Ally Financial Signs Full-Season Deal To Sponsor Johnson In ’19, ’20

Ally Financial has signed a full-season deal with Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) to replace Lowe’s as the sole sponsor of the Jimmie Johnson No. 48 Chevrolet in '19 and '20.

Financial terms of the two-year deal have not yet been learned, but Lowe’s spent around $25M annually, and Ally’s deal is likely to still be at least somewhere in the low eight figures annually.

HMS announced the deal on NBCSN just prior to the start of today’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway, with Ally CEO Jeffrey Brown and CMO Andrea Brimmer on hand to help reveal the news.

The company also bought an ad buy with NBCSN today to start activating its new presence in the sport.

Press Release

CONCORD, N.C. – Jimmie Johnson has found a full-time ally in his mission to win a record-breaking eighth NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Ally Financial will join Hendrick Motorsports as the whole-season primary sponsor of Johnson’s iconic No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team in 2019 and 2020. The partnership will feature the leading digital financial services company on the champion driver’s cars across the entire 38-race NASCAR schedule, beginning with 2019 DAYTONA Speedweeks and the 61st running of the DAYTONA 500.

“We are beyond thrilled to be in the fast lane with Jimmie Johnson, one of the most successful drivers in the history of NASCAR, and with Hendrick Motorsports, a premier organization in professional sports," said Jeffrey Brown, CEO at Ally. “Both share Ally’s passion for delivering results for our customers and for our communities, with a deep commitment to ‘do it right’ for the people who count on us most. We look forward to working with this extraordinary team to build a strong and successful relationship as Ally enters this exciting sport."

With a commitment to doing right by its customers, Ally has changed the online banking landscape with innovative digital experiences, 24/7 customer service, great rates and a cash-back credit card. Ally’s full scope of financial services offerings includes its award-winning online bank, auto finance and insurance businesses, digital wealth management and online brokerage platform, mortgage-lending services, and Corporate Finance operation. Its corporate citizenship programs include charitable giving, employee contribution matching, volunteerism, financial education, Ally Grants and more.

“This is a proud day for our entire organization," said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “Ally has built a tremendous brand by putting the customer at the center of their decisions and doing things right. In the same way, Jimmie has always put people first and handled himself like a champion in every sense of the word. Ally’s full-season commitment makes a powerful statement about their enthusiasm for him, our program and the direction of our sport. It’s an unbelievable fit, and all of us are thrilled to launch what will be a long and successful partnership."

Johnson and the No. 48 team have cemented themselves as one of the greatest dynasties in sports. Their record-tying seven Cup titles – equaled only by legends Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt – include five in a row from 2006-2010. In 2009, Johnson became the first race car driver ever to be named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, joining the likes of Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. The El Cajon, California, native has earned 83 points-paying race wins and led more than 18,000 career laps. He made his record 15th consecutive playoff appearance this season.

“The opportunity to work with a partner like Ally is incredible," said Johnson, 43, who is signed with Hendrick Motorsports through 2020. “Their commitment to leading in both the workplace and the community is something that resonates with me in a big way. They’ve sent a strong message about how much they believe in me and in our team, and I will do my part to make sure it’s the best investment they’ve ever made. I’m ready to chase more history with Ally on board the ‘48.’"

TRANSCRIPT:

JIMMIE JOHNSON, DRIVER, NO. 48 CAMARO ZL1:

DID YOU TRY TO CONVINCE ALLY FINANCIAL TO SPONSOR YOU FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS?

“We’ve got a great open relationship with them. So, we’ll see what happens later in the relationship. But, to have one sponsor for all 38 races for two years …. clearly, I’ve had just one sponsor, and to enter this new chapter in my racing career and have one sponsor once again I think says a lot about Hendrick Motorsports and the value of this No. 48 car and also in our sport. As today unfolds, with the media buys they’ve done and the way they’re going to advertise in our sport and as you see them engage next year, they’re really using NASCAR as a marketing tool for their company, you will all be very impressed with their vision and the importance they see in NASCAR racing is the main reason why they are here and involved."

YOU TALKED ABOUT POSSIBLY BRINGING ON SPONSORS THAT ARE MORE ALONG WITH YOUR LIFESTYLE. WHERE IS THAT IN POSSIBLY ANY ASSOCIATE SPONSORSHIPS?

