According to data from Nielsen’s People Meter sample fused with the respondents of MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer, NASCAR race viewers in Q1′09 were more likely than the average consumer to drive American:

• Drivers of Chevrolet, sponsor of Tony Stewart and Hendrick Motorsports, had 70% higher ratings compared to the composite.
• Drivers of Ford, who sponsors one of NASCAR’s brightest stars in Carl Edwards, had 64% higher ratings.
• Drivers of Dodge, which is now partially owned by a Fiat, is still considered by many an American car, and had 59% higher ratings.

It should be no surprise that NASCAR’s racing teams work closely with the automakers not just under the hood, but also on ways to increase sponsorship visibility - including car signage, uniform apparel, and training the drivers to weave in audio mentions to their interviews – all in hopes of moving the needle when their fans head out to their local car dealership.

As the Big Three American automakers attempt to change public perception and get their cars back on the right track, NASCAR may be the best sponsorship vehicle.

Recall refers to the percentage of television viewers who can recall, within 24 hours, the brand/product featured in an in-program placement.

A placement’s “recall score” is the percentage of television viewers who can recall, within 24 hours, the brand/product they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing dramas and sitcoms on U.S. broadcast networks.

Recall scores are indexed against the mean score for all new product placements occurring in the scripted drama and sitcom genres during the time period to calculate a placement’s “recall index.”

A recall index of 100 indicates average recall.  A recall index of 230, for example, means that the in-program placement has proven to be 2.3 times as memorable as the average placement during the four-week time period.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Ad Age’s “Madison + Vine” and Product Placement News.