YPSILANTI, MI—For IHG’s Candlewood Suites brand, the time was right to move beyond the typical corporate sales strategies to building brand awareness in other avenues. The all-suites brand has been growing rapidly, and has more than 180 hotels in the pipeline, which will eventually give the brand more than 300 hotels. When the executives sat down to look at the opportunities, they decided to go with one that is a bit “out of the box”—sponsoring the Kalitta Motorsports professional drag racing team.
“This is a brand that we have a lot of fun with,” said Del Ross, vice president, U.S. sales & marketing, IHG. “A drag racing car is not for everybody, but it actually fits really nicely for us. We’re one of the tops in the business—we have a championship team.”
The official sponsorship kicked off at the Kragen O’Reilly Auto Parts National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Winternationals in Pomona, CA, Feb. 24-27. From there, in addition to being a sponsor throughout the season, Candlewood will serve as the primary sponsor for one of the team’s top cars in four races throughout the season: the NHRA Nationals, Commerce, GA (Atlanta)—May 13-15; the Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Chicago, IL—July 7-10; the Mac Tools US Nationals, Indianapolis, IN—August 31-September 5; and the NHRA Arizona Nationals, Phoenix, AZ—October 14-16.
“We’re going to be a sponsor on all their race cars throughout the season,” said Ross. “So we’ll have a logo presence on all their cars, including the team’s featured cars. The top four ‘fueler’ events will be a Candlewood car.”
The final design that will appear on the “Candlewood” cars has not been finalized, but will be revealed at the first major race in May. “It’s kind of a neat exercise to figure out a design for your brand that will look great going 300 miles an hour,” said Ross.
For Candlewood, the exposure will be highly beneficial, noted Ross. In addition to coverage on television networks such as ESPN where the cars will be seen, there will be signage in the hotels to let guests know about the sponsorship and owners will have the opportunity to take clients to the track for races. IHG also plans to invest in further promotions around the sponsorship, but details were not yet available at press time. Ross did note that it will include social media components, such as where fans can catch the “Candlewood Racer. I should say ‘try to catch,’” said Ross. “It’s really fast.” Candlewood will also be considered part of the team, so for wins, they will get trophies and other items to show off in hotels and in their corporate office.
The opportunity was actually one that came to IHG. Kalitta approached the brand with the sponsorship. “One of the things we looked at, is that with the business we’re in, we spend a lot of time in hotel rooms, and we travel quite a bit all over the country,” said Jim Oberhofer, vp of operations, Kalitta Motorsports. “One of the things I notice when we go to all these places is the new hotels that pop up. We noticed new Candlewood Suites popping up in the areas we race, along with other IHG properties.”
From there, he noted that Kalitta saw IHG was working on revamping its brand image, and after a stay at a Candlewood Suites in Texas, the idea was born. A mutual friend introduced Oberhofer to Candlewood executives, and the rest was history.
For now, Candlewood and Kalitta have signed a one-year contract, but on both sides, there is confidence it will be extended. “They really want to test the waters and see what we’re all about, but we’re very confident that we’ll be able to work together very well and we’ll be able to work together long term,” said Oberhofer. “In this day and age you want to test the waters out and hopefully we’ll do our job and show them it was right to get involved with Kalitta Motorsports, and before the year is out, they’ll want to renew.”
“I can already tell this team/organization is one we like to associate with,” said Ross. “I am very optimistic that this [will be the first year]of many. The demographics of drag racing is very good, and aligns very well with ours.”
Another reason Ross noted the Candlewood/Kalitta partnership works so well is the atmosphere of drag racing. Unlike other types of races, such as NASCAR, where the fans and drivers are separate, he said that drag races are more of a festival atmosphere. “Fan access in drag racing is very different. The racers and the fans interact throughout the day, getting to see the cars, etc. That goes nicely with what Candlewood is all about—the staff is not just behind the desk, but part of your life during your stay in a very appropriate way.”
