Since 23XI Racing’s inception ahead of the 2021 season, Xfinity had its eyes on the upstart team. It was hoping to do business with the Denny Hamlin– and Michael Jordan-owned organization as they filled out their sponsorship portfolio.
The ensuing partnership simply made sense. Both brands are innovative, forward-looking and are trying to push NASCAR to the next level. Come the beginning of the 2023 season, a deal was struck.
“We’ve talked to 23XI for the last couple of years, honestly, since their first year in the sport,” Matt Lederer, Comcast’s vp of brand partnerships and amplifications, said. “We’re always trying to figure out new and different ways to engage with the NASCAR fans, and having a relationship with a team was one potential way.
“[23XI] jumped off the page with a brand alignment perspective.”
Previously, Xfinity had endorsement deals with Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman. It sponsored Joe Gibbs Racing entries in multiple events, highlighted by consecutive wins from Carl Edwards during the 2016 season with Comcast Business on the hood of his Toyota at Bristol Motor Speedway and Xfinity sponsoring the No. 19 ride at Richmond Raceway, when he nudged Kyle Busch out of the way on the final lap.
Incorporating race teams into Xfinity’s business strategy is tactical. It adds additional name value to the messaging that Xfinity has in the sport as one of the premier partners of the Cup Series and its 10th season as the entitlement sponsor of the Xfinity Series.
“Being able to work with drivers and teams and have the driver be an additional voice of messaging for your brand provides a level of authenticity,” Lederer said. “As great as our governing partnership is, there’s something different when your favorite driver or a driver is touting the importance of the brand or touring the attributes of the brand – or thanking the brand. It provides us a different level of messaging and authenticity.”
Xfinity replicates that same authenticity with its partnership with the Olympics, being a proud partner of Team USA. Still, the brand had to be smart about when it embedded itself into being with a NASCAR team.
“We were strategic about when we did it,” Lederer added. “We didn’t jump into it in a big way right out of the gate with the partnership, we slowly rolled into it with one or two races here and there because we wanted to establish ourselves at the support…
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