Sponsorship Announcement Tomorrow

[bigted]

some meight so you already do in Hamburglar

[racinthestreets]

Announcement in twenty minutes I have decided to eat a Big Mac today should the announcement be as expected.

[Dov]

From AR1......

08/27/04
Champ Car


McDonald's announces Champ Car sponsorship *Dick Eidswick, Pal Newman, Kevin Kalkhoven, McDonald's Senior Director of Alliance Marketing John Lewicki, Carl Haas and Sebastien Bourdais were on hand today in Montreal to announce that McDonald's would be the Official Fast Food Restaurant of Champ Car through 2006. . John Lewcki said “we are very proud to be a sponsor of the Champ Car World Series and it is very important to us that Champ Car has such a worldwide reach, which fits perfectly with our company. You won't see a lot from us this year because we are planning for next year. “We chose Montreal for this announcement to show the cross border reach of Champ Car.” Paul Newman said that McDonald's would be a powerful force for the series. Carl Haas chimed in and agreed with Paul Newman. McDonald's is signed with the team through 2007. More to follow...

[Fogelhund]

Interesting the comment by Haas. So is it confirmed that he will be in OWRS and not IRL next year now?

[macdaddy]

We were supposed to get a definitive announcement about Haas this weekend, too.

You won't see a lot from us this year because we are planning for next year.

This leads me to suspect that McDonalds will eventually become the series sponsor.

[Dov]

Originally posted by Fogelhund
Interesting the comment by Haas. So is it confirmed that he will be in OWRS and not IRL next year now?

"Actions speak louder then words"!

[racinthestreets]

[Flatspot]

Official Fast Food Restaurant:confused:

Not the title sponsorship I was expecting but a positive note nonetheless. At least now we can be assured that the cornerworkers won't go hungry during the events.

On the other question, Haas appearance and comments are a positive sign that he will stay with Newman in Champ Car next season. I don't see it impacting his decisions one way or the other on running a circle team. I can easily see him doing both although I hope he doesn't.

[Dov]

From AR1......

Paul Newman: "We are together forever"!

Off Topic: Push-two-pass will be increased to 75 sec. for the Montreal Molson Indy.

[Dov]

From CCWS.com:

[codename_47]

Excellent news....the Newman/Haas revalation has to be the icing on the....burger too!

Hopefully as a by-product now the series will look a lot better to potential teams, Tv networks...that red M is powerful you know!

Oh yeah, and thanks for all the time coversion related jibes guys, it's easier to translate than you think.

Just log on to www.cart.com and there's a clock there for U.S. time, look at the time it is now, and bingo...you have the difference!

(Ok, that's way off topic....but trying to restore my reputation here! )

[Omega99]

Great news! If there's one company that could really help advertise the series, it's McD's.

However, I think when they say that "You won't see a lot from us this year because we are planning for next year" I don't think that implies title sponsorship. I get the impression that it's more of them planning their involvement and advertising at various events, serving up burgers and what-not. Or putting cars in happy meals, or some cross-promotion in their commercials. But I will agree that if it all goes well then there is great potential for them to become the title sponsor.

This calls for a toast.

[evo]

It's almost enough to make me want to eat at McDonald's. Almost.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally posted by Flatspot
Official Fast Food Restaurant:confused:

Not the title sponsorship I was expecting but a positive note nonetheless. At least now we can be assured that the cornerworkers won't go hungry during the events.

On the other question, Haas appearance and comments are a positive sign that he will stay with Newman in Champ <A TITLE="Click for more information about car" STYLE="text-decoration: none; border-bottom: medium solid green;" HREF="http://search.targetwords.com/u.search?x=5977|1||||cars|AA1VDw">Car</A> next season. I don't see it impacting his decisions one way or the other on running a circle team. I can easily see him doing both although I hope he doesn't.

I'd have to agree with you on this one, Flatspot....

Rally has been the "official fast food" of the Indy 500 in the past....they get to sell product at the track, get signage, and they do promotions in their stores and on their TV ads...like cards with the drivers on them like baseball cards, "tray matts" that have race promos ont them, stand-up displays to promote the race, etc.

It is good news and good exposure for the Series....but I wouldn't categorize it as a "Major Announcement"......I expected something bigger than this...

McDonald's as a Title Sponsor would be a "Major Announcement"....

I'm assuming that the McD's deal will be similar to the Rally deal...
but Rally has better food....

However, on the Newman-Haas news, I would think that he's not going to the IRL...

Although he could do both, it is tough to split your focus like that among two ultra-competitive Series and do justice to both....

Rahal and Fernandez finally figured that our, and now they are much more successful, because all of their focus is in one place...

Haas would be wise to stay with one or the other....but not do both...

and from this event, it's obvious that he'll be in the OWRS

[Snrub]

Atleast for 2003, Motorola was an official sponsor of the CCWS. (don't know about 2004) All that ment was that everyone got free radios. Just trying to add context to some of the discussion, but it sounds like this MickyD's deal is going to be great!

