Office Depot scoops sponsor award
Office Depot has been awarded the 2011 NASCAR Driving Business Award, an accolade that is presented annually to the official NASCAR partner that demonstrates extraordinary leadership and results through its participation in the NASCAR Fuel for Business (NFFB) Council. The award was
history of driving business through its NASCAR partnership and has been an official partner since 2005. Through the NFFB Council, Office Depot has secured new business accounts with Chevrolet, Ford, the National Corn Growers’ Association, Getty Images and NASCAR RV Resorts.
bestowed upon NASCAR’s official office supply partner at a ceremony in Las Vegas. The NFFB Council is a programme that brings together an exclusive group of more than 50 official NASCAR partners to get more out of their sponsorship, namely by bringing them together four times a year to buy and sell products and services. This environment is said to offer the unique opportunity for companies to save time and construct customised deals to help address specific business needs. Since the NFFB Council’s inception in 2004, it has
It’s more than just having the name seen by fans, sponsorship offers lucrative business opportunties, too
facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue and savings to its participating members. For example, Ford, which was last year’s recipient of the Driving Business Award, has sold more than 20,000 vehicles through the Council. Office Depot, which is also a sponsor of reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Tony Stewart, and the no 14 Office Depot / Mobil 1 Chevrolet, was given the award in recognition of its successful performance on the NFFB Council in 2011. But the company has a long
MINI INTERVIEW – Wolfgang Dürheimer
In 2014, you will have Porsche and Audi against each other at Le Mans. What are the rules? In the group? There are basically no rules. It is fair play as usual when you are playing your colleague, and the better will win.
Is it a rule that they come with different drive solutions, so Audi will stay with diesel and Porsche with petrol? This is an opportunity, because both technologies will be explored to the limit, and both are extremely important for the group. On one side the petrol, the other side the diesel, and to push both to the limit is good, and it is also good for potential competitors. No matter what
they choose for their racing propulsion, they will have a strong competitor from our group.
Is there a time limit on the two brands competing against each other? No. There are no limits, but there are a lot of series around the world, in different continents, that give
opportunities for other
racing activities other than in Le Mans. It will be interesting to see both companies racing against each other in Le Mans, but I personally don’t think it will be a long time that they are doing it. It is not decided who will be the one to leave.
Are you worried budgets will run out of control?
They will not run out of control if the manufacturers that prepare the cars walk through the work with open eyes, and find the right connections. It is affordable.
What about the budgets for a major manufacturer programme in 2014? To compete in Le Mans you can do it with 50 million [Euro], and a World Championship would double that. I think that the guys in the ACO will at the right time interfere and get it under control as Formula 1 does it. In comparison to three
years ago, there are remarkable changes [in Formula 1]. It doesn’t happen in five or six months, but in the long-term view you can see the budgets of Formula 1 dramatically coming down. By forcing the engines and gearboxes to run for a couple of races releases a tremendous
amount of very good engine guys who are on the market all of a sudden.
Would the lower cost put Formula 1 back into Volkswagen Group’s thinking? I personally like the idea for the VW Group, with its many brands, to have one in Formula 1. In Europe and Asia, it is still the most important racing series and there is no balance of performance. It is open for everyone, and you can give it your best shot and see how good you are. This is what I like from a motorsport point of view, and I am working on this idea.
So are you encouraging one brand to take up Formula 1? Yes.
Will you reveal which one? No.
May 2012 •
www.racecar-engineering.com 83 ‘Office Depot is
honoured to be this year’s recipient of NASCAR’s Driving Business Award,’
said Kevin Peters, president of North America for Office Depot. ‘Our sponsorship in NASCAR and active involvement with the NFFB Council provides Office Depot with strong B2B opportunities because sponsors within the sport want to do business with each other. And we’ve also been able to deepen relationships with many of our customers by bringing them to NASCAR races. The sponsorship has proven to be a great business-building tool for Office Depot over the years.’
BRIEFLY
Aero centre Hidden amongst the ‘granny tax’ and 5p on a pint in the recent UK Budget statement was the rather more welcome news that the government is to invest in a £60m UK centre for aerodynamic design. ‘The centre will support innovation in aerospace technology, commercialise new ideas and spin-off technologies and wider applications in other sectors.’
Spanish flyers The Formula 1 event promoters in the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Valencia have agreed in principle to alternate their grands prix, starting in 2013, according to Bernie Ecclestone. Both have admitted they are struggling to pay the annual fees charged by Formula 1 at a time when the world economic situation is hitting their nation hard.
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