"Now we're aligned with the biggest sports venue in the state," Jim Sykes, a spokesman for parent company Citizens Republic Bancorp, told the Jackson Citizen Patriot for a story Saturday. "It's a great opportunity to get in front of a huge market segment."
A title sponsorship can be an effective way to make a company more recognizable, said Michael Smith, motorsports business writer for Charlotte, N.C.-based Sports Business Journal.
"Their name is going to be all over the track," he said. "People that walk away with the name of their bank in their head is what they are counting on."
Neither MIS or Citizens Bank would say how much the title sponsorship costs. Smith said it is likely in the "seven figures."
Citizens Bank might want to consider the example of Bank of America, the first bank to sponsor a NASCAR race, Smith said.
"They basically purchased an entire section in turn four," Smith said of the Bank of America 500 held last October at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte. The bank bought 800 seats for employees, clients and contest winners and decorated it with signs and banners.
Citizens Bank has 270 branches around the Midwest, with $14 billion in assets. |
