Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Emailing: 7676

From: Jim Storms <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 06:01:23 -0500

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            "My Take" on Nextel and NASCAR
            Written by: Dave Despain
            Charlotte, NC - 8/15/2003

            "My Take" is a regular feature of "Wind Tunnel," Dave Despain's weekly motorsports phone-in show, seen only on Speed Channel. "Wind Tunnel" airs live at 9pm eastern every Monday - Thursday night.

            I have a suggestion tonight for Nextel, which replaced the
            tobacco money in NASCAR with the biggest sponsorship deal in the history of sports - not motorsports, ALL sports, anywhere in the world. And right out of the box, the cell phone folks got a bum rap on the Kenny Schrader deal.

            Their sponsorship puts exactly the same limits on their competition that Winston had, yet Nextel was portrayed as putting the screws to the poor, struggling BAM team. How did that happen? 

            Well, AT&T was an associate sponsor on the 49 car. When Nextel signed on, NASCAR announced that existing cell phone sponsorships were grandfathered at present levels. New or expanded sponsorships would not be allowed. Suddenly, coincidentally, AT&T wanted to become Schrader's major sponsor, knowing full well that, #1: it would not be allowed, and #2: when it was not allowed, the fans would all blame their competition, Nextel. Nice move!

            So here's Nextel, coming into a new sport, spending nine b-zillion dollars to make friends with the fans, and a bunch of them are already mad. Here's how to fix that.

            A huge chunk of Nextel's budget is earmarked for television advertising. My suggestion: Buy a lot of spots during green flag racing, then DO NOT run the commercials. I'm serious. Instead run a little banner across the bottom of the screen telling fans that this segment of commercial-free NASCAR competition is presented by Nextel. Add the 800# to call for their special introductory NASCAR fan phone offer. Then hire more operators. You'll set a new record for instant fan good will.

            And there's no charge for the suggestion.

            That's my take...I'd like to hear yours.

            1-866-W-TUNNEL is the number to call Monday - Thursday nights from 9-10pm ET. [email-masked] is the email address.

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