A strong history. A strong future.
Valvoline is one of America's top motor oil brands, protecting motorists' engines since the 19th century, longer than any of its competitors. One might think that it's only natural for a motor oil to sponsor a racing team. On the other hand one might think that Valvoline wouldn't need to sponsor anything due to its leading market position. Yet Valvoline continues a long history in motorsports and with Roush Fenway, both from a product integration and a branding perspective. As such, they are the exclusive motor oil of the Roush Fenway teams; a critical component in helping RFR to win races – 48 in Sprint Cup alone!
Says Rob Clendening, manager, Global Brands Ashland Consumer Markets, "Valvoline is excited to continue our long relationship with Roush Fenway Racing. The combination of their winning culture, great drivers, and Jack's own competitive edge makes them a natural fit for the Valvoline brand.”
Winning in the marketplace, too.
Beyond the competition on the track, Valvoline is winning over customers and consumers through motorsports marketing and Roush Fenway. First, branding teams, vehicles and environments at races ensure steady exposure to consumers at the events and televised broadcasts. The constant association with competitive racing has made the Valvoline "V" logo an icon for top performance in consumers' minds. To build credibility even further, Valvoline routinely uses crew chiefs – the guy accountable for performance and endurance – in their advertising.
On the consumer engagement front, Valvoline leverages the driver personality with in-store appearances with retail customers such as AutoZone. This leads to incremental business directly through the sponsorship as AutoZone's customers are often fans of NASCAR. A big part of engaging consumers is making branded merchandise available through licensing. Roush Fenway's turnkey licensing program allows sponsors to easily leverage the popularity of a driver and sponsored team through an almost endless array of merchandise possibilities.
A well-oiled B2B machine.
Like many Roush Fenway sponsors, Valvoline also uses their sponsorship to push B2B activity. Since Valvoline can consider so many types of retailers – from gas stations to big box retailers – as customers or prospective customers, they've found great value in hospitality and pass-through rights. Typical hospitality activation may be a hosted chalet or suite to cap off a sales contest, pit tour and driver appearances. Pass through allows Valvoline to let a customer put their brand on the car, uniforms and other assets for a particular race or races. It's a great way to drive awareness and sales for Valvoline products that the customer sells, or to warm up a potential customer relationship. In the case of Valvoline's O'Reilly's Auto Parts pass through, Roush Fenway grabbed the win for even more brand exposure and positive associations for both sponsors.
