Meet the Owner

Local ad man, Mike McFarland has owned his marketing services agency, The McFarland Group, Inc. for over 29 years. And though his company has worked with many clients in the business-to-business and consumer sectors over the years, he has carved out a unique niche in the motorsports marketing arena that has set his agency apart from other ad agencies nationwide.
McFarland’s personal experience in professional auto racing has been his company’s springboard in attracting clients who want to be involved in motorsports.
McFarland picked up the Road America race track account, his first motorsports client. “I made a lot of friends and contacts while I raced, and those contacts proved to be very valuable when we decided to start a sports marketing division at the agency,” said McFarland.
McFarland’s sports marketing division took on a new look when he partnered with former Road America PR manager, Jane Gossage. In 1988, they opened an office at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina and dove head first into the NASCAR arena.
It wasn’t long before the agency was hired by Paramount Pictures to oversee authenticity while the movie, Days of Thunder was shooting at the speedway. The movie starred Tom Cruise, and Coca Cola had signed a product placement contract with Paramount to feature its Mello Yello brand on the car Cruise was driving in the film. “Days of Thunder” was kind of a Top Gun on wheels,” said McFarland. “It did O.K. at the box-office, but it got real interesting when Mello Yello started flying off the shelves, particularly in the Southeast where Pepsi’s Mountain Dew was king. The brass from Coke came to us and told us it was time to turn fantasy into reality and hired us to help them find a suitable NASCAR team to sponsor with Mello Yello.”
McFarland and his staff interviewed about a dozen Winston Cup teams before deciding on a team owned by Felix Sabates with driver, Kyle Petty, to recommend to Coke management. It turned into a 6-year relationship, and even though Petty owns his own team now, he is still affiliated with Coke brands.
“The Mello Yello deal put us on the map,” said McFarland. Other clients, including Kendall Oil, Zippo Lighters, Addidas, Dirt Devil and Remington Firearms soon signed on to have the agency help them with activation of their NASCAR sponsorships and PR. “Those were our salad days in NASCAR,” said McFarland.
As the motorsports landscape changes, McFarland sees a bright future for his company’s motorsports marketing efforts. “A lot of our efforts are now aimed at assisting new companies to become involved with racing sponsorships. There are a lot more options in sponsorship other than just putting your logo on a racing car. That could mean sponsoring an event, a track or a sanctioning body, and we can help guide them,” said McFarland.
In the future, McFarland hopes to grow his sports marketing division to include other areas besides auto racing. “Sponsorship has found it’s way into virtually every form of sports and entertainment,” he said. “Once you have the experience in one arena, it’s relatively easy to take it to other venues and be successful.”

Brookfield, WI native Mike McFarland has owned and operated his full-service marketing firm, The McFarland Group, Inc. for over 30 years. And though his company has worked with many clients in the business-to-business and consumer sectors over the years, he has carved out a unique niche in the motorsports marketing arena that has set his agency apart from other ad agencies nationwide.

McFarland’s personal experience in professional auto racing has been his company’s springboard in attracting clients who want to be involved in motorsports.

McFarland picked up the Road America race track account, his first motorsports client. “I made a lot of friends and contacts while I raced, and those contacts proved to be very valuable when we decided to start a sports marketing division at the agency,” said McFarland.

McFarland’s sports marketing division took on a new look when he partnered with former Road America PR manager, Jane Gossage. In 1988, they opened an office at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina and dove head first into the NASCAR arena.

It wasn’t long before the agency was hired by Paramount Pictures to oversee authenticity while the movie, Days of Thunder was shooting at the speedway. The movie starred Tom Cruise, and Coca Cola had signed a product placement contract with Paramount to feature its Mello Yello brand on the car Cruise was driving in the film. “Days of Thunder” was kind of a Top Gun on wheels,” said McFarland. “It did O.K. at the box-office, but it got real interesting when Mello Yello started flying off the shelves, particularly in the Southeast where Pepsi’s Mountain Dew was king. The brass from Coke came to us and told us it was time to turn fantasy into reality and hired us to help them find a suitable NASCAR team to sponsor with Mello Yello.”

McFarland and his staff interviewed about a dozen Winston Cup teams before deciding on a team owned by Felix Sabates with driver, Kyle Petty, to recommend to Coke management. It turned into a 6-year relationship, and even though Petty owns his own team now, he is still affiliated with Coke brands.

“The Mello Yello deal put us on the map,” said McFarland. Other clients, including Kendall Oil, Zippo Lighters, Addidas, Dirt Devil and Remington Firearms soon signed on to have the agency help them with activation of their NASCAR sponsorships and PR. “Those were our salad days in NASCAR,” said McFarland.

As the motorsports landscape changes, McFarland sees a bright future for his company’s motorsports marketing efforts. “A lot of our efforts are now aimed at assisting new companies to become involved with racing sponsorships. There are a lot more options in sponsorship other than just putting your logo on a racing car. That could mean sponsoring an event, a track or a sanctioning body, and we can help guide them,” said McFarland.

In the future, McFarland hopes to grow his sports marketing division to include other areas besides auto racing. “Sponsorship has found it’s way into virtually every form of sports and entertainment,” he said. “Once you have the experience in one arena, it’s relatively easy to take it to other venues and be successful.”