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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400September 12, 2015Jill GregoryDavid HigdonSteve PhelpsRICHMOND, VIRGINIA DAVID HIGDON: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. We have a special presentation where we're going to talk a little bit about some of the activities that we have planned for the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. We're joined here today by Miss Jill Gregory, who is our NASCAR senior vice president of industry services and marketing. She recently took on an expanded role within our organization to oversee the marketing of the sport. And also NASCAR executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Steve Phelps. So Jill and Steve are here to talk a little bit about what we have ahead of us for the Chase. We're going to show you some videos and some slides. Before we get started in talking about 2015, we just want to do a real quick recap to show you about obviously what we thought was a very successful newly revamped Chase format last year. If you'll turn your attention to our monitors, we'll do a quick recap for us. Steve, I thought you would take us through 2014 from a numbers and metrics perspective. STEVE PHELPS: Thanks, everyone, for being here and your attention to this. We're obviously very excited about heading into the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup. We'll take a look behind here for '14. I think the great thing from our perspective is the format itself worked extremely well. I think everyone here felt good about how things played out, the drama, the excitement around the Chase. Those things came out from a number of standpoints, as well. If you look at a couple things here on our NASCAR digital front, NASCAR.com, our apps, you saw significant increases in unique visitors, significant increases in video views. That particular part of what went on with the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup we were very excited about. Social saw huge gains, as well. We saw a slight increase in television also. One thing that we did see from '14 that we're addressing for '15 is there's still some questions around education, how the format works exactly, with the casual fans, for sure, and even some of the avid fans are still getting what the form is and the cadence. But I think the great thing is, as we look for '15, head into '15, you see the amount of drama that we had for '14. I think there are a lot of folks, fans included, that said, Hey, I'm not sure how we're going to replicate that in '15. I think the beauty of the format is it's going to happen anyway. With the elimination, the reset as you head from the different rounds, I think the opportunity for us to have fantastic storylines year after year after year works very well with this format. One other thing I'd say on the numbers real quick before we head into '15, we did some research heading out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup last year. Some really interesting numbers from a research standpoint, which I don't have for you here, but the numbers are quite staggering. We did research pre Chase for the Sprint Cup and post, after Miami. We saw increases in interest as well as increases in people understanding there was this thing called the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Significant increases from pre to post. 10 full points for both. Overall, the U.S. population, as well as sportsfans, and then increased interest from our most avid fans. Those things bode very well for us. As we head into 2015, obviously you have 11 drivers who are set, five who are trying to get in. We're certainly we believe are going to have an exciting evening this evening, whether there will be a driver that will win his or her way in. That's, again, the beauty of the format. So we're excited about that. As it relates to the grid itself, obviously if your name isn't Jamie McMurray, there's obviously some interest and trepidation on the bottom three. That's the great part of this format, as well, as you head through Richmond and then back into Chicago next week. That's it from this piece. Jill, do you want to take us through where we stand from a marketing perspective. JILL GREGORY: Sure. Thank you. I think we talked about last year's Chase and how we needed to really educate the fans on what it all meant. I don't think that the drivers, the teams, the tracks really knew how it was going to play out. So we were able to get the industry to rally around the Battle of Nations campaign last year. You saw the nation's flags, some of that thematic that went through all of our advertising and our creative. So what we're doing this year is really building on that campaign. So last year the NASCAR team came out with that. We didn't have the opportunity to really have a ton of feedback and integration with the drivers and teams, although they did get behind it. We're able this year to get the drivers to be involved in the development of their flags, their hashtags, and hopefully that will really let their fan bases start to activate against the Battle of Nations campaign. So what we're doing this year is really trying to find a way for fans to tangibly engage. So this year there's a little bit of a twist, and it's the Join the Battle campaign. That's the rallying cry, really trying to provide fans the opportunity and ways for them to engage. So as their driver and team go into battle, we want fans to feel like they're going into battle as well, they've got some skin in the game. You're going to see all of our advertising, our digital, our social campaigns really rally around the Join the Battle and explaining to fans how they can do that. Two of the most tangible pieces in ways that we'll do that is through our television creative. I'm going to show you two spots today that have already been running. One is called Team. It's the spot almost like an anthem spot that really shows you the seriousness, the competitive nature, the spirit of the Chase. It's really told from a perspective of a general trying to rally his troops going into battle. Then the second set that we'll show you is called Pledge. It's the same type of message, but it's told from the fan's perspective, so what the fan does to really prepare to go into battle. With that can we roll the tape. So you saw the Pledge spot was first, and