I've written several times that Nature's Bakery seems like a great fit as Danica Patrick's sponsor, but apparently things aren't as rosy as I thought. I read today that Stewart-Haas Racing is suing Nature's Bakery for failing to pay the agreed-upon sponsorship fees, dating back to sometime last season. Of course, Nature's Bakery is claiming that Stewart-Haas Racing failed to live up to their end of the bargain, claiming that Danica and her team endorsed competing products and failed to endorse Nature's Bakery enough during the sponsorship period. I wonder if Danica will have to scramble to find a new sponsor for the upcoming season? Apparently Danica attended her recent press engagements wearing her TaxAct firesuit instead of the Nature's Bakery suit, and she has updated her social media profiles to show her and her car in the alternate branding. Fox Sports mentioned an interesting factoid, that the $15 million annual fee works out to $30,000 for each Nature's Bakery employee, so it could be that Nature's Bakery overestimated the sales increase that would result from this partnership, or maybe they planned to bail out without payment eventually anyway? It's an unfortunate situation all around, and I will be interested to see how it plays out.
This card came to me as part of a Danica Patrick lot that I purchased near the end of October. This one is a Metal Materials relic card from 2016 Panini Torque Racing, and it is numbered # 097 / 249. It's got two pieces of sheet metal embedded in it. They are relatively plain swatches, but that's not really a problem for me.
That was a heck of a Super Bowl. I thought for sure the Falcons were going to win that game, but the New England Tom Brady's just went out and took it back. Just ridiculous. The Falcons had plenty of opportunities to put an end to it, but they just couldn't do it. They just had to stop one drive or prevent one 2-pt. conversion to win. I bet Matt Ryan would trade that MVP award he just got for a Super Bowl trophy, because Tom Brady was the better quarterback on the only night that really matters in the NFL. The worst part is that we now have to listen to an entire year of smug Patriots fans spouting off about their team.
That is an interesting sheet metal card. What are those two circular marks in both sides I wonder?
ReplyDeleteI've seen similar marks on other relic cards. I imagine they are part of the paint job/vinyl wrap meant to look like something else, like vents or something. I haven't been able to find a picture showing them on a car yet.
DeleteSounds like Natures Bakery got in a little over their heads and are now trying anything to get out of the deal. I imagine you're correct - they went into this expecting a large increase in exposure and, thus, profits. Unfortunately, that's what happens when you make decisions based on projections.
ReplyDeleteTHIS!
DeleteI dealt with that when I worked in the Lids corporate office. They were always projecting, and projecting like everything was going to be a winner.
I don't know what kind of sales volume they have, but I have to imagine it would be very difficult to increase sales by that much based on a couple years of a sponsorship deal. Most NASCAR main sponsors are much larger companies.
DeleteI have to admit I never heard of Nature's Bakery before they sponsored Danica. I think they overextended themselves rather than being shady from the get-go like Bobby Ginn or Big Daddy's BBQ Sauce, but the end result is the same anyway.
ReplyDeleteFor the circles...might they be the pattern from the Godaddy cars from several years ago? There's nothing saying the sheet metal is current season, and there's usually a delay of at least a year in relic usage vs. on card appearance.
They probably did have good intentions, but this looks like it can only end poorly for everyone involved. There are a lot of people trolling the Nature's Bakery Facebook page now, probably more attention than they've had from NASCAR fans to date. Some are shouting for Nature's Bakery to pay up, and some are congratulating Nature's Bakery for leaving their least favorite driver in the lurch.
DeleteThose circles could be a portion of the GoDaddy pattern. I am no expert on NASCAR paint schemes. I haven't been able to pinpoint a spot on a picture of her cars where that pattern shows up.
Worse than smug Patriots fans, every sportscaster will now openly gush about how Tom Brady is the most epic demigod to ever walk on a football field and that no other player or team will ever be relevant again.
ReplyDeleteYes, we might as well just retire the game of football. Why keep playing for second place, when we know we've already seen the best there ever will be?
Delete