How a Sports League Expanded its Presence into Business Media
Client Description
IndyCar stands as the ultimate embodiment of open-wheel racing. It is a prominent and globally recognized motorsport series that showcases the pinnacle of open-wheel racing. Founded in 1994, it has redefined the sport with thrilling speed to captivate fans worldwide with five racing series and its premiere IndyCar series race, the Indianapolis 500.
Challenge: Increasing Coverage In Business Media Outlets
Heading into the 2018 season, IndyCar wanted to secure more news story placements in business media publications for two reasons: the increased visibility would help to grow its fan base among high-wealth, entrepreneurial individuals, and business-focused coverage would aid in the search for a new title sponsor for its top-level IndyCar Series.
The races and drivers had received all the expected attention from racing-enthusiast sporting outlets, but it faced tough competition in generating more mainstream, business-first stories and breaking through the attention barrier created by larger sports organizations such as the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League.
Our Solution: Exposure, and Interesting Angles
Exposure: One hurdle that prevented reporters from pursuing or considering stories about IndyCar was a lack of familiarity with the sport, the drivers, and the culture of racing as a whole. Knowing that the racers and their teams are compelling and interesting people, we extended invitations to reporters to visit race tracks, meet drivers up close, take a drive in a two-seater version of the racing cars, and attend gala events such as the Toast At The Top gathering after each year’s Indy 500 race.
These interactions got them much closer to the sport than they’d ever been before, frequently resulting in coverage as well as building relationships with reporters and their home media outlets that could be leveraged for future news stories.
Interesting Angles: Business journalists are always looking for interesting and new business stories, and open wheel racing has plenty of those story ideas we were able to turn into finished articles and video segments. One of the angles we pitched included telling the business side of racers - like New Zealand’s Scott Dixon - and how they secured the minimum of $20 million in funding to assemble a racing team.
Another angle was about the economics and business considerations involved in launching races at new tracks in Austin, TX and Monterey, CA as well as deciding which new markets should be pursued in the future for new races. In addition, we focused on telling the stories around the business pursuits of drivers outside of racing, and the motivations of team owners who need to assemble a team of up to 20 support staff for every car they put into competition.
Outcomes: High Visibility for the Business Class
Our persistent, strategic outreach to business media outlets at the national, regional, and local levels generated extensive coverage, with placements achieved almost weekly over the course of an 18-month engagement.
Among the most prominent outlets: Forbes, Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg Business, Yahoo Finance, Ad Age, Cheddar, Sports Business Radio, NBC Sports Radio, CBC, and American Cities Business Journals.