Bright House Becomes Major Player In Florida Stock Car Racing
By Jack Smith
This Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway, something a little special will be going on.
This will be the first race of the brand new Bright House Challenge Super Late Model racing program, and also the kick-off of a new marketing campaign designed to bring FASCAR drivers and teams into Central Florida homes by way of Bright House Cable's On Demand Channel.
"THIS WEEK IN FASCAR" a 30 minute television show will begin airing on April 28th and the first show will of course highlight the Super Late Models and FASCAR Pro Trucks, the two big ticket items this weekend at New Smyrna Speedway.
"Whether you like them or not, you have to take a page from NASCAR's book." That is the way FASCAR Marketing Director Terry Roberts sees it. Recently New Smyrna has been regularly doing on track driver autograph sessions, in order to get the fans connected up to the drivers, and the new Bright House On Demand program will go a long way to further enhance the connection with fans.
Brian Craven, the Bright House Director of Public Affairs and Communication for the nine county Central Florida area, is extremely excited about the new venture, "The ratings for racing programming, whether it is the NASCAR races, ARCA, or Formula One, in Central Florida, in our service area is the highest in the nation. There are more people who watch racing on television in terms of rating points than any other media market in the country."
The nine county service area is huge, covering Flagler Beach south to Melbourne, and east including Orlando to Kissimmee and Marion County, which includes the Ocala market.
"We had sponsored a race here and a race there over at New Smyrna Speedway, but last year we started talking about doing more, and having a much more comprehensive relationship," Craven explained. One thing that appeals to Bright House is the exposure the media giant can get for the money, or in other words, advertising value. "When you are talking about sponsoring a series, if you are talking about NASCAR you are talking millions of dollars, one of the best kept secrets is the FASCAR racing, because for much much less, you can literally, as we are doing, own a series, and we are particularly tickled to own the Super Late Models, because those are the best of the best."
The first of seven Bright House Challenge Super Late 50 races will run this Saturday night, April 22nd, at New Smyrna Speedway. These 50 lap races will showcase some of Florida's best Super Late Model drivers plus pay $1200.00 to win. "Bright House has become one of our major sponsors and good friend," said General Manager Terry Roberts. "To have them sponsor this new 50 lap Super Late Model challenge races is an honor. The fans will see some great racing; that we know."
Bright House customers will be able to tune to "Central Florida on Demand" on channel 300 to see quality local events and activities, "if there ever one that was tailor made, racing is definitely that," Craven said. "This gives the fans something they can hang their hat on because with On Demand that is available 24 hours a day seven days a week."
Johnny Langley, the show's producer, is a huge race fan from Alabama, which always helps, when it comes to marketing racing and selling it to the public. Roland Via, Mayor of Holly Hill and the speedway announcer, was also involved with Terry Roberts and Brian Craven in getting the show going, and has already begun doing interviews for airing on the upcoming broadcasts.
Craven summed up the Bright House excitement and expectations, "we are just very excited, not just about this particular opportunity, but about where it may lead."
Where it may lead is the kind of media exposure for stock car racing, particularly the big money classes, that could have a major effect on sponsorship efforts for drivers, and open doors previously closed for Florida's top racers. There is little argument around the country that there is a huge talented pool of drivers in the Sunshine State, but it takes marketing and self-promotion for drivers to reach their full potential.
Hopefully we will see more of this type of aggressive, professional marketing over the next few years. It is exactly what is needed for the sport of stock car racing in Florida.
