Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

I’m really curious about the reasons why Anheuser-Busch will not renew its sponsorship of NASCAR’s Busch Series when the contract expires in 2007. I mean every time I read about NASCAR, someone is raving on and on about how it’s the fastest growing spectator sport in America. Come to think about it, that’s what they’ve been saying about professional wrestling for years. Even better was the news a couple of weeks ago that there’s a six month wait for curling stones, as they can’t make them fast enough in Austria, or wherever they come from, to meet the growing demand! Anyway, NASCAR says the search for a replacement title sponsor is in the “initial stages” but wants to have somebody in place before 2008. Seems to me there must be someone out there ready to pony up the $35-40 million a year it’s going to cost to mine that rich vein of light beer drinking, tobacco chewing, fried chicken eating, yee-hawing fans. On the other hand, for a couple of hundred bucks you could probably reach every curling fanatic in the US. They wouldn’t be doing much chawin’ though as the spit tends to stain the ice.