In fairness the reason Rahal and Fernandez are doing well in the IRL is because they have the top equipment so they are only really competing against a few others, mainly AGR. It's much tougher to compete against a larger group and I would argue that included in that group were better drivers than found in the smaller group of top equipment IRL competitors.

[Teretonga]

The series needs promorion at the grass roots level and having that happen even at a local level where the races are held will be good for the gate and getting kids, younger fans etc into the races, making the top drivers more visible, building fan bases etc.
If McDonalds uses it at a national levelnas an advertising tool it will give the series a much higher profile at a national level which may result in better TV deals and general media coverage etc.
Either way it is good for the series but we have to hope McD's really does use it to promote with, not just take it as a way of shifting more product at race weekends.

[mountainstar]

One important point to note is that Mcdonalds is signed though 2007 as sponsor of Newman Haas. That's just as good as Title sponsorship as far as I'm concerned.

[Mags]

Originally posted by indycool
Mark C. has posted that McDonald's will be something like the "official fast food" of OWRS, not a title sponsor.

The Bridgestone and Ford deals are NOT big cash deals. CART's annual report came out a couple of days ago and their "deals" totaled only $2.5 million in cash. In Bridgestone's case, the teams didn't even get any free tires out of it. In Ford's case, Cosworth was getting $1.5 million in at-track support, so it was probably a wash, except for the additional TV ads....which well could've been incorporated into the $2.5 million.

Who knows how much of Paul's salad dressing is in this deal as a tradeoff?

OH OH OH I hope you will "eat" your words now Mark C!!! Mark; Paul's Salad Dressings are a CHARITY... HE DOESN'T MAKE A PENNY OFF OF IT!!!! Good grief. Get your facts straight before you spout off. They are ALL for Children's CANCER.. along with Klye Petty's Camps???

I AM SO HAPPY!!! Wring out the towels!! Champ Cars is alive, and well, and we have a VERY VERY VIBRANT, ALIVE, RICH AND HAPPY SPONSOR!!

You can't beat the McDonald's PR machine. It's second to none. This is VERY positive news.

[Mags]

http://www.newmansown.com/5_good.html

FYI everyone... from GOOGLE...

"Paul Newman, as sole owner of Newman's Own®, donates all his profits and royalties after taxes for educational and charitable purposes. Paul Newman has given over $150 million to thousands of charities since 1982."

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by evo
It's almost enough to make me want to eat at McDonald's. Almost.

Fwooooar dont go too far

Is McDonalds a sponsor or is Paul Newman's business supplying free/cheap product to McDonald's in return for branding and marketing savvy??

I thought I read somewhere thats how the NH ChampCar was aided and assisted......

[Mags]

McDonald's was Seb's personal sponsor this year. (He showed up with a golf shirt in Sebring with the Golden Arches on it) and if memory serves, they did a few races in 2003 as well.

[Omega99]

Yep. Cleveland was one for sure. I remember Ronald McDonald was celebrating with the team in the pits when Bourdais won! McDonalds sponsored him for three races in 2003, but I can't be sure of the other two. Denver and Miami seem to ring a bell.

[macdaddy]

From Mags...

I AM SO HAPPY!!! Wring out the towels!! Champ Cars is alive, and well, and we have a VERY VERY VIBRANT, ALIVE, RICH AND HAPPY SPONSOR!!

You can't beat the McDonald's PR machine. It's second to none. This is VERY positive news.

From mountainstar

Mcdonalds is signed though 2007 as sponsor of Newman Haas. That's just as good as Title sponsorship as far as I'm concerned.

Seeing as they already said what I was gonna, I just thought I'd quote them.

[mountainstar]

For those slagging on Mcdonalds, I don't think it's that bad. I travel alot and work long hours so sometimes MickyD's is the only thing I want to bother with or there is just no other quick choices to be had. Ya it's no gourmet burger, but the food is always hot(especially the fries) and the service is decent. Over the years at all the McD's I've eaten at across Australia, the USA and Canada, I can't think of a bad experience I've had. You compare that with Rally's, Burger King(Hungry Jacks to you GTR), Checkers, Hardees, etc. where I've had plenty of bad experiences. And McD's now is trying new menu items. Their salads are pretty okay for fast food and work in a pinch when you don't want to eat the fatty stuff.

I'm glad McDonalds is in champcar in whatever capacity they choose to be. I think Champcar will suit their purposes as a global brand much better than a NASCAB program would. In fact if the series was heavily promoted in all the stores, I'd gladly exchange for that instead of a cash sponsorship deal for the series.

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by mountainstar
SNIP You compare that with Rally's, Burger King(Hungry Jacks to you GTR), Checkers, Hardees, etc. where I've had plenty of bad experiences.

We are lucky enough to have both Burger King and Hungry Jacks down here thanks to a unique (and seriously messed up) licence agreement....

As far as Ronnie Mac's participation in the series goes, I am reminded that these guys funded a Tasman/Forsythe entry for Tony Kanaan not that long ago, and they stepped out after only a year... apparently due to marketing objectives not being met....