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At the track, pork producers cooked and served
over 1,200 pork loin sandwiches. Grocery store and foodservice
promotions and track sponsorships directly related to the Pork
Racing program continue to increase pork sales.
"Pork producers support this race team
to help increase excitement for pork," said Sam Carney,
chair of the IPPA Promotion Committee and President of the IPPA.
"When we do these promotions, consumers are excited about
racing and they think about pork when they see the Pork. The
Other White Meat® race car. We continue to see more sales
build each year too, which is a good sign of success."
In 2003, the driver of the Advance Auto Parts/Pork.
The Other White Meat® car, Frank Kimmel, raced to his fifth
ARCA championship in six years. Kimmel is the only driver in
ARCA's 51-year history to win four consecutive championships.
Along with 50 career wins, Kimmel also holds the ARCA records
for most laps led, top-five finishes and top-10 finishes.
The Other White Meat has quickly become one
of the most popular sponsors in ARCA. The car is no stranger
to success with championships in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and the
2003 seasons. After Kimmel's second-place finish at Kansas Speedway,
he holds first place in point standings. Kimmel, with support
from the Pork Checkoff, is working hard to finish this season
with a sixth championship.
"Because Frank usually does well in the
races, it adds media exposure, which helps to boost the value
of our Checkoff investment in Pork Racing," Carney said.
"During 2003, having a winning driver created a value of
$684,275 in television exposure. That's the commercial value
of the 3 hours and 55 minutes of television exposure that the
pork industry reaped through shots of the car on the track, interviews
with Frank Kimmel, and in-car camera shots." So far in 2004,
the sponsorship has received $407,800 of value.
During 2003, more than 14 million consumers
saw the Pork. The Other White Meat racing message through television
and print, which would have cost producers over $455,000, had
they purchased that time.
During 2003, The Pork Checkoff arranged promotions
around each ARCA race, which resulted in sales of 61,676,500
pounds of pork, an increase of 23 percent from similar promotions
during 2002. A total of 7,550 grocery stores participated in
the race-related promotions during 2003, an increase of 37 percent
from 2002.
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