“Obviously through the last year, there have been many conversations with lots of brands. The primary side is done and there are still some associate opportunities on the car; and then obviously my endorsement opportunities. I happen to have a few of my relationships running at the end of their contracts this year, so I’m looking at any and all. Of course, I can’t make any of those moves until we know what our primary is so there’s not a conflict. But the neat thing emerges through this partnership is their brand and the way they market. I’m not sure if you’ve got a chance to look and see, but the way they go about things, it’s a lifestyle brand although it’s a bank and a finance place. So, I feel that this is really, really a good fit. They really want to support me as an individual and the things that I’m in to and why I love racing. So, out of the gate, from a primary standpoint, this is a home run. And it can only get better from here if I can loop-in either endorsement or associate sponsorship from there."

THIS PROCESS TAKES SOME TIME. WERE YOU NERVOUS AT ALL? OR DID YOU KNOW THIS WAS WORKING THE WHOLE TIME?

When you’re exposed like this and out on the open market, this is the first time I’ve done it in my Cup career. So, I did have nerves going into it. But, I quickly realized how valuable this No. 48 property is. And there was a lot of interest and certainly a lot of conversations and higher-level involvement than I’ve ever had in my career in sponsorship meetings and things. So, I guess the nerves faded relatively quickly, and it was finding the right partner and getting all the pieces put together. They have such a smooth style and so good at dealing with these business opportunities. I can say I learned a ton through this last year since Lowe’s announced they would leave and then watching the process take place."

HOW EASY NOW IS IT FOR YOU TO REPRESENT THIS COMPANY? AND, WHAT DOES IT TAKE OFF YOUR SHOULDERS NOW AS YOU RACE FOR WINS?

“They really did fit into my lifestyle. They’re a digital bank. They don’t have a brick and mortar building. There are many things that I think everybody in our NASCAR world will learn about if they haven’t already. And I encourage them to go online and look. The way they market and consider themselves a disruptive marketer, which is fun and fits well with NASCAR. They have great campaigns and do a lot of cool things and they’re very lifestyle-focused. I think it’s a fantastic fit between us.

“We’re thankful to have a few of these pieces behind us now. Obviously, the Chad (Knaus) piece, and getting Kevin (Meendering) hired and then moving into the new sponsorship for 2019 and beyond. So, we still have work that needs to be done in 2018 and I want to go out and win this race today. We need to finish (the season) as strong as we can for Lowe’s. I’m so thankful for the relationship we’ve had for all these years with them. But, when 2019 gets here, we’ve got a fresh start in all areas and I’m looking forward to a lot of success."

IN TODAY’S ECONOMY, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE ALLY AS A FULL-SEASON, 38-RACE SPONSOR?

“It’s massive. I think the statement it sends is unreal. To have a primary sponsor for all the races for two years, hasn’t happened for a long time. So, I commend Ally. And, they’re not done with just the sponsorship on the car. And you’ll see today on the broadcast that they have ad buys and are involved with NBC on other levels as well. So, they’re really using racing as a marketing tool to reach their consumers. I think that brings a lot of optimism for our entire industry."

INAUDIBLE:

“There are hundreds of renderings floating around. There are multiple colors in their palate of choice. So, I would say yes."

IS IT GOING TO BE EXCITING TO HAVE A DIFFERENT LOOK TO THE RACE CAR?

“It is. And when they say hey, do you want to get involved and help, I’m like yeah, no problem. I sit there for a few hours and think wow; did I get myself into. (laughs) There are a lot of decisions to be made but it’s been a fun process and they are a really fun company. So, it’s going to turn out well."

RICK HENDRICK, TEAM OWNER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS:

WHY IS THIS COMPANY GREAT FOR JIMMIE? AND HOW MANY COMPANIES DID YOU TAKE A LOOK AT? HOW WAS THE INTEREST AND WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAKING THE DECISION?

“As you would guess, we had a lot of interest. We had folks that were semi-right. We had a lot of folks that were a conflict. But when I step back and look at this, when you look at their youth movement and how they work with millenniums, it couldn’t be a better deal for us. And, to have all the races with a company that’s really leading the market, it’s a blessing. It worked out so well for me because I was thinking about well, you all could do a partial deal and the boss over here (Jeffrey Brown, CEO, Ally Financial) said well, how about the whole car? And I thought, give me a minute to think about it…. yes!" (laughter).

ARE THESE PEOPLE FROM THE GMAC DAYS?

“No some of those folks are still there from GMAC and I kind of love that because that was Ricky’s first sponsor. And then (Brian) Vickers won the championship with GMAC, so I’ve been doing business with them a long time. But they are just a class act. I’m really proud that Jeff Brown, the CEO, is here today to make this announcement the way we did."

DOES THIS MEAN ONLY TWO YEARS FOR JIMMIE OR ONLY TWO YEARS FOR THIS SPONSOR?

“I hope it’s more than two years for the sponsor and more than two years for Jimmie. The boss is shaking his head, so this might be a 10-year deal (laughter)."

