Best Western honored for work with other sponsors

The business of NASCAR is indeed business, and how one relates within that community is a matter of no little pride.

Best Western, one of NASCAR's many partners, apparently does it very well, receiving the inaugural Fuel for Business B2B Award at the NASCAR Fuel for Business B2B Council meeting here earlier this month.

"It's a really nice compliment to our association with NASCAR, and we highly regard it," said Renee Ryan, vice-president of marketing for Best Western. "It's been one of the great business pushes for us this year in terms of hitting our B2B [business-to-business] numbers and working with NASCAR as a partner and do all the networking and associating that we do with all the NASCAR official sponsors."

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In 2007, Best Western generated $16.7 million in business with NASCAR official partners like Office Depot, Coors and Camping World. The 2008 numbers are not yet published, but they will be similar, continuing a strong basis for growth.

"We probably do direct business with about half of the official sponsors, and we've found some indirect relationships that we have generated business from," Ryan said. "All our telecommunications are done now with Sprint, and we've taken on a contract with Office Depot. It's opened up new networking opportunities and business venues for us, both in a cost-savings and business generating aspect."

The B2B Council meets four times a year, and Ryan said those meetings are the basis for the new business opportunities.

"Those meetings are a real good start," she said. "They are the foundation for the relationships, and there can be side meetings after that. The popularity of them and the people who want to come to these events is outstanding; otherwise, they wouldn't want to be putting their time and effort into it."

NASCAR is the only sport in which Best Western is actively involved, though Ryan said there have been opportunities with other sports.

"We find that just the product placement, the loyalty of the NASCAR fans, is what we're trying to push on," Ryan said.

The B2B Council has allowed Best Western to break down some doors that were previously closed to them, Ryan said.

With the Office Depot relationship, Best Western was able to bring value by contracting for services in exchange for a recommendation from Office Depot for its corporate travelers. That same dynamic is part and parcel of Best Western's relationship with series sponsor Nationwide and others. Discussions are under way with several partners for 2009, including Nationwide, SiriusXM and Enterprise.

The Council was instrumental in getting Best Western officials together with decision-makers of major sponsors like Coors Brewing. Each of the four yearly meetings includes outings designed to put decision-makers together to brainstorm for possible waypoints toward a B2B agreement.

New series sponsor Camping World and Mars, makers of M&M's and other candies, are also part of the Council and are currently on Best Western's radar screen for potential partners.

Travel discount programs are the baseline for Best Western, because each of the partners has a substantial corporate travel portfolio. That's not limited to just NASCAR partners. It hits fans as well, Ryan said.

"We have more than 2,200 properties in North America, so on their way to any race, they'll find a really nice Best Western to accommodate them," Ryan said. Many of the company's properties are located near NASCAR speedways, and certainly on the way to those areas.

Ryan was not a NASCAR fan when she assumed control of the partnership, but she is now.

"When I took over about two years ago, I had to go buy and read the NASCAR for Dummies book," she said with a laugh. "I have a lot of family members that are quite interested in the sport, so when I go to a race, they give me the scoop on who I need to be following."

The B2B Council, properly named the NASCAR Fuel for Business Council, includes major sponsors and partners of NASCAR, including Aflac, Bank of America, DirecTV, DuPont and others. Through the council, these companies have been able to generate millions of dollars in cross-trading sales among each other.

Aflac was highly visible during the Ford 400 weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as it is preparing to embark on a full-season sponsorship of Carl Edwards' No. 99 Ford from the Roush Fenway Racing stable in 2009.

NASCAR officials have said its NASCAR Fuel for Business Council is "the most prolific and profitable in all of sports," and with the success of Best Western among the other NASCAR partners, it's hard to argue against it.