As Michael Mayall walks by the IndyCar paddock, personnel from numerous groups step ahead to shake his hand and chat. The Vice President of Corporate Development at XPEL might facilitate a partnership with Team Penske, however the friendships he maintains with everybody in IndyCar are integral to the general imaginative and prescient of the protecting coatings firm.
Full disclosure: XPEL invited me to the 2023 Hy-Vee IndyCar weekend at Iowa Speedway, the place I used to be capable of shadow Michael Mayall for a day to know what it takes to facilitate and keep a sponsorship program. XPEL is a Team Penske companion, and in Iowa, it was the first sponsor of Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3.
Modern motorsport depends on sponsorship; a group can’t exist and not using a slate of backers, and people backers profit by constructing sturdy connections throughout the sport. As I shadowed Mayall, I used to be stunned by simply how many individuals inside IndyCar spoke to him in regards to the XPEL coatings they’d put in on their automobiles or their house home windows, each throughout the Penske group and outdoors of it.
“The biggest thing is that we need the organizations representing us to be a good fit,” Mayall instructed me after I requested how sponsorship talks start. “It needs to fit from a brand standpoint, how we can engage customers in our target audience.
“We also think about what our products do. Our paint protection film is designed to keep your car looking perfect, like the day you brought it off the showroom floor. Penske shares that attitude — that dedication. They’re the gold standard in motorsport. They’re Penske perfect.”
XPEL thought-about each NASCAR and IndyCar when the time got here to sponsor a group in racing, and regardless of Penske’s presence in NASCAR, the corporate felt most at house within the open-wheel sequence.
“We could envision the way the XPEL car would look, and we saw the way the entire Penske organization operated in IndyCar. We felt that we were cut from that same cloth,” Mayall defined.
Further, the familial ambiance of the game — the place even opponents might be pleasant with each other and assist one another out — made the sequence an ideal match. Folks on the monitor from different groups approached Mayall all weekend lengthy for a chat. That’s one other part of what made Penske’s IndyCar program so interesting.
“From what I’ve noticed, Roger Penske does an excellent job with business-to-business relationships,” Mayall identified. “Two companies may not have a direct opportunity to work together on track, but Penske has said, ‘I need to introduce you to so-and-so because I think working together would be a good fit for both of your companies.’”
Penske’s dedication to his sponsors runs deep. Mayall identified Snap-On, one of many group’s longest companions; a part of the attraction of working with a group like Penske is that sense of longevity, that dedication.
“A lot of motorsport operates on a contract, and it doesn’t look outside those boundaries,” Mayall stated. “It makes me smile to see the respect among those longtime sponsors when Penske walks into a room. One of our big goals is to go beyond just out contract. We want our roots to go that deep.”
Collaboration, communication, and neighborhood: I noticed all of it at play in Iowa. Mayall radiated heat, making some extent to introduce me to the common gamers within the IndyCar paddock. Perhaps just because I used to be shadowing Mayall, I used to be welcomed into conversations extra as a colleague and pal than as a journalist. Beside Mayall, I used to be even capable of greet Roger Penske himself and cease for a quick chat earlier than qualifying started on Saturday — one thing intimidating for many anybody with a respect for American motorsport, however one thing that involves Mayall with ease due to his effusive character and respect for the businesses he companions with.
When I requested Mayall about his targets for XPEL inside motorsport, he laughed and declined to provide any particulars about particular plans for coming seasons. Instead, he shared what he known as his “big, hairy, audacious goal.”
“When people see me wearing my XPEL shirt in the IndyCar paddock, they’ll stop me to say, ‘I won’t drive my car without XPEL. When I upgrade my home’s windows, I want to do it with XPEL,’” Mayall stated. “We just want to expand our footprint in motorsport.”
Source: jalopnik.com