Our Award-Winning Work
In 2007 alone, Millsport earned nine awards for its sports marketing programs, including a prestigious Cannes Gold Lion, Promo PRO Award, Globes Award, Stevie Award, Ex Award, and a Bill Veeck Sports Marketing Award from St. Louis University.
Sunoco Victory Junction Gang
Objective
Sunoco’s goals were to generate exposure, awareness and support for the Victory Junction Gang Camp (VJGC), Sunoco’s designated motorsports charity, a camp in North Carolina for chronically ill children.
As the official fuel of NASCAR, Sunoco was looking for a way to activate its sponsorship in a way that emotionally engaged NASCAR’s 75 million fans. The average NASCAR fan views the sport as lifestyle definer; they are part of the “NASCAR Nation.” NASCAR is thrilling entertainment with a sense of family “belonging.”
Strategically, Sunoco’s solution was to develop a comprehensive cause platform around a partnership with the popular Orange County Choppers (OCC), and complement it with tie-ins to Sunoco’s NASCAR partnerships and promotional activities.
Since NASCAR sponsors are seen as integral to the sport and motorsports fans reward racing sponsors with their trust, preference, and loyalty, Sunoco wanted to highlight its ongoing relationship with the Victory Junction Gang in a way that benefited both organizations.
Strategy
On a tactical level, Sunoco commissioned OCC to create a custom Sunoco/VJGC-branded motorcycle, built across two episodes of The Discovery Channel’s popular “American Chopper” television program. They executed a public relations plan across national media outlets, including unveiling the OCC bike on national television.
The program included a themed national sweepstakes, giving the custom OCC bike away via donations and entries on www.victoryjunction.org. More than 4,700 Sunoco retail locations participated in the sweepstakes. The winner of the sweepstakes was presented the Sunoco – VJGC bike at “NASCAR Champion’s Week” in New York City.
The Sunoco-VJGC bike was integrated into the annual cross-country Kyle Petty Charity Ride, named for the founder of VJGC. This was a special moment to solidify Sunoco’s place as the charity holder for VJGC.
In addition, the program was extended to retail by producing a toy transporter with replica bike and imagery of popular NASCAR drivers.
Results
With clear goals, Sunoco helped generate exposure for VJGC, build awareness for the camp, and increase support for the organization.
Over the course of the program, the sweepstakes received more than 10,000 entries and resulted in more than $200K in total donations made directly to the camp.
The program generated $1.5 million worth of media exposure via two debut episodes of “American Chopper” with multiple replays, a segment on NBC’s “The Today Show,” pre- and in-race features on FOX, TNT, NBC and Speed, live interviews and mentions on MRN/PRN, and feature articles in multiple NASCAR publications.
In addition, the program raised more than $150K for the camp through the sale of the toy truck during November and December 2006.
