Harvick, Budweiser team up for three seasons

Harvick, Budweiser team up for three seasons


Budweiser announced Tuesday it will sponsor Kevin Harvick for three seasons beginning in 2011, and the Budweiser logo will be on the hood of the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing car for 20 points races and two non-points events.
The beer company has been on the hood of a car since 1983, most notably with Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser’s current contract as full sponsor with driver Kasey Kahne and Richard Petty Motorsports ends after this season.
“The reduction in the number of races doesn’t mean we’re going to diminish our presence in the sport,” said Mark Wright, Anheuser-Busch vice president of media, sports and entertainment marketing. “It gives us an opportunity for the brand to just do some different things, whether it’s stuff like the party porch at Daytona that we did on the backstretch, or more sweepstakes, more promotions.
“We’re really looking forward to trying to connect Budweiser to some new fans out there and even the current fan base, so not having every race allows us to do that.”
Even though Harvick is 34, Wright said he believes Harvick can connect with the young demographic. He said the company will try to bring young people to the sport and the garage and use social media as part of its sponsorship activation.
“He has a young attitude,” Wright said about Harvick. “His approach is what we need. Some of the things we were going to do with him, we were going to do anyway in terms of investing in those platforms.”
Even with the new ownership of the company, the criteria in selecting a driver did not change, Wright said.
“We wanted a guy with a proven track record, which Kevin has, a driver with the kind of personality and charisma that Budweiser was looking for and then you couple that with Richard Childress and what he means to the sport and what his organization can bring in terms of winning and that’s what we’re looking for,” Wright said.
The company considered remaining with Kahne, but Wright said the uncertainty about Kahne for 2011—Kahne had signed a contract in April with Hendrick Motorsports for 2012 and did not sign a 2011 deal until last week with Red Bull—pretty much ended any chance of continuing the relationship.
That led the company to RCR, which was losing Shell/Pennzoil as Harvick’s sponsor to Penske Racing and driver Kurt Busch.