Another win for marketing

Forget about weekly circulars that end up in the trash; the most effective marketing spend at Target this year is proving to be the company’s involvement with motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing, where the sponsorship of top drivers is resulting in strong brand impressions.

Team Target won its second consecutive IndyCar Series championship this past weekend in Homestead, Fla., as drivers Dario Franchitti finished first and teammate Scott Dixon finished third in the series’ final race of the season. Franchitti and Dixon combined to win 10 of the 17 races in the IndyCar Series. It is an impressive accomplishment, however the open wheel racing league in which those drivers compete is not as popular in the United States as the brand of racing delivered by NASCAR.

Target’s got it covered there too as former open wheel driver Juan Pablo Montoya is still in the running to win NASCAR’s top prize. He drives the Target sponsored car owned by Ganassi and finished third this past weekend at a race in California. With only six races remaining in the 10 race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship series Montoya ranks third in total points and has an opportunity to close the gap on series leader Jimmie Johnson who drives a car sponsored by Lowe’s.