Monday, June 28, 2010

Tadich Grill ala Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain continues to be my travel muse. I rented a car with GPS on my trip to San Francisco just so I could make sure I found the Tadich Grill before it closed (I had about a half hour to make it from SFO before it closed).

Here's the scene from No Reservations that inspired me to go:



And here's my video:



I had the specialty Tony refers to and it was delicious!
Saturday, June 26, 2010

Why do I love NACAR?


P1010712

That's a question I'm often asked. The answer can be split into two primary reasons with one being personal and the other being a hybrid of personal and professional.

Personal
On the personal side, the Speed TV promo for NASCAR says it best: "I believe in God. I believe in Family. I believe in Country. I believe in NASCAR". That may evoke a few chuckles, but I've never seen another sport be more consistent and true to its values. There's an invocation before every single race. The drivers have their families on the track and often bring them on the road in motor homes. The sacrifice of our men and women in uniform are recognized and honored at every single race.

It also seems to be a requirement that every team and driver support charitable organizations in any way possible, especially children's charities. Almost every driver has a foundation and they manage to get their sponsors to donate generously.

And directly related to the racing, it's not just going left on an oval. That's just an uninformed view of the sport. Each track has it's own characteristics from the banking, track surface, length and speed. Then there's the tuning of the car before and during the race and pit strategy. The personalities of the drivers and the rivalries give the sport a WWE feel as well.

Professional
Professionally, NASCAR is a master of marketing. They know their core fan base inside and out to keep them happy while knowing who their next niche base is getting to know them well enough to reach them and make the sport appealing to them. This goes back to their slogan of God, family and country for the core fans, and bringing in the likes of Danica Patrick to the Nationwide Series to gain new fans.

For advertisers, there's no other sport that parlays the marketing into every aspect of the race. From the obvious team sponsorships visible on the car to highly publicized charitable contributions, advertisers are intertwined into every aspect of the sport. I love diving in and learning how it all works, the creativity and the execution. I learn something new every week and it makes me say, "I'm not worthy!".

In the end, NASCAR speaks to me. I find myself nodding and agreeing with many of the viewpoints of the drivers and the TV commentators. I love the music of NASCAR. I respect the recognition of our troops by the fans and NASCAR. The side benefit is that it's fun to watch too.


Some Favs
Here are some of my favorite NASCAR ads (The Speed TV/Fox promos are nowhere to be found online):