Mousekingdom Blog

Test Track in Epcot opened to the public on March 17 , 1999 (with soft opening started at December 19, 1998). The ride is associated with General Motors from the beginning. They pay multiple millions every year as part of their 10 year sponsor deal with Disney. But this can now come to a full stop. GM isn’t doing to well (read extremely badly) and needs to save money wherever it can to save the company. One of those savings could come from sponsorships.

GM has been asking for money from the government and can’t just go and spend that money without giving it a good thought. But, like every business, you can only make money when you spend money. Sponsor deals are part of that. It makes people aware of your product, get them interested a make them buy the product. If you stop sponsorship (or advertisement) the awareness will be gone and sales will not be able to pick up at all. One could wonder if backing out on the Test Track sponsorship would be a good move.

But, the price is high and other forms of advertisement might be cheaper and easier to control. The Test Track sponsorship deal will get GM stuck on a multi year contract, while other forms of advertisement could be set for shorter period of time and can be adapted if needed. Leaving WDW as a sponsor might be the right move at the time, a sacrifice the might have to make to get their company back on the road…

For Disney it wouldn’t be the first time they have to replace a sponsor for an attraction. Over the years multiple sponsors left, while others took their place. If GM would indeed leave Test Track behind, others will step in. It could be the right time for a rival company to take over. However, if this happens, Disney might have to close Test Track for a period of time to remove every evidence of GM ever been there. No rival would like to see any GM logo on “their” new ride.

Via Orlando Sentinel.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 11:58 am and is filed under Disney Company, Disney Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.