Todd Davis, the CEO of LifeLock who has gained some measure of celebrity for including his Social Security number in LifeLock ads, said the company has been looking at the title sponsorships for the Sprint Cup event at Chicagoland as well.
Financial terms of the deal were not released, but industry insiders peg the deal in the low seven figures. An announcement from the speedway on the LifeLock 400 is expected this week.
"We've looked at all of the traditional marketing avenues, and we're asking where do people really hear our offer and listen to our message about identity theft," Davis said from the green room of "The Montel Show," where he was taping a segment about his company. "Everybody talks about how NASCAR fans demonstrate their loyalty, and it's clear to us that they hear the message and they take action."
Tempe, Ariz.-based LifeLock has looked into several forms of sponsorship in NASCAR, and race title sponsorships seem to offer the best vehicle to improve brand awareness. "We don't see any other opportunity as strong," Davis said. "Title sponsorship reaches the full breadth of the NASCAR family."
Davis said he hopes to use future team deals to drive business-to-business relationships with other team sponsors that might be interested in protecting their employees against identity theft. LifeLock also plans to sponsor a car in the Indianapolis 500, the No. 28 entry from Rubicon Racing, which is co-owned by Jason Priestley.
The deal with MIS was sold through the speedway's parent company, International Speedway Corp., which also owns the tracks at Chicagoland and Kansas. LifeLock handles its sports marketing in-house, Davis said.
The three-year contract gives MIS some level of stability moving forward. Its August race is in the final year of a three-year deal with 3M.
The speedway also introduced a new logo this year that reflects the track's parklike setting in the area known as the Irish Hills, near Detroit. The track plans to spend about $30 million over the next three years on improvements and this year will feature improved seating (benches replaced by seats with backs), a new scoreboard and 300 additional campsites for the 132,000-seat facility.
The track has spent the past year working with focus groups and generating more fan feedback in hopes of spurring improved tickets sales. Racetracks don't release attendance figures, but ISC has referenced Michigan's sagging economy and high unemployment rate for reasons attendance has lagged in recent years. Just a few years ago, 70 percent of the fans at MIS were from Michigan, but now 60 percent of the fans are from out of state.
"I've probably talked to 600 fans by phone since the last August race," said Roger Curtis, the speedway's president. "We talk to the fans in the stands, we ride the trams. We've worked on traffic. It's meat-and-potatoes stuff, but it's what the fans say they want."
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