The FedEx sponsorship of Denny Hamlin's #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota creates a unique opportunity to engage with consumers and fans of NASCAR.
With the FedEx #11 team, participating in the 2014 NASCAR Chase, FedEx capitalized on the excitement to help drive awareness of FedEx One Rate® (FOR) via timely, relevant and share-able content across social.
STRATEGY:
We saw a strong correlation between Denny's on-track performance and the performance of FedEx Racing content on social channels throughout the NASCAR season. And, as Denny and the #11 team's success brought them to the NASCAR Chase Championship Series, FedEx began to tailor social content and initiatives.
FedEx capitalized on this by developing a social plan around the weeks leading up to the final race, concluding with a deeper, real-time engagement strategy executed during the final race.
EXECUTION:
- Active social listening around Denny, the #11 team and FedEx in NASCAR-centric posts with custom multimedia posts from FedEx
- Launched a series of custom imagery, animated GIFs, and videos that support the #11 team and FOR
- Executed a Live Twitter Chat with Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing
- Promoted a "ReTweet to Win" social sweepstakes, aligned with the final race, to win a Denny-related prize
- Aligned social communication with TV placements to capitalize on relevant discussions
OUTCOME:
Results of the content activations across the 10 weeks of the Chase:
- Total Facebook & Twitter Engagement Rate: 3.84%
- Facebook Views: 31,375
- Additional YouTube views on FOR Racing Spots since Chase: 100,000
OBJECTIVE
In order to reach mass audiences about new FedEx flat-rate pricing, FedEx One Rate® (FOR), FedEx looked for ways to leverage its association with Joe Gibbs Racing, driver Denny Hamlin, and the FedEx #11 team.
Content was deployed across social platforms including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to join conversations around the championship. Key components included:
- A heavy focus on Denny Hamlin & the FedEx #11 Racing Team's performance throughout the series
- Leveraged FedEx's sponsorship of Joe Gibbs Racing to create authentic engagement opportunities on social channels with the inclusion of the branded #FedEx11 hashtag
- Utilized existing campaign assets (pre-roll, banners, social sweepstakes) that included key FOR messaging to create new, timely and topical content
- Real-time custom responses during in-race social chatter
KEY FEATURES
The campaign's execution and tactics worked simultaneously with the Chase series, optimizing content on a weekly basis, to target engaged audiences with relevant content. To achieve this, FedEx focused on the following:
Deployed topical racing content, which featured FedEx One Rate messaging, to authentically join conversation with avid racing fans.
- Included:
- Custom and timely social posts on Twitter and Facebook
- Animated GIFS, leveraging existing campaign creative to create new topical content
- FOR commercial videos and outtakes
#FedEx11Chat on 10/17 provided racing fans with a unique experience with Denny Hamlin on Twitter courtesy of FedEx, while also driving awareness of FedEx One Rate with limited budgets.
- Included:
- Collaboration with Joe Gibbs Racing to provide real-time engagement with Denny Hamlin
- Promotional push communication leading up to event that included a sweepstakes component to incentivize fans to join the conversation using the branded hashtag
- Proactive and reactive communication, in "real-time", joining conversations with Denny Hamlin fans
- @FedEx tweeted in response to both Denny and user questions and comments that occurred during the chat duration
- Results:
- 666 #FedEx11 conversations with 611 the day of the chat
- 4.1% Engagement Rate
- 8.5% Organic Engagement Rate
Deployed "RT To Win" Social Sweepstakes on Twitter on 11/12 to increase engagements with targeted racing fans while promoting FedEx One Rate pricing.
- Featured
- Race-specific messaging to engage with fans leading up to race events
- A strong CTA to follow @FedEx and RT the post for a chance to win a Denny Hamlin related prize incentivized users to share FedEx content in exchange for an opportunity to win.
- Leveraged paid media to optimize targeting and reach on Twitter platform
- Results
- 968 ReTweets at a .28% ReTweet Rate
- 3.1% Engagement Rate
FedEx#11 Twitter Takeover of @FedEx Account for Championship Race Day, to provide fans custom real-time content and unique behind-the-scenes access via Twitter.
- Featured:
- Proactive and reactive communication, leveraging custom creative to join conversations and engage with racing fans in real-time during the race
- Provided fans behind-the-scenes access by deploying on-site communication
- Deployed real-time responses with fans, brands and influential accounts to create two-way communication
- Included custom content around real-time conversations (i.e. Denny's helmet, performance during race, etc.)
- Strong TV Integration
- Retargeted with TV communication after FOR Racing Spot aired
- Real-time responses to on-air broadcast interview with Denny Hamlin with custom creative to join conversation
- Results:
- 1.9K FedEx Mentions on Race Day
- 3.73% Overarching Engagement Rate
- 217,827 Impressions on Facebook and 108,886 Impressions on Twitter
METRICS/RESULTS
As a result of the executions on social channels, FedEx saw a boost in engagements with racing content during the 10-week series of the Chase. This includes the following totals:
- Content Activations outperformed previous Sponsorship activations on social channels
- Total engagements: 88,378
- Total engagement rate: 3.84%
- Additional YouTube views since Chase: 86,586
- Facebook Views: 31,375
The results showcase that FedEx, as a proud sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing, was able to authentically leverage its sponsorship property to engage with and connect to consumers on their social channels during key and timely events.
