) in the United States which has sponsored race cars and educated about tobacco at racetracks, schools and events in Northern California.

The paper defines sponsorship as, "the provision of resources (e.g., money, people, equipment) by an organization (the sponsor) directly to an individual, authority or body (the sponsee), to enable the latter to pursue some activity in return for benefits contemplated in terms of the sponsor's promotion strategy, and which can be expressed in terms of corporate, marketing, or media objectives." The benefits of sponsorship most often cited are awareness and image building of the brand, product, and company. Among other benefits are that sponsorship can improve the impact and memorability of the marketing message, enhance the relevance of the brand to the target market, generate the desire to purchase the brand to "reward" the sponsor and heighten the loyalty of those working for and with the company. The success of sponsorship programmes are often evaluated by: measuring awareness or attitude changes; quantifying the effects in terms of sales results; and comparing the value of sponsorship-generated media coverage to the cost of equivalent advertising space or time.

The Tobacco Free Challenge Racing (TFCR) aims to change social norms relating to tobacco among racetrack audiences, countering messages from the tobacco industry at racing events. TFCR sponsors a winning race car team to ensure that being tobacco-free is associated with being a winner. By providing role models, promoting consistent communications regarding non-use of tobacco and creating an environment that reduces exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, TFCR markets its message from many different angles.

TFCR held a name and logo contest to kick off the project and involve the racing fans. TFCR also worked with the management at Petaluma Racetrack to create a tobacco-free section in the stands so that fans could physically show their support for the message. The project complemented its work at the track with flier distribution at sporting and entertainment events, interactive displays at county fairs and at Hispanic and African-American-oriented events such as Cinco de Mayo and Juneteenth. In addition to racing, TFCR cars and drivers appear at schools, fairs, and ethnic and youth events to promote non-use of tobacco as an acceptable alternative.

Along with logos on race cars, the TFCR message was reinforced through track announcements, a track billboard, television advertisements, articles in racing papers and newspapers, souvenir programmes, giveaways and frequent fan contact with drivers. Promotional items with the TFCR name and logo were developed as incentives for survey completion and to build identification with the project; these included items such as seat cushions, insulated drink holders, visors, t-shirts, bumper stickers that drivers could autograph, instant photos of kids with the TFCR car and driver, stopwatches and tote bags. TFCR also hosted a special event at the Speedway for World No-Tobacco Day; track management admitted children free when accompanied by an adult.

The following are identified as lessons learned from the programme:

• Enlisting the help of someone who can serve as a key informant - familiar with the sport, venues and competitors - is critical to the success of the project.
• Provide incentives to the sponsored individual or team to win.
• Be creative and flexible in your research methods.
• Know your audience and go to where they are.
• Be clear in your publicity about how the sponsorship programme operates.
• Extend your budget by seeking pro bono services and in kind donations from related businesses, as well as finding solutions to funding obstacles.
• Do not spread project resources too thin too quickly.

The paper proposes that sponsorship can be used successfully as part of the social marketing mix to promote health or social behaviours as sponsorship's potential for creating a long-term positive effect fits well with the needs of many programmes working on problems that require behaviours to be sustained over a long period of time.