Well, needless to say, my trip to Montreal was nothing like our typical race travels.  I quickly learned this when I was immediately asked to go to the Immigrations office upon my arrival at the Montreal airport to explain what type of business I would be doing on my trip.  You try explaining Trackside Services to a French-Canadian who speaks broken English – it could have been the most confusing ten minutes of my life.  I think she would have asked fewer questions if I had told her that the point of my trip was to sell the pelts of an endangered species but anyways, I finally got my stamp and was on my way…

For anyone who has not been to Montreal before, I would have to say that the easiest way to describe the city is “Chicago with a lot of French people.”  The city is located next to a major body of water (the St. Lawrence river), the summers are beautiful and the winters are absolutely brutal (or so I’m told) and the locals are always looking to have a good time.  When I wasn’t at the track, there was always plenty to do as my hotel was located right in the heart of the city (the Marriott Chateau Champlain which I would highly recommend for anyone visiting the city).  I spent most of my free time just walking around and checking out some of the impressive architectural structures throughout the city as well as soaking in as much of the culture as possible.  (Note: I took three years of French in high school and it did me absolutely no good on this trip.  Maybe I should have paid better attention…)

As for the business side of the trip…I’m afraid that I had more people ask me what I was doing here than people who actually shipped something.  That being said, there is definitely the potential for improvement now that I have witnessed the event firsthand and know exactly what to expect going into next season.  Although it was a slow weekend for Trackside Services, I was quite surprised at the fan support shown throughout the weekend.  I soon realized why NASCAR would have been interested in hosting a race here in the first place…the locals love racing!  I cannot recall any other location throughout the season where I have seen such interest in a Nationwide Series race.  There is definitely a broad market to tap into and I can only see NASCAR’s involvement in Montreal increasing in the years to come, especially since the Mexico City race has been taken off of the schedule.  (Another interesting note about the local fan support: it did not take me long to realize that Patrick Carpentier is officially “the Dale Jr. of Canada.”  Everywhere he went, he was absolutely swarmed by reporters and fans while someone like Carl Edwards could walk by practically unnoticed.  Pretty amusing.)

All and all, it was an interesting and entertaining trip to Montreal.  There was plenty that I learned to take back with me and use for future events at this location.  Next week, we will be traveling up North again as we head to lovely Watkins Glen, New York.  I don’t know if it will be quite the experience that Montreal was but I’m sure that there will once again be plenty to report.   

Tyler Hargrove

Well, after four years of consulting with our clients to have a plan and work the plan, we figured it was time to practice what we preach.

In our industry, it is a constant struggle to balance the running of a successful business against making sure our clients are receiving the superior service we strive to provide. By that, I mean that our clients always come first and sometimes, our internal needs, such as our web site, are regularly put on the “back burner.”

We know that a web presence plays an integral role in the success of any company in today’s world. That is why we finally took the time to do our homework and develop a site that fits our unique approach to sponsorships and simultaneously provide a glimpse into what makes aim a different breed of agency – our team.

I am not only excited about this new launch, but I am also very proud of how accurately it captures “us.” Our main goal in creating this site was to capture the atmosphere, character and uniqueness of aim.

To those of you who have visited our office, our site may look very familiar. From the wood beams and track lighting to the framed pictures of our team on-site at various events, our site is quite literally a window into aim. However, the more you dig into the site, the more you’ll see that it is our team, their personalities and their talents that really bring life to our work, our office and our site – the same way that our team helps bring life to our clients sponsorship and marketing programs.

We all feel a sense of rejuvenation with this site in our back pocket. No matter where we are and who we meet, we can now direct people to a place that not only shows the work that we pride ourselves on, but also the individuality of each of our team members.

Thanks for stopping by and please make sure to take a closer look at what we do to bring our vision for sponsorships and events to life.  Through our Success Stories section, which highlights some of the work we have executed with and on behalf of our partners, we hope you will get a snapshot into what we do on a daily basis.  With this site launch serving as the window into our company and our services, we are proud to showcase our work and our people.

Take Care,

Kristi Atkins
CEO

P.S. Please be sure to visit the team page so you can fire Tyler Herrin. As much as we love him and some of the work he does, he needs to be put in his place once in a while.