the Team spot was second with the general. Both spots' thematic I think you saw is the same. It's really putting the fans and the drivers and the teams side‑by‑side as they prepare to go into battle for the Chase. When you look at the overall picture, and Steve will get into some of this in a little bit more detail, you saw the intensity, the seriousness of the first pieces of creative. I'm also going to show you another piece that's got a lighter and more irreverent look. Again, everything we're doing this year has a call to action and a way for fans to join. From a tune‑in perspective, each of the rounds will have refresh creative. So as we shot the commercials, we have to shoot them so we can use them throughout the Chase, not knowing what is going to happen, obviously. So a little creativity is going to be needed there from the agency and the drivers and their acting ability. So you'll see refresh creative for each round, including the championship round. Then another key thing to note from a media perspective is really a shout out to our partnership with NBC and what they've done. One of the key things that we're doing this year through our partnership with them is having the ability to run our Chase creative not just in‑race, but outside of race inventory. Really important for us as we try to reach the casual fan. So it will run not only in NBC, obviously all of our race coverage, our ancillary programming, but we'll have it on NBC in their motorsports coverage, their other sports coverage, and on their other network. Really key as we try to build the awareness of the Chase and the new format across their networks. The digital content, Steve is going to dive into this. I won't go into a tremendous amount of detail, although we will have driver flags and videos as part of the NASCAR Chase hub that you'll see. The Fan Index is something new for this year. It's a partnership with USA Today. It's an 11‑week program that will aggregate all of the social activity on USA Today. The Fan Index will run weekly. There will be one driver nation that wins each week, and then one driver nation will prevail through the end of the Chase period. So a really good weekly pop for us in USA Today, which will be great, and again new for this year. The other thing that's new for this year is our Join the Battle app. So we've created an app that you can download. It's more of a fun and interesting way to engage with the Chase. There will be two games that you can play. One is called the My Nation app. You can take each driver flag and put your face on it, should you choose to do that. I'm not sure if you will want to, but you can pick your driver. The other one is kind of a fun take‑off on the magic eight ball. It's called the Chase Predictor. You can download the app and use your phone actually as a way to fill out your weekly grid, predict who is going to win the race, and just play around. Really this is going to be more of a fun and engaging way to engage new fans, casual fans, and probably some younger fans, too. I'll segue into the next spot, which is the driver video app. As promised, you can see that spot is a lot more fun, shows some driver personalities. They had a lot of fun doing it. The Chase Predictor video, even a little more campy than that one, so we didn't show that one for you. You can wait for it. But it's a little bit more like an infomercial. But it does show the driver personalities, really shows them having fun with it. With that I'm going to turn it back over to Steve to talk about the digital components. STEVE PHELPS: Thanks, Jill. NASCAR.com, we talked about the success we had in '14. We're really excited what '15 is going to look like. The numbers thus far for NASCAR.com year over year are up about 25% on most of the measures we're looking at. We expect those things to continue during the Chase for the Sprint Cup. So there's going to be on NASCAR.com a Chase hub, which is where you can get all your Chase information, whether it's stats, or there's data that's there, just a central place for you to go to find out what's going on from a Chase perspective, the grid itself obviously. So we're excited what we're going to see from a NASCAR.com standpoint, the mobile web, the apps. It's obviously an opportunity for us to take what's happening from a marketing perspective and have that weave through what's going on on NASCAR.com. Last year a lot of success on the marketing front from an advertising perspective, a lot of success on NASCAR.com, a lot of success from social. This year we're going to weave what's happening from the brand standpoint, and it will be integrated throughout, which we think will add some real excitement to what we're doing. Obviously we've got some sponsor pieces in there, as well. Sprint is in there, and then our relationship with Bing. The game, the Chase grid, is going to be exciting. It's something that happens from a week‑to‑week‑to‑week standpoint. Then NBC, if you haven't heard, is going to have a Perfect Grid Challenge, which is a $16 million challenge. So we're excited about what they're bringing to the party, as well. That's a good segue to their part. They've started running their Chase creative and what's going on from a Chase perspective early and often. They started actually in Daytona, their first race. They've been a tremendous partner. What they're going to do that's a little bit different is their creative is going to be different from ours, but they're going to take a lot of the vernacular, a lot of phrases and what's happening and put it into their creative. If you haven't seen, their creative is a little bit different. They also have some video that they're going to do that we believe is going to be relatively viral, as well. It also is very educational. They've been a fantastic partner thus far. They're obviously excited about getting to Chicago and getting this thing started. Their talent has been fantastic. Their production has been fantastic. We're ready to go on that particular front. I already talked about the Quicken Loans $16 million Perfect Grid Challenge. We think that's going to add some interest, as well. We had a Perfect Grid Challenge last year. It wasn't nearly as much money. And no one had a perfect grid, so it will be interesting to see whether someone can actually get there. On the next piece, obviously you look at the relationship that we