"NASCAR" Style
Marketing Comes To Air Racing
Asked to comment on the
agreement, Bob Avery, CEO of WOW, said, "As
a business, World of Wings is a motor sports
property that looks very much like NASCAR in
structure. One of the important aspects of any
motor sport property is licensing and
merchandising. It was a great marketing victory
for WOW to sign up six of the top teams in
Unlimited Air Racing at our first event. Not only
will air race fans have exciting new merchandise
during this year’s Reno air races, but the
merchandise will be available online throughout
the year at our WOW Website,
www.worldofwings.com." The Website will be
activated on opening day of Reno Air Racing,
September 14.
WOW has formed a joint
venture merchandising agreement with one of the
leading corporate and event merchandising
companies in the country, Craton Event
Merchandising (www.cratonpromotions.com), to
provide all event merchandise,concessionaire
vending, and financial management of merchandise
sales. Craton handles a large variety of college
sports and other racing merchandise which can be
found by visiting http://www.buyeventstuff.com
David Peters Designs, of
Venice, California, has been selected to provide
the exclusive artworks for the new WOW "Reno
Air Racing Gear," which will include
Team-branded T-shirts, Polo Shirts, caps, and a
variety of other team-related items. For the past
three years, Peters has designed the official
poster for the Reno National Championship Air
Races.
In announcing Peters
selection to the WOW team, Avery said "David
Peters is one of the top aviation illustrators in
the business today. His work appears in
Air&Space/Smithsonian magazine, Navy Aviation
News and Flight Journal magazine. This year marks
the third consecutive year that RARA has
commissioned David to illustrate the official
poster of Reno Air Racing. That pretty much sums
up his talent, knowledge and passion for this
sport. After working with David for the past
three years, he was our first choice to create
the new line of WOW air racing gear for our
licensed teams. With our license from RARA to
include the official logo of the Reno Air Races
on this Team merchandise, we are producing air
racing apparel that we think the fans will be
excited about."
As part of its sales
effort, WOW will erect a new 30' by 40' Pavilion
that will be located behind the grandstands near
the entry gate for the Pits. The tented facility
is scheduled to open while qualifications are
still underway, the day before the official start
of the races: September 13, 2000.
WOW has also indicated that
-- as part of its marketing effort to "put a
face on Air Racing" -- a schedule will be
posted at its WOW Pavilion that will allow the
fans of Air Racing to come and meet the six air
racing team pilots for pictures, autograph
signings, and to "just talk." As a
further enticement, WOW will be offering with
every "Miss America Team" purchase, a
free poster of the "Miss America" racer
(while supplies last).
In a related announcement,
WOW had indicated that General Paul Tibbets, Jr.,
the commander of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress
"Enola Gay," will be present at the WOW
Pavilion all day Saturday, September 16, 2000,
for signings of his new book, "Return of the
Enola Gay."
General Tibbets, commander
of the "Enola Gay," led the historic
mission that ended with the Atomic bombing of
Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. That
mission, and a subsequent one over Nagasaki,
Japan, by the B-29 "Bock's Car;" led to
the end of World War II, and the beginning of the
Cold War that pitted the United States and its
allies against the Communist Eastern Bloc.
World of Wings has been
quietly developed by Bob Avery and a team of
business innovators over the past three years,
with the intention of pioneering the NASCAR-style
marketing of Flight Teams and Aviation Venues,
through media presentations, sponsorships, and
the licensing and merchandising of such aviation
properties and events.
"In that time,"
said Avery, "we have had a small but highly
polished group of business and marketing
professionals conducting extensive marketing
research and creating the business model that
will allow us to meet our stated objective of
bringing the most exciting aviation content
available to tens of millions of fans around the
world, 24 hours a day."
Avery pointed to Champion
Marketing as one of his allies: "Part of the
business strategy of WOW is to enter into
marketing alliances with strategic partners who
share our vision and dream our dreams. One
partner we have been working with for over three
years is Jim Pera, President of Champion
Marketing. Through Jim's well-connected network,
we are able to develop and extend fresh ideas to
more clients in this underdeveloped market of
aviation sports and entertainment. Jim has a
clear understanding of the content and value we
bring to the table and is able to package and
present that value to a whole new set of sponsors
and advertisers. WOW will continue to seek out
these types of strategic alliances as we grow the
business."
Since beginning operations,
WOW has assembled a rather impressive list of
sponsors, including Rolls-Royce North America,
Phillips 66 Aviation, the Reno Hilton Hotel,
Oakley Sunglasses, Millionaire Magazine, Oklahoma
City's Downtown Air Park, Tomos Products, TiVo,
and Air Classics Magazine.
Said Avery of his sponsors,
"Fans might look at sponsors and think it's
just another company trying to plaster another
banner in their face. In the case of WOW
sponsors, that couldn't be further from the
truth. I know because I deal directly with every
sponsor that we have on board. The companies you
see associated with World of Wings are there
because they love aviation as much as any fan and
want to give something back. Look at Phillips 66
Aviation, Rolls Royce North America, Air Classics
Magazine and Downtown Air Park. These are
companies deep into aviation. They are true air
racing fans. Tomos Products, Oakley and TiVo may
not seem the likely fit for Air Racing, but they
aren't coming to Reno because a marketing survey
said they should 'be there.' They are coming
because, they are passionate about the sport.
They want to be a part of air racing – to
see it, hear it and feel the action with the
fans."
Avery summed up his
sponsors by saying that "These are real
people who come to Reno to cheer for their
favorite pilots as fans and team members. There
are hundreds of places these companies could
spend their marketing dollars, but they choose
Air Racing because they love it -- just as much
as any fan out there. And they want to see it
thrive."
WOW has committed its own
operations to the success of Air Racing. The
first production of a television series
highlighting Aviation events around the world
begins with "People-Passion-Pistons and
Power," coverage of the same National
Championship Air Races, which are scheduled for
Reno, Nevada, between September 14 - 17, 2000.
Televised
Air Racing Returns To Reno
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