The Where To From Here Thread

The weekly "will this be a S&P race?" talk is driving me nutty. Same questions, same responses different venue.

I drank a lot in college, but I can still formulate enough short term memory to recall this season was planned to be part time. If you want to see more Nascar racing - buy more Speed Energy Drink.

On a personal note: I think the Nascar series (with the exception of a few races) is relatively boring. For my money, other venues (e.g. Rally) are more interesting.

Now, on to the point of the thread:

I'll start with my usual "Thank You" to TOG for the site - I'm here everyday and appreciate the news.

- Start the Speculation - what events, venues, series, etc. do you think we'll see RG attempt in the near future? (other than Nascar....that's plenty covered elsewhere).

When Red Bull pulled out of Nascar - I saw this as a signal that they figured out the primary energy drink demographic isn't Nascar fans. I tend to agree. My personal observation is that it's mostly 15-25 year old males who drink the stuff.

I'm fairly certain 15-25year olds are not watching Nascar regularly. I'm pretty sure RGM and the folks at Speed Energy know this too.

So - the real question is: What do they (15-25) like to watch...that's where we need Speed coverage/participation/sponsorship.

I'd be intersted in thoughts and reactions to the above

I'd love to see Speed Energy start a racing series of their own. Motorcycles, or lower end "boy racers" on temporary city circuits. Using vehicles that 15-25 year old's like. It would be fun to watch and would probably help sell a bunch of speed.

Your predictions? Wishes?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Anello on August 27, 2011 at 12:28pm

Just read the article on Scene Daily about the #7. RG mentioned something about seeing 7-11 on the car. Hope so. Anyways.

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Permalink Reply by mic kanic on August 27, 2011 at 1:09pm

Jim Beam Black is still my energy drink at my age

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Permalink Reply by MikeNIN7 on August 27, 2011 at 1:15pm

I think Robby need to put places on the hood to get them to sell speed there. If nascar is no good foe energy drinks we know its good for stores. This way he can get shelf space at bigger stores like Wegmans and even wal-mart if he does a multi race deal. This will sell more speed and give him more money in the long run.

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Permalink Reply by Bigzoom on August 27, 2011 at 1:36pm

I'm divide on the NASCAR not being a good market for energy drinks. I agree most that buy energy drinks aren't buying a Camry or Impalla, but I also know AMP energy has increased it's market share with Junior Nation. 5-Hour Emergy looks to be headed to Cup also. Monster is fully involved with Ricky Carmichael in the Truck Series. Red Bull has even said they might continue sponsorship, just not own a 2-car team

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Permalink Reply by WJM on August 27, 2011 at 2:20pm

Carmichael receives x-dollars from Monster as part of his PS deal to do with what he wants. He wanted to go truck racing. Not the same as "fully involved" direct sponsorship.
5-Hour is not a beverage, it's a room temp "hit" or "fix"
Junior and AMP is successful but it wouldn't have happened had he not gone to Hendrick, who has a long relationship with Pepsico via Jeff Gordon.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Fisher on August 27, 2011 at 3:24pm

I also see AMP as more of a high-caffeine Soda along the lines of Jolt or Surge more-so then an Energy Drink.

If you look at the Energy Drink market though worldwide most of their sponsorships are either PS sponsorships, Naming Rights Sponsorship or Full Ownership sponsorship.

Rockstar, Monster & RedBull sponsor easily 1,000 top tier athletes combined, but all but maybe 50 are just PS deals.

I think what Robby needs to do with the brand is get the drivers out there who don't have an association with Coke or Pepsi or any other brand of beverage to drink Speed during interviews & if possible run the decal on the B-Pillar or Helmet.

Lally, Stremme, Nemechek, McDowell, Scott Speed, Yeley, Bell, Brian Keselowski, Kenny & Mike Wallace, Morgan Shepherd, Benny Gordon, Johanna Long.

Those are all drivers that I can think of that don't have any sort of beverage affiliated with them. I know this is a lot easier to say then it is to actually acomplish but Robby needs to bite the bit and get the Speed logo on their cars & cans in their hands.

Then there is Paul Menard, Crafton & Frank Kimmel who all have the Menards connection with Robby & none of them have a beverage deal as far as I know. Once again I know this is easier to say then actually do but one would think Robby would be able to get together with John Menard and make something happen where the Speed logo is featured on every Menards sponsored racecar.

As far as the gaming aspect I'm a member of several Sim Racing forums & I see tons of Speed Sponsorships on peoples cars for NR2003, iRacing, rFactor and other games.

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Permalink Reply by Mike/WC77 on August 28, 2011 at 6:10pm

Zoom, WJM's right on w/Ricky. Thats just how Monster sponsors their athletes. If you need further proof, look for Monster's activation at races Ricky participates in....but dont hold your breath. Then just blink an eye at an "extreme" sports event....you'll see the diff. As far as AMP, the JR sheeple will buy whatever he has his face on. I dont mean all Jr fans, I mean the ones who are also on peopleofwalmart.com
WJM, I do have to disagree on one point. While technically your (again) on the money w/5hr. Perception is "do I want a can of______, or just a quick shot of 5hr?"
Red Bull? I'd expect to see them come back if Pastrana makes a run @ Cup & brings his Nitro Circus following with him.

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Permalink Reply by WJM on August 28, 2011 at 7:12pm

After a hot day wheelin' the John Deere a warm shot of anything won't quench the buds like a ice cold can of Unleaded.
I'm also curious to see how the Pastrana Experiment plays out....if it plays at all, especially now that the Danica show is in town.
JR sheeple and peopleofwalmart.com. Good one. LOL.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Hewitt on August 27, 2011 at 2:08pm

Gaming is a HUGE thing for Energy Drinks (as I am a gamer for hours a day myself), but your age of NASCAR fans logic is completely bogus in my opinion. Im 21, and have watched NASCAR ever since I was pretty much old enough to walk. If you like NASCAR, then you will watch it no matter the age, if you don't, age 90% of the time will not fix that.

Best market really is the average worker, who uses it to stay up / wake up for work (5 hour *crap* drink, work slogan works for them), or sports fans. If Speed could some how get into Football scene, that would probably be the biggest advertisement out there, seeing the sport itself is an addiction to most anyways. But I do talk to people who aren't into any sports what so ever, no matter what they always seem to know exactly what NASCAR is.

Hum, I wonder what King of the Hammers would be like if Robby tried that next year.

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Permalink Reply by will on August 27, 2011 at 3:23pm

Shawn-
While I agree that King of the Hammers would be bad ass to see RG run, how many hardcore Planet members need the aid of Google to figure out what the heck that is? Again it goes back to the demographics for an energy drink. Sure there a lot of kids out there looking for a new mix for the drinks, but bang for the buck on advertising dollars wise it just ain't gonna happen with that small of an amount of national exposure.