 Team Irrelevant Research and Target Identification By: Sam Bruns, Jeff Hafkey, Jake Leyland, and Ted Lipowicz

Project Overview  NASCAR’s industry action plan (Charlotte Observer):  Help sport rebound from economic downturn  Generate new youthful, diverse fan base  Project is aimed at selling the experience of NASCAR to a younger fan base  Darlington Raceway is specifically targeting a younger clientele through discounted tickets for college students for their Bojangles Southern 500 race.

NASCAR Fan Demographics  Average travel time to a race is 3 hours  One of the main appeals is tailgating:  Top Beer choices for NASCAR fans (Bleacher Report):  Miller Lite, Coors Light, Budweiser, Miller High Life  Top Motivators for attending race (ESPN):  Excitement  Camaraderie  Social  Pre-race entertainment Age: % % % % % 65+15% Gender: Male:63% Female:37% Taken from brentsherman.com

College Student Motivators  Top two motivators for attending USC football games: Sports fan and social  Social Motivators:  Research shows that pre-gaming and tailgating are two culturally ingrained alcohol use behaviors by college students (NCBI)  10 of top 100 party schools are in NC, SC, GA (Yahoo Finance)  USC, UGA, and Clemson are all listed as top 25 tailgating schools (Bleacher Report)  Nation’s best drinking cities include: Greenville, SC; Greensboro, NC; Jacksonville, FL; Knoxville, TN (Yahoo Finance)  Sport Fan Motivators:  Out of the top 20 most active sports fan bases, 8 are within southeast (College Atlas)  Within 3 hours: USC, Clemson, UNC

Target Market  Target Market:  Based off of NASCAR demographics and college student motivators:  Colleges within 3 hours of driving distance (SC, NC, GA)  Student organizations that place a strong emphasis on social events 180 Mile Radius

Prospect List (Prioritized Top to Bottom)  Greek Organizations  Social fraternities and sororities  Social Clubs/Student Organizations  Clubs and organizations that place heavy importance on social gatherings  Intramurals  Club Sports  Student Interest Groups  Varsity sports

Prospect List Greek Life  Fraternities/Sororities  Bigger social drinkers  15 drinks per week vs. 7 for non-fraternity members (Indiana University)  Host tailgates, parties  Ties in with Budweiser-sponsored Tailgate  11 of 20 top-selling beer from Anheuser-Busch (BizJournals)  Bud Light: #1  Budweiser: #3 Social Groups  Organizations that have strong social aspect  Intramurals, social groups, club sports, student interest groups  Group-orientated activity  Opportunity to sit/ tailgate together  Early in the year, provides first opportunity for new members to be involved

Strategy  Foster desire amongst a college-age clientele through the promotion of the social benefits of a NASCAR event to coincide with NASCAR’s ongoing mission to establish a younger fan base.

Timeline  March 29: Design call log  April 8: Have $500 worth of tickets sold  April 15: Contact every client listed on call log  April 18: Have $1,000 worth of tickets sold  April 22: Follow-up with clients  April 25: Meet $2,000 sales quota