The Jumbo Racing Days driven by Max Verstappen take place at Circuit Zandvoort on May 21st and 22nd.

Dutch supermarket Jumbo holds a two-day racing event with F1-star Max Verstappen as main attraction at Circuit Zandvoort on May 21st and 22nd. It will be the second such event co-organised by the supermarket, with the first edition last year attracting over 100,000 people.

Jumbo Racing Days

The ‘Jumbo Racing Days’ give fans the opportunity to see Verstappen on home soil. During the two-day event, Verstappen will make seven appearances on the racetrack. The rest of the programme includes among others the Porsche GT3 cup challenge, TCR Benelux and other demonstrations.

Connect with fans

With the rise of Verstappen in Formula 1 – in particular after his sensational win in Spain in 2016 – the sport has (once again) gained enormous popularity in The Netherlands. The Racing Days are a timely and clever way to profit from this enthusiasm and connect with Dutch racing fans.

Family event

Jumbo promotes the event as a family event. In addition to the on-track activities, there are a lot of other family (child friendly) activities, like karts, show cars, race simulators and music. Families are exactly the supermarket’s target group. Something that is also clear from their commercials around a family and in which Verstappen has occasionally played a part.

Product sales

Besides aligning the event’s target group to the company’s main customer group, Jumbo also ties product sales to the event. People can get their hands on tickets by buying a certain number of promotional products at Jumbo. This gives fans a promotion code that they can exchange for free tickets online and a chance to drive along in an F1 car.

Among the promotional products are also Red Bull drinks. Red Bull is the team for which Verstappen drives and that co-organises the event. By buying Red Bull drinks, fans have a chance to win a meet-and-greet with Verstappen. So Jumbo also uses cross promotion to activate the partnership with Verstappen and his employer Red Bull.

Free tickets for the Jumbo Racing Days when buying promotional products at Jumbo. Source: www.jumboracedagen.nl

Activation of sponsorships

The event is a good example of how companies can benefit from sports sponsorships or partnerships when activation is done right. Organising the event is by no means an easy or small investment, but it leverages the partnership in a fun and exciting way. For supermarket Jumbo this has to lead to more sales and positive brand recognition.