YOU HAVE A BIG OPERATION WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND A LOT OF MOUTHS TO FEED, SO TO SPEAK. DID YOU HAVE ANY NERVOUSNESS AT ANY POINT IN THE SPONSORSHIP HUNT BECAUSE OF ALL THE RESPONSIBILITIES YOU HAVE WITH THAT OPERATION?

“To me, it was finding someone that would fit that didn’t have a conflict with the other sponsors. And when you have as many sponsors as we have, that’s a problem. And so, did I worry? I wasn’t worried about it because I had pieces, but what was really so special about this deal is Jimmie has had his car by one sponsor all these years, and now we’re going to have one sponsor. And just listening to them and Campbell-Ewald and worked with Chevrolet and knew Jimmie. It was kind of like it was from heaven. Everything just all lined up."

WITH YOUR AUTOMOTIVE GROUP AND BE ABLE TO LEVERAGE THAT WITH A COMPANY LIKE THIS AND HELP YOU?

“Any time you can work with people you know, and some opportunities to work together, then that’s a plus. You know everybody from the top down. So, did I think they would do it? I didn’t know. I thought it might be something, but not when the boss says hey, why don’t we take the whole car? You don’t get me speechless, but that kind of got me speechless."

DID YOU REACH OUT TO THEM OR DID THEY REACH OUT TO YOU?

“I reached out to them."

WHY DID YOU THINK THEY WOULD ORIGINALLY BE A GOOD FIT?

“Just because of their growth and what they do and they’re automotive people and a big bank. They’re kind of the disruptor in online banking. And so, I like that. I like a company that’s fresh and growing like crazy. It’s perfect. The only other deal that I’ve ever done that was this big in this way, was the DuPont deal. But this one is just so special and you never know, until you talk to people, how it’s going to be."

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU IMPLEMENT SPONSORS AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND HOW YOU ROLL THEM OUT AND HOW YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN HANDLE SPONSORS AND DO A JOB WITH THEM THAT WOULD PAY BACK?

“We like to work with our sponsors and see how they want to announce it. This is a big deal for the sport and for us and for them. And we were trying to figure out the best way to do it. And I give Jesse Essex all the credit. He suggested doing it at the track. And it just sounded great."

IN REGARDS TO HOW WELL HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HANDLES SPONSORS:

“Well, I think I was probably the first person in the sport that put a marketing team together to work with the sponsors. Back when I started, if it wasn’t for RJ Reynolds there would be no sports marketing right? So, we built a team way back then and we try to over delivery off the track so we build a relationship so they can measure and if you can measure how much you have increased what they do then it makes it a lot easier for them to reup and do it again."

WAS A 38 RACE DEAL SOMETHING YOU WERE SEEKING FROM THE BEGINNING OR DID THIS KIND OF BECOME AN IDEAL SCENARIO?

“Well, sure, I was looking at it from the whole car, but when you start talking about that, people they have budgets and they don’t want to spend that, they don’t want to do it. So, in this case, the excitement when we first started talking about it, I think it took the boss (Ally CEO Jeffrey Brown) 24 hours to get me an answer on the whole car. So, you are right, this for the sport and for us, for NASCAR couldn’t have come at a better time and you are going to see a lot of energy out of these folks. You are going to see national stuff out of these folks. They are on TV today around this. I think they sponsored the helicopter today, they do a lot in sports, so this is exciting, this is probably the most exciting sponsor regardless of whose car it’s on, you are going to know these folks and you are going to know what they are doing to elevate our sport."

CAN YOU SAY IF THE FUNDING IS SIMILAR TO THE CURRENT NO. 48 DEAL?

“Similar. It was a very good deal."

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE FUTURE OF JIMMIE JOHNSON?

“With Jimmie’s conditioning and how he is such a student of the car and the sport, I think he’s going to be around a long time. He might be a 40 some year-old guy, but he has about a 30-year-old body. I can’t tell you how much he has helped Chase Elliott. I think you heard Chase talk about it, and the young drivers on the team. So, he is still… we haven’t had the cars right early in the year, I mean we are getting better, we are not there yet, but this has been a tough year. We reorganized the whole company and we brought in a new car with some young drivers, so it’s been a challenge, but now we really feel the foundation there and are getting better. I’m excited about the rest of this year, I hope Chase can pull it off and looking forward to next year. But Jimmie is going to be around. He is not… I mean I’ve seen guys that are kind of ready, he is nowhere near ready."

