Army Sponsorship

[Doolie]

Recruiters don't deal in "bodies." You are uninformed. Today's recruits are of a very high standard.
The cost of a college education (at a particular University here in Colorado), exclusive of books, room, and board is $142,000. It is not the most expensive. 10 X $142,000 is $1,420,000. I used a working figure of 1.5 million for primary sponsorship. 10 solders is about one squad. If your figure of 2-3 million dollars is more accurate, then the expenditure would cover more veterans' benefits as you aver. Of course, there are also less expensive college alternatives, although I selected a mid-pack cost figure. Since I have five children with a total of eight college degrees, I have some recent experience with these costs.

My bases for comment:
1) I enlisted as a Private in the US Army while in graduate school, served on Active Duty, in the National Guard, and in the Army Reserve from which I retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after 29 years.
2) I attended my first drag race in 1960, hosted the Motorsports Update radio show, served as a track announcer at Suffolk, VA, Cheyenne, WY, and Pueblo Motorsports Park. I wrote a published column on auto racing for a weekly newspaper. I am, presently, a part owner of a motorsports marketing company, a supercharged alcohol funny car and a Pro ET car having previously raced in Stock Eliminator.
3) I am an Adjunct Professor currently and have taught at three colleges and three Universities, both public and private.

My comments to you are based on my experience and the knowledge I have gained from that experience. I will be happy to read the data upon which you rely in forming the opinions you express.
Cheers,
Ed

I am just SO impressed with your resume.
This thread started with opinions about the propriety of tax dollars supporting racing teams. You want DATA. Do you want chocolate or vanilla? I know absolutely recruiters want BODIES to keep their nice soft jobs. Personal contact with those people told me that. Paying for someone's education is a far better way to spend my tax dollars that Don Schumacher's piston bill.
Then there are the mis adventures we have sent troops on since the fifties. Another non racing forum topic.

 

[Doolie]

Don Schumacher himself explained the story to me of how he cultivated the Army sponsorship..

Without divulging confidential information, here is how it went:

He was on a plane reading the WSJ and he read an article that stated that the all-in cost of recruiting a new member of the U.S. Army was about $80,000...

He modeled out what he could do for the Army to drive that cost per new recruit down, including the cost of the sponsorship, contacted the Army, they agreed, and the rest is history.

Someone is going to wake up in Washington and realize that these are very effective tools to reach the exact audience that the Army is trying to reach, and see that deserting these sponsorships is a bad idea that will actually drive their costs and amount of effort in their recruiting up.

These are not PR campaigns...they are very specific tools for recruiting.

If you had a company that makes ice cream machines that cost restaurants $5000 each, and of that, your marketing budget was $100,000/year to sell 100 machines, but I convinced you that I could help you sell 200 machines for the same $100,000 budget, how fast would you be writing me a check?

Now, the biggie is, that if I continued to bring you 200 sales per year for the same $100,000, would you listen to the idiot consultant that told you that it was a stupid waste of money to put the name of your ice cream machines on a racecar?

I didn't think so...

I think this will be my final word and you can all rah rah this forever.
There is a BIG and BASIC difference between your hypothetical Ice Cream machine company and the Army. Ice Cream machine company is NOT TAX SUPPORTED. I could not care less about what any company does with its money unless i own stock. I do care about how my taxes are spent. All of the other pork barrel and mis management is irksome too. I did not like them spending my money on Prudhomme's funny car in the seventies and i don't like it now. That is called my opinion. If someone thinks that it is justified for the role of America being the world's policeman, that is your opinion. Maybe you should look into the history of Afghanistan and the long history of outsiders trying to establish trade routes. Maybe you should look into the reality of our involvement in Iraq, the real deal with terrorists, the connection or lack thereof to 9-11 and the deals made to profit from re building the oil fields after we destroyed them. Bye now, work hard to pay those taxes.

 

[clwill]

There is a BIG and BASIC difference between your hypothetical Ice Cream machine company and the Army. Ice Cream machine company is NOT TAX SUPPORTED. I could not care less about what any company does with its money unless i own stock. I do care about how my taxes are spent. All of the other pork barrel and mis management is irksome too. I did not like them spending my money on Prudhomme's funny car in the seventies and i don't like it now. That is called my opinion.

The problem is that you and I don't have enough information to have an informed opinion on this -- or on 99% of the other things people get their knickers all in a twist about the govt. spending money on. TV ads are expensive too, and I'd bet that the Army spends 10 times what they spend with DSR on those. Where's the outrage?

None of us have anything but anecdotal evidence about the return on investment the Army sees in their racing efforts. It could be the best marketing money they spend, it could be a waste, we just don't know.

Being a shareholder of a public company doesn't give you the right to tell its employees how to do their job. You can either vote out the board, or sell the stock. Since that latter option isn't available in this case, vote out the board.

Let's let the professionals hired to get recruits do their job. If they aren't getting the number and quality of recruits needed, hold them accountable for that. Don't lean over their shoulder and tell them what to do.

FWIW, all information I have is that they are doing a fine job and the Army has the recruits they need -- thanks in no small part to 9/11 and a lousy economy, and maybe, just maybe, a trip to a race where they saw a very cool car go very fast supported by a very well run team all sporting the Army banner.

