One of the greatest marketing one-liners in my recent recollection is “Prove it!”, and it came directly from a legend in the automotive racing industry. I think it can apply to nearly any company, in any industry. As a race enthusiast and driver, myself, I found a special attachment to this phrase. In racing, winning is not subjective, and you either “prove it”, or you lose the race. I will share the story with you, and hope to encourage you to do more than just make claims, but to actually prove it!
If you are an automotive enthusiast, you probably know the name, Brock Yates. Just in case you don’t have octane in your coffee and motor oil running through your veins, I will give you a quick background on this iconic man.
- “Brock Yates is an American journalist and author. He was longtime executive editor of Car and Driver, an American automotive magazine.”
- … “currently serves as a commentator on racing and vintage cars for the Speed Channel”
- … “wrote Smokey and the Bandit II (1980). Yates also wrote the screenplay for The Cannonball Run (1981) film”
Best of all, there are two Brocks! Brock Yates Jr. continued his father’s profound love of performance automobiles and racing, and became the next generation of legendary Yates gearheads. “Brockr”, as many know him, is the next generation of Yates to pour gasoline on the 27 year old tradition of “Cannonball Run”, now commonly referred to as “Cannonball One Lap of America“. Cannonball is no longer the cross-country race from coast-to-coast across America as it was portrayed (with relative accuracy) in the Cannonball Run movie. Cannonball Run is a fact of the rebellious auto racing past, but the event continues to thrive in its modern, and law-abiding, iteration of today. It is now a National Auto Sport Association (NASA) sanctioned event, with a strong following of sports car racing enthusiasts.
The Cannonball One Lap of America over the past couple decades is an annual event taking race teams from one race track to the next, crossing the United States to compete and prove their racing skill and endurance with sixteen events in just eight days. Short-named “One Lap” is where automotive manufacturers, and companies of all kinds, send their best amateur and professional racers from all around the world to compete and to “Prove it!”
When Brock Yates Said “Prove It!”
I called “Brockr” a few nights ago to see how the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Orlando went, and to further strategize my efforts to move deeper into the automotive industry, myself. We never seem to spend less than a couple hours on the phone, and I am not sure which of us is to blame, but we have great conversations, and I am delighted to call Brock a good friend.
Before Brock finally had to run and put his daughter to bed, he said “Oh, Mark, I have just one more quick story to tell …” He told that while he was at PRI, he approached several performance tuning companies with cars on display. He walked up to each of them and asked, “Is it fast?” Of course they answered “Yes! Very fast!” He then asked, “Is it durable?” Many automotive performance tuners will lie about this one, so Brock’s very appropriate answer to each of them was “Prove it” … and bring it to One Lap of America.
It is a message that I have given to companies at least a squillion times. If you have something better than the rest, and something that people should consider spending their hard-earned money to buy, you should prove it!
“Prove It” at Brock Yates’ Cannonball One Lap of America
I don’t hand out a lot of free “plugs”, but I can qualify this one. I have competed in Brock Yates’ Cannonball One Lap of America twice, in 2007 and 2008. Those were some of the most challenging days of my life, but days that I hope to repeat over and over again in future years, including the coming 3500 mile 2011 event.
The event comes early each May, and it is an amazing opportunity to see what you are made of. It also provides many excellent marketing opportunities, with multiple sponsorship levels to choose from. The marketing potential is especially strong if you take the initiative to publicize your participation well, and broadcast the whole eight days live on the Internet the way I did in 2008. Just imagine how many people would talk about that across social media, and all the new incoming links your website could have. There are a lot of imitators, but this is an event which really shows what a car enthusiast is made of, and it combines two of my favorite things … racing and marketing.
Here is an entertaining video of Motor Trend’s coverage of the event in 2010. It tells a great story of just how hard some people will work to prove what they can do.
John Heinricy Makes an Ideal One Lap Co-Driver!
As a side note to the story, and with a wink and a nudge, I offer a “brilliant” idea. I think that the uber-automotive-icon, John Heinricy, could make a mighty loud statement for Torvec, Inc. or the Hennessey Venom GT by pairing with me for a well-publicized live webcast of the event. Even better, he and Torvec’s CEO, Richard Kaplan, could appoint me as Torvec’s Marketing Director and implement high-torque strategies to demonstrate Torvec’s great potential.
Now back to the original thought. When you consider your business, I think you should always address this one very important question: How will you “prove it”?
Photo Courtesy of Steve Rossini’s Highland Design Studio
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