What is Masterfoods Thinking?

Last Friday, two days before Christmas Eve, Masterfoods announced it will "become the only sponsor to have two brands form the same company backing one NASCAR team after agreeing a second entry with Robert Yates Racing. Chocolate bar brand Snickers will be on the car driven by Ricky Rudd’s primary sponsor – in addition to its M&Ms brand sponsoring driver David Gilliland."

In the grand scheme of things, this news isn’t that interesting, but it is important to Masterfoods. Why did they announce this the Friday before the holidays? Let’s analyze further:

Last Friday, two days before Christmas Eve, Masterfoods announced it will “become the only sponsor to have two brands form the same company backing one NASCAR team after agreeing a second entry with Robert Yates Racing. Chocolate bar brand Snickers will be on the car driven by Ricky Rudd’s primary sponsor – in addition to its M&Ms brand sponsoring driver David Gilliland.”
In the grand scheme of things, this news isn’t that interesting, but it is important to Masterfoods. Why did they announce this the Friday before the holidays? Let’s analyze further:
• By Friday, almost everyone in the business world has checked out and I doubt most people would have read this news. NASCAR-related business news usually is able to generate interest since their fans are some passionate and want to know everything that is going on with the teams.
• Most reporters had left for vacation earlier in the week so I am surprised this even appeared at all. I bet they could have secured more traction if they waited until after Christmas. This would have been the perfect story to pitch between Christmas and New Years when the news cycle is slow.
• If Masterfoods wanted to get this news out, but didn’t want a lot of media interest due to a directive from senior management, then it was the perfect day to pitch the news.

While this news appeared on SportsBusinessJournal.com, if they waited until this week to pitch it, I bet they could have gotten articles in BrandWeek, Promo Magazine, etc.

I’d be interested in learning the media outreach plan around this announcement, if one was even created.