 

[Gipraw]

I am just SO impressed with your resume.
This thread started with opinions about the propriety of tax dollars supporting racing teams. You want DATA. Do you want chocolate or vanilla? I know absolutely recruiters want BODIES to keep their nice soft jobs. Personal contact with those people told me that. Paying for someone's education is a far better way to spend my tax dollars that Don Schumacher's piston bill.
Then there are the mis adventures we have sent troops on since the fifties. Another non racing forum topic.

Do you go out of your way to be condescending and rude to people, or does it just come naturally? Anyone that thinks recruiting is a soft job either has a large vacancy between their ears, or is/was a lazy recruiter.

I think this will be my final word and you can all rah rah this forever.

Leaving without answering the question that several have asked. I guess that is the most effective way to dodge answering it.



Do you want the budget cut, or do you just want motorsports sponsorships blocked? As I mentioned before.. one is a valid discussion, one is not.




Ed - thank you for your service.

 

[Just Paul]

One Down.

Army to end Stewart-Haas Racing sponsorship - Jul 10, 2012 - NASCAR.COM

The U.S. Army has decided not to renew its sponsorship with Stewart-Haas Racing for 2013, ending a decade of involvement in NASCAR's premier series.

According to a release issued Tuesday by the team, the decision was made because of "a reallocation of [the Army's] marketing budget that will not include a presence in NASCAR."

"The U.S. Army has worked with Stewart-Haas Racing in a mutually beneficial and highly successful relationship for the past four seasons," said John Myers, Army marketing director. "And they've performed superbly as our partner on and off the track. The same can be said of other members of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series family we have sponsored during the past 10 seasons.

"The sport, our drivers and the passionate NASCAR fans embraced the Army's participation and created a tremendous opportunity for Americans to learn more about the profession of the Army-strong soldier."

The issue of using recruitment money in sports sponsorships has been a hot-button topic in Congress for the past couple of years. In 2011, Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota introduced a measure to ban Department of Defense spending on NASCAR in the House budget, but it was defeated 281-148.

Earlier this year, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment that would prohibit the military from sponsorship of sports events, a sum estimated at more than $135 million per year, with the majority going to NASCAR-related sponsorships.

At one time, the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and National Guard all had full-season sponsorships in one or more of NASCAR's three major national touring series.

Jerry Nadeau carried a U.S. Army paint scheme for the first time in the 2003 Daytona 500. Joe Nemechek and Mark Martin also drove Army-sponsored cars before it moved to Stewart-Haas Racing at the beginning of 2009. Since then, Ryan Newman's No. 39 Chevrolet has carried Army colors.

SHR officials say they are now "actively pursuing" another brand.

"The U.S. Army has been a great partner of Stewart-Haas Racing since the team's inception," said Brett Frood, team executive vice president. "It has been a mutually beneficial relationship, with the U.S. Army introducing training regimens that improved our pit crews while instilling the mental, physical and emotional strength of the U.S. Army soldier in all of us.

"We remain very proud of our representation of the U.S. Army and its brave soldiers who are 100 percent committed to our country. We will continue to activate on behalf of the U.S. Army for the rest of 2012, while also growing our other dynamic partnerships at Stewart-Haas Racing for the future."

 

[Pete]

No difference which team it might be. I don't want my money supporting a racing team unless i choose that path. Once again, how do you know how effective it has been getting bodies? A huge success among the troops? I can just see some guy in a vehicle in Afghanistan, terrified he will get blown up by a roadside bomb, feeling so much better because the Army is funneling money to DSR or any other race team. SURE.

Norman, why don't you go through the budget line by line. I am sure there are FAR worse places "your money" is being spent.
The sponsorships give soldiers, sailers and airmen something personal to rally around and take pride in, aside from the normal grunt work. I have many friends that serve our country and almost all of them attend the races NASCAR and NHRA, in uniform and enjoy the camradere with the sponsored teams and their fellow uniformed comrades.

 

[mw6789]

I think with this country some $17 trillion in debt, the mere appearance of sports sponsorships does not sit well with many in this country. I agree with a previous poster that most all of us do not have the information necessary to have an educated opinion on these sponsorships. I agree that ALL government spending needs overhauling and I get sick and tired of hearing how millions of dollars are just "drops in the bucket". The afore mentioned $17 trillion debt was amassed a few "drops in the bucket" at a time over a period of many years----only problem is now the bucket has overflowed. There are many "sources of pride" and other things that this country is going to have to learn to live without if we are to survive. Only problem is everyone wants the other guy to give up his---but I need to keep mine.

 

[Paul]

The Army Marketing Director just stated pulling out of NASCAR was strictly a ROI decision. The Director just said (per Bob Pockrass NASCAR Journalist)that the Army does plan on pursuing a deal with DSR to continue the NHRA program. This is a perfect example of how the NHRA provides a greater ROI than NASCAR. We can only hope more sponsors see it this way. I would say this, it isn't a good sign for the National Guard sponsorship of Dale Jr., the National Guard is spending over double what the Army was for only 1 more race.

 

[Gipraw]

The National Guard's visibility is easily 10 times what the Army's is in NASCAR, based on the popularity of the driver they sponsor.

I am pretty sure that Stewart-Haas knew this was coming for a long time, as Newman is not signed to a contract extension yet due to lack of sponsorship for the car next year.