Sprint Nextel going to ask NASCAR for refund
Sprint's top dog chief marketing officer states that with the recent ruling allowing AT&T to appear on the car this will cause "the telecommunications company most associated with NASCAR would likely change from Sprint Nextel to AT&T." Well if that should happen it would simply prove that Sprint Nextel and their marketing officer are doing a really lousy job.
Come on, a half billion dollar campaign will be eclipsed by the logos on ONE car. Are they kidding?
But more ironic still is the fact that if Sprint/Nextel and NASCAR had kept their big mouths shut in the first place not one person would have noticed!
I also have to think that this storm in a teacup is not going unnoticed by current and potential sponsors. What with the cheating, race fixing and TV audience decline the good old boys in Daytona could find themselves on a very slippery slope. What happened to good old fashioned competition? Obviously Sprint/Nextel just can't stand the heat. And they call this a sport! More like the battle of the brands. Quick….throw a yellow! Ray Masters, Hawaii
05/30/07 In its appeal of a federal judge's recent ruling, Sprint Nextel is reiterating its stance that having AT&T logos on the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing car impairs the value of the sponsorship of the Nextel Cup Series.
Sprint Nextel filed its brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals over the injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge Marvin H. Shoob, whose May 18 ruling allowed the switch from Cingular to AT&T logos on the car.
"Every time the RCR No. 31 car is permitted to race with AT&T's brand, Nextel's return on its NASCAR investment is immediately and profoundly diminished," Sprint Nextel's brief states. "The marketing significance of such a change in branding would be difficult to exaggerate. Cingular is a major brand but it is both new, having been born this decade, and limited, as it represents only wireless.
"The AT&T brand is entirely different. The AT&T brand originated in 1885, and the AT&T blue and white globe is one of the most recognizable marketing symbols in the world."
"The immense loyalty and goodwill that Sprint Nextel has earned and protected among NASCAR's 75 millions fans already is being eroded," the Sprint Nextel filing states. "As Sprint Nextel's chief marketing officer testified, if this is permitted to continue, 'the telecommunications company most associated with NASCAR would likely change from Sprint Nextel to AT&T.'
"The harm to Sprint Nextel's NASCAR investment that would be caused by destruction of its vested, long-term right of exclusivity at the hands of the largest company in its industry would be great, immediate and irreparable."