Nascar prepares for playoffs with campaign featuring live-action and social content
Nascar is revving up for its playoff run, and a new campaign takes people down on the track and behind the scenes for an up-close look at the racing excitement.
Kyle Busch celebrates a Nascar win
For 16 Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series drivers, the start of the playoffs means it’s ‘All on the Line’, which is the title of the campaign. The emotion, intensity and unpredictability of playoff racing will be captured the campaign, which will feature live-action television creative and digital content across all 10 weeks of the Nascar playoffs.
The first television spot previews the campaign leading into the playoffs kick-off race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 16, then the spots become a moving target, of sorts.
For all 10 playoff races, culminating with the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Nascar will capture drivers and teams to document storylines as they unfold. Nascar and NBC will unveil new advertising creative each week in addition to video content across digital and social media channels.
“We want to create that excitement for our fan base,” said Nascar executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Jill Gregory. “For us, it’s about the passionate intensity. There will be great racing each week. Every point matters, every lap matters. The threat of elimination ratchets up as the playoffs start. (This campaign is) giving fans an inside look. This approach – with letting the storylines write themselves, in real time at the track – is a great way to give fans a playoff look.”
Gregory said the organization will be sending out three different Nascar crews to each race, in. collaboration with NBC. “Those crews are going to be nimble. We’ll have the bare bones and framework, but they will have to adapt immediately,” and that includes any on-track incidents (crashes), the intense interplay between team members, an inside footage. She said it is different from what they would usually do, which is make the spots in advance by anticipating what might happen, to actually filming it when it happens.
In addition to the television campaign, there are also individual driver videos that will run on social media.
Plus, fans have access to customized Twitter emojis and hashtags for all 16 playoff drivers, thanks to a partnership with Twitter. Fans that tweet with #NascarPlayoffs will activate the official emoji for this year’s playoffs.
“Each driver and team had input on their emoji. We’ve had a lot of fun with it in the past. When the Twitter emoji pops up, it increases engagement with fans on social media,” said Gregory, who added that the relationship with Twitter allows them to partner with the race teams to put the emoji on the car front quarter panel of the driver’s car.
A vehicle giveaway is also happening for fans. The three brands on the track – Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota – are once again inviting fans to participate in the 2018 Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series Playoffs Promotion on Nascar.com for a chance to win new custom-designed trucks. Fans can visit NASCAR.com/playoffspromo to register for a chance to win a crowd-sourced custom-designed Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ford F-150 XLT or Toyota Tundra. Also new this year, fans can unlock additional entries for the sweepstakes by plugging in code words provided during each race broadcast.
Additionally, Nascar Official Partners Allegiant, K&N, Mars, PEAK and Sunoco will provide weekly prizing throughout the Playoffs.
The All on the Line campaign, developed in partnership with 77 Ventures, will also include creative and content promoting the Nascar Xfinity Series and Nascar Camping World Truck Series Playoffs.
Gregory said that the new campaign was made possible by the interaction the sport has with its fans. “We spend a lot of time talking to our fans, which gives us analytics and insights. We want to ignite their interests and give them more reasons to engage with their favorite drivers. It’s all rooted in what the fans want. Authenticity. Under the helmet. On and away from the track. Data. Want to attend a race. What happens at the racetrack. How exciting it is to be at the track and experience all the things that happen there.
