Notebook: Danica is Hot… and Her New Web Site is Smokin’!

Got a chance to visit the new official Danica Patrick web site recently… WOW! As a general rule I don’t like Macromedia Flash-based sites with background music, “broadband required” messages and all that whiz-bang web junk, but this site is very well done.

The site was done by UnCommon Thinking, the company that has done web sites for people like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Lance Armstrong, and Pete Sampras, among others. I don’t know how much it must have cost, but I can assure you it wasn’t cheap. Places like that don’t charge by the page, folks!

I confess that I don’t know squat about popular music anymore, but the site has a kickin’ soundtrack by a new artist named Katy Perry. I didn’t catch all of the lyrics, but the general themes and sound remind me of Alanis Morissette, whose “Jagged Little Pill” CD also happens to be listed as Danica’s favorite CD. A little too much of the angst of youth for my tastes, but in terms a few more of us would understand, it’s got a good beat and it’s easy to dance to! I didn’t want to turn it off.

So is this the first volley in a completely unprecedented branding campaign? Most of the hype has been created by the media so far, but now we’ve got Danica - The Web Site. Are Danica - The Fragrance or Danica - The Clothing Line far behind? (actually, if the fragrance was hot rubber and spent methanol, I’d pick up a few bottles!) Danica is now working with The Beanstalk Group for licensing, etc., the same company that represents Paris Hilton, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Harley Davidson, Coca-Cola, and a few other properties that have managed to successfully maximize their branding efforts.

The content of the site is still a little on the light side, and there are lots of “coming soon” messages floating around (gee, kind of like another site I know!). One page I enjoyed was Danica’s Journal, where she described her experience in the 24 Hours of Daytona. You can tell that Danica’s a fierce competitor just by the way she writes. I got a kick out of this:

“We lost the lead group, but hell this is a 24 hour race, no worries, we knew everyone was going to have trouble at some time or another. After only 1 hour in the car the team noticed that the car was overheating, DAMMIT we had to pit…”

Before I forget, if you go to the site be sure to watch the background image for cars passing by on the track. I think that’s a pretty cool touch.

There are those that wretch at all the Danica hype, and I can understand that. But I really think she’s the real deal and I hope to see her succeed and win a race soon. And hey, if the hype is inevitable you might as well relax and enjoy it!