NASCAR Enters the World of George Orwell
Written by Marc Boland · January 30, 2006
I suspect the percentage of people that haven’t read, or at least heard of, George Orwell’s classic book 1984 is fairly small. Based on my experience it was required reading in most schools and remains popular today and has led to the introduction of a whole vocabulary of words concerning totalitarian control such as Newspeak, doublethink and thoughtcrime.
Orwell’s world containing a grim city and a terrifying country, where Big Brother is always Watching You and the Thought Police can practically read your mind came to mind reading this piece by Meridith Levinson Senior Writer for CIO.com.
The article notes the explosive growth of NASCAR in the last ten years of both it’s fan base, and also the number of corporations that have become involved. (in 2004, 97 Fortune 500 companies were involved with Nascar; in 2005, that number jumped to 106). One of the corporations it singles out is Nextel:
Nextel pays Nascar $75 million a year to sponsor the Nextel Cup Series of races (Nextel took over the sponsorship from cigarette-maker Winston) and provides the technology that enables fans to listen to conversations between drivers and their crews during races, Nascar hasn’t been able to use Nextel’s vast customer base to bring new fans into the racing fold mainly because of the privacy concerns that arise around sharing customer data, says VanDerSnick [Roger VanDerSnick, Nascar’s vice president of marketing]. Nor has it been able to reach out in any comprehensive fashion to any of its other sponsors’ consumers, such as Allstate, The Home Depot and Exxon/Mobil. VanDerSnick says Nascar hasn’t yet figured out how to market itself to Nextel customers while respecting Nextel’s customer privacy agreements. He admits that database marketing is an area where Nascar is playing catch-up. Until recently, Nascar thought database marketing was up to sponsors or to the tracks as part of their ticket selling efforts.
And thus - entry into NASCAR’s world of “catch-up,” A/K/A Big Brother is always Watching You, on page 5 of the article.
As the 2006 season gets under way, VanDerSnick says Nascar will begin exploring the possibility of consolidating all the disparate databases in the stock car racing industry that contain fan information so that it and its partners can market to those fans. “All the drivers have their own fan clubs; Nascar.com has its own database; the Nascar members club has a database,” says VanDerSnick. “We want to, as best we can because we don’t have complete control here, consolidate all those databases so everyone can leverage it and target existing Nascar fans to improve marketing program execution.”
The idea behind the database consolidation effort is that if Nascar has a better understanding of its fans
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Jebus! Check the settings on your tin foil hat, Marc!
BTW didn’t you (Marc Boland/T-rex) die in a car accident in the 70’s?………. Sorry gotta run, two men in black are out the front of my house
Can the “Animal Farm” be far behind? Ignore the comments of the Omega’s and prattle on, brother, prattle on!
“BTW didn’t you (Marc Boland/T-rex) die in a car accident in the 70’s?……….”
Oh yea, they said Elvis was dead to!
Your membership application will arrive shortly Peter, via the telepathic transmission of Dr. Phil’s brain waves. (assuming Oprah lifts his lead-lined cage of course)
Prattle indeed George. As you see Peter already has MIB’s camped at his doorstep. The NASCAR Thought Police (NTP) are sure to follow.
Now it you all will excuse me, I’ve been advised by my “Watcher” to put down the mouse… and back away slowly.
Very interesting Marc,I just awoke from reading the whole article , and it occurs to me that NASCAR has become a “misnomer” too unless SC has been changed to “sponsored car” …. I dont care what Big Bro Bill’s bratz want SPAM is SPAM … think I’ll take Mom to Fenway this year ,screw Daytona !
Can the “Animal Farm” be far behind?
“four wheels good to wheels bad”
Opps! “Two wheels”
Careful Peter, the spelling and grammar police are already on our cases!