Toyota Announces Sponsafier 4 Contest
"The Sponsafier contest has really taken on a life of its own," says Ed Laukes, corporate motorsports marketing manager for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. (TMS). "The creativity displayed by fans during the first three rounds of the Sponsafier contest has truly been remarkable, and we've had an unbelievable amount of positive feedback about the contest. We look forward to seeing thousands more designs submitted from fans and unveiling our fourth contest winner at Phoenix in November."
Toyota Racing launched the inaugural Sponsafier contest at the 2010 Daytona 500. Since then, three rounds of the contest have resulted in more than 175,000 design submissions and nearly two million public votes. Artwork has ranged from marriage proposal cars to patriotic racers. The three grand prize winners from each round —
"Praying for Karson" designed by Fay Knape of Danbury, Texas, "Lou Gehrig aka ALS" by Jeff Hallowell of Maize, Kan., and "Chelsea's Hope" by Tim Blankenship of Berkley Springs, W.Va. — have all enjoyed notoriety and generated awareness for their respective causes.
As with previous Sponsafier rounds, fans can create as many designs as they like and are encouraged to share them on social networking sites to rally votes from friends, family and admirers of their work. After each design has been submitted and approved, fans will have 15 days to gather as many votes as possible. A combination of these votes and judges scores will narrow the field down to 10 finalists. Each finalist will receive a 1/12 scale die-cast car with his or her paint scheme.
A final round of public voting from Oct. 5-19 and a panel of judges comprised of Toyota executives and NASCAR personalities will select the grand prize winner. Along with a visit from his or her favorite Toyota driver, the grand prize winner will also receive the opportunity to have his or her car design showcased at a NASCAR race, a 1/12 scale diecast car of their design, as well as a prize pack of Toyota Racing gear.
Updates to the Sponsafier site for Round 4 include Challenges, which allow fans to go head-to-head with friends and fellow entrants in personalized battles to solicit votes for their designs. The site will also feature new custom graphics as well as a new 3D environment within the "Photokit."
Sponsafier 4 includes three TV commercials featuring Toyota drivers Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, with appearances by Joe Gibbs, Darrell Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr. Each commercial documents a fan's wild daydreams as they imagine what they would do with their favorite driver.
To learn more about Sponsafier and/or enter the contest, visit www.ToyotaRacing.com.
The Sponsafier 4 schedule:
Contest Phase Begins at (12:01 a.m. PT) Ends at (11:59 p.m. PT)
| Submission | June 5, 2011 | August 28, 2011 |
| Public Voting I | June 5, 2011 | September 14, 2011 |
| Finalist Selection | September 16, 2011 | October 4, 2011 |
| Public Voting II | October 5, 2011 | October 19, 2011 |
| Winner Determination | October 20, 2011 | November 2, 2011 |