JEFFREY BROWN, CEO ALLY FINANCIAL:

TALK ABOUT THE ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY:

“Yeah, we are really excited about this. It’s an incredible opportunity to partner with Hendrick Motorsports and Jimmie Johnson and sponsor the No. 48 car. Obviously, the preview up there (they made the official announcement live on NBC) talking about Jimmie and Chad’s partnership for a long-time and what this means for the next chapter of Jimmie. We think he’s got a long runway to go, he obviously has seven championships, we are going to be excited to be there as part of number eight and maybe even number nine. He is just an incredible guy and we are fired up for what this means for our brand and for our company and where we take this partnership going forward."

YOU SAID TWO YEARS, ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE POSSIBILITY OF EXTENDING IF JIMMIE JOHNSON WOULD CONTINUE ON IF THIS WORKS OUT?

“Yeah, I think so. Obviously, two years was the initial term and the initial contract, but we look at this as a long-term commitment. We have known the Hendrick Motorsports group and Hendrick Automotive for a long time and Jimmie and Rick are both men of integrity and that is very important to our brand that we partner with people that really have high standards, high integrity, and also think through waves of disruption. For us, they are pretty powerful in this sport and we are pretty powerful in the emerging digital banking space today as a top 20 financial institution. So, this checked the box from a variety of perspectives and I hope this is a long-term partnership. So, while we signed up for two years today, don’t read into that. We hope this is a long-term commitment."

WHY THE CHOICE TO SPONSOR THE CAR FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON?

“Yeah, I think it’s simple. I talked about our philosophy and our mantra is really ‘do it right’ and if we are going to do something we are going to do it right. We are going to control and so ultimate control for the full season was very important and I probably underappreciated the impact that would make to the sport. But having the opportunity this morning to talk to Mr. Helton, Mr. France, along with Mr. Hendrick and Jimmie really that is a major step forward for them. So, we are really excited about this and again, it fits for us. We are going to do it right, we are going to have control and we are just excited about all the creative passion that is already being expressed towards this deal."

FROM A MARKETING STANDPOINT HOW BIG IS THIS FOR YOUR COMPANY?

“Absolutely, that was really at the core of how do we continue to extend our brand. Jimmie himself has 11 million social media followers, he is the fourth most recognizable athlete in the world today, so he has a huge social presence and beyond that just the sport itself and while there may be questions about the state of NASCAR, we still see this as a huge opportunity really to help contribute to growth in the sport. Automotive is at our core as a company. We are a 165 -billion-dollar balance sheet with 115 billion dollars of those assets being in the form of auto lending. So, auto is at the core of our company and then on top of that, we talk about trends and new customers into the brand. About 58/59 percent of customers we welcomed in last quarter were millennial's. And that was a stat I shared with Mr. Helton and Mr. France this morning about getting younger growth into this sport and really a great opportunity to grow together. That is what we are most excited about."

IS THERE A BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ELEMENT WITH HENDRICK AUTOMOTIVE?

“Mr. Hendrick and the entire Hendrick auto group has been a customer of Ally’s for a long time and so certainly that plays into the relationship, but we look at that just going forward. This is really an opportunity to carry our partnership even deeper through time."

DID YOU USED TO BE GMAC?

“Yes, we were GMAC and we re-branded the company back in 2009 and today we are a standalone, one of the largest digital financial services in the world, top 20 in banking today."

WHAT DO YOU ENVISION WITH THE NEWNESS AND FRESHNESS WITH JIMMIE?

“I mean a lot of creative passion and I talked about it with the teams this morning. Jimmie literally spent a half an hour with us going through different car designs, so he is really buying in how does he leave his mark, how does he fuel that energy. What he said he loved about our brand is really the energy associated with it and so look for paint schemes, look for marketing next year to really emphasize an energetic car. Obviously, that neon 48 that is apart of Jimmie’s DNA, so I would expect that to continue, but we have a lot of plum in our brand, so a lot of plum running around Daytona maybe fun to see and hopefully at the front of the pack."

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST REACTION WHEN MR. HENDRICK BROUGHT THIS IDEA TO YOU?

“No, didn’t laugh at all. I knew Rick was serious and again, I’ve known Rick for a number of years, he’s a great friend, a great partner and he really presented this as an opportunity to grow our brands together. We were pretty quick to respond, but knowing if I look back over the past year or so I took my board to Hendrick Motorsports to actually go through the experience. This is something that has been lightly in the works for quite a while, but we really fired up when he approached me this year and made the question if we would step in as a sponsor."

WHY NASCAR, WHY NOW?

“NASCAR has a tremendous, loyal fan following and maybe there have been some recent declines, but we look at our growth in our company, our customer demographics the millennial's as a way perhaps to help charge up the NASCAR experience, bring more fans to the tracks. But, for us, it was a great opportunity to really grow and extend our brand to the next chapter."