restaurants are among the
sponsors NHRA covets. Tom Worcester, senior vice president of U.S. business development in IMG’s New York office, will lead the NHRA account and the agency will post an account executive in the league’s Glendora, Calif., headquarters. Worcester will be in charge of merging IMG’s sales efforts with those from the NHRA, which will continue to run a 30-person staff under Gary Darcy, senior vice president of sales and marketing. Nine of those 30 employees are dedicated to sales and client services. IMG’s Charlotte consulting office, led by senior vice president David Abrutyn, also will assist on the NHRA business. “The biggest change is going to be making sure we become one sales force,” Compton said of merging the sales teams at NHRA and IMG. “Whatever we create, it has to be a seamless sales effort, no friction.” While the NHRA has successfully negotiated a long-term title sponsorship with Powerade through 2011, a TV deal with ESPN and title sponsorships for nearly all of its 24 annual events, IMG will work to broaden its sponsor base, especially nonendemics, and create new inventory. Pyne specifically mentioned that the NHRA is fertile ground for packaged goods, and Darcy added that telecom and quick-service restaurants are of particular interest. Powerade is a Coca-Cola brand and IMG already represents Coke in NASCAR, as well as driver Jeff Gordon. Unlike NASCAR, the NHRA owns rights at the league level and at track, which should help IMG’s sales efforts. “One of the ways I think IMG can help the NHRA the most is by building ancillary programs to get the most out of the events,” said Chris Lencheski, a motorsports marketing veteran and president of Ski & Company, which was formerly the agency of record for General Motors. “When you go to an event, there’s nothing like putting the headset on and standing back from the rooster tail. And it’s a different audience than NASCAR and the Indy Racing League.” The NHRA partnership answers one of the questions that has persisted since Pyne left NASCAR, where he was chief operating officer, to join IMG in January 2006. Many wondered where Pyne might take IMG in U.S. motorsports. It was thought that he might aim to increase the agency’s presence in NASCAR, where it works primarily with Coke and Allstate, but that hasn’t been the case. IMG also entered into discussions with Champ Car last year about a possible equity stake, industry sources said, but those talks did not produce a deal.