started with in the beginning of the year from a media perspective from FOX. They did a good job seating how things were going, starting with Joey Logano, what Joey did at the Daytona 500, pointing towards the Chase with every race. We're really excited about what they have done as not just big FOX, but then FS1. Television is a huge, huge component of how fans are getting their NASCAR, obviously. We're looking at things not just from a TV standpoint but those metrics in social and digital are huge, as well. That's how fans are engaging. They're engaging differently. They're engaging with second screens and third screens. But, again, looking at the success that we've had at FOX to start off the season, big FOX was plus nine, and then FS1, then obviously to NBC Sports Network, and some of the highest‑rated programs that both channels have seen. So very, very positive. Our friends from Sirius XM, you know, pumping the Chase as much as they can, getting our drivers on there, different personalities, trying to explain what's happening. So excited about that, as well. Then from an international perspective, closing in on 200 different countries where we're pushing our Chase for the Sprint Cup, getting significant visibility in countries outside of just North America. From a social standpoint, we're kind of breaking the weeks into two pieces. So you've got the first part of the week, Monday through Thursday, where you have the USA Today NASCAR Fan Index, Join the Battle app, then Chase Grid Support. Then Friday through Sunday really looking at what happens from a preparation, ticket‑selling standpoint, as well as the storytelling that you guys are doing, that our drivers are doing, that our tracks are doing. Then obviously what happens at track. The key hashtag for the Chase, pretty simple, #theChase. We believe that's going to have some significant weight to it and we believe that conversation is going to really be a winner for us. From a communication perspective in getting things kicked off, Dave, why don't you talk about what we're doing for both Chase across North America and then after each of the rounds what we're going to do. DAVID HIGDON: Sure. So as you see up here, Chase across North America, we actually changed the schedule a bit primarily because we have testing in Kansas. So we're going to split it up. We're going to be Tuesday and Wednesday in various cities. We're going to hit all 10 markets, 10 race markets. We're also going to hit LosAngeles, NewYork City and Bristol. Then we're actually going to have a second bite at the Apple on October the 1st, and visit New York and LosAngeles again, as well as Stamford, Connecticut, which is the home of our partner NBC. So we hope to have a list to you even as early as tonight depending on how things kind of shake out or tomorrow if we get things lined up. It depends on how the racing goes tonight. The other thing is the two events at the Hall of Fame as we had last year, we're going to change the format, following feedback that we received from you. So less of a show, per se, and more of a content gathering, two sessions, similar to what you guys are used to with our Media Days in Daytona and Homestead. The other thing to note here is that in Homestead, we've actually moved the Media Day one day later until Thursday of Homestead week. We are also going to do that in the afternoon to allow for some of you to travel who would like to or prefer to travel in the morning of that event. So that will be held at The Diplomat, which we announced earlier in the week, in Florida, for our Media Day for the Championship Four. Want to talk about business a little bit, Steve, we'll wrap it up with that. STEVE PHELPS: Sure. One last slide. Really talking about what's going on from a business perspective, and a couple of fan elements, as well. One is the NASCAR Chase Fest which we're going to do in Chicago on Thursday. It will be from 2:00 till 9:00. It will be driver autographs, driver appearances, different things that are happening that we believe the fans are going to be excited about. Toyota is nice enough to come on and sponsor that for us. But there are a number of other partners who are going to be there, as well, sprint and XFINITY, a number of other sponsors, who are going to bring some really cool things to make a great fan event. So we're excited about what that's going to look like. A little bit different than the event we had last year. It's more of a block party. Be some great music, great local country band to start with, and then later in the evening we'll have Three Doors Down. So it should be a great fan event. Hopefully you guys can make it out after your portion of what goes on from a media standpoint. I'll be there from 2:00 till 9:00. I'm excited about it. Then a fan event in Miami, which will be great as well, in conjunction with Homestead‑Miami Speedway as well as with NBC. Then lastly, just talking overall from a Chase perspective, we have 15 of our official partners that are doing different promotional advertising social things. That's a fantastic way for us to amplify the message that's happening around the Chase for the Sprint Cup. You'll also see team sponsors and track sponsors doing a lot, as well. So it should be a fantastic 10 weeks. I think at the end of it we'll have another deserving champion, as Kevin was last year. If you're able to get through all those rounds, the Challenger Round, the Contender Round, the Eliminator Round, the Championship Four, and you're first across the line, you are a deserving champion. So we're excited about that. DAVID HIGDON: All right. Q. The fans are asking when the app is going to go live. How will they be able to find it? JILL GREGORY: The app will be available Sunday. For those of you that have worked in the app development world, which I am new to, getting something pushed through the Apple store is a lengthy process. But we got all the approvals yesterday and it will be live on Sunday. Chris will be pushing it through the Chase hub, through all of our social channels. We're having the drivers and the PR reps from their side pushing the app, as well. We have the videos that will be available online. Fans should have plenty of places to find it. But the Chase hub is probably the easiest way to get there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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