Fox Sports Research slides- PRAD 393

This paper summarizes the goals, proposed solutions, and strategy behind the public relations campaign to increase viewership of NASCAR iRacing on FOX and attract a younger Gen Z and millennial audience. It discusses positioning, strategy, promotion, and specific objectives to reach these goals. You are asked to evaluate the viability and efficacy of these recommendations to decide if they should be implemented.

SWOT Analysis 

Strengths that can be leveraged are FOX’s dominance as a network, a successful 2020 Racing season, and the ability of iRacing to showcase new talent. The current weaknesses are appealing to a niche audience and underutilization of FOX app. NASCAR iRacing on FOX also provides opportunities to appeal to a NASCAR audience and younger audience, utilize FOX on air talent, as well as NASCAR Race Hub, and FOX platforms like Caffeine TV. Some aspects that could pose threats to iRacing and the platforms it is currently delivered on are the decline in NASCAR popularity and the popularity of streaming platforms over than television.

Target Audience and Research

When tasked with creating a campaign, Gen Z and Millennials were given as the new target audience rather than the existing current NASCAR audience made up of 64.1% male and 35.9% female viewers with an average age of 56.3. Targeting a younger audience will help boost views through word of mouth and social media shares about our events. Some common themes we found throughout our research for this demographic were “experience”, “friends”, and “competition”. 

Campaign Objectives

The objectives are to increase iRacing’s popularity as an eSports platform among a younger (college) audience and NASCAR fans, increase tune-in engagement by 10% before May 2021, and grow the fan base by 10% before 2021 season (a little over 100,000 people). This will be accomplished this by revamping iRacing’s presence on various media outlets to gain earned media, publicizing the iRacing brand through influencers and streaming services, and providing PR Activations that will appeal to our target audience of 18-24 year-olds.

Prelaunch Promotion

Our initiatives will start with a pre-launch airing in on September 25, 2020 followed by a college tour in fall of 2020, and a post-launch concert on May 7, 2021. The pre-launch will lead into the iRacing season with an “Undercover Driver” commercial series that appeals to all ages and integrates iRacing and NASCAR driver, William Byron. This content could be used for commercials leading up to Daytona on FOX, FS1, and FS2, as well as for a segment on NASCAR RaceHub on FOX. Byron and will pose as an Uber driver during times when NASCAR races and ask passengers if they are attending the race and talk about how fun he thinks iRacing is. 

Public Relations Activations 

Our main launch will be a tour known as the iRacing Rivalry Round Up presented by Caffeine TV, where each Big 10 school will face their rivals within the conference and see who can win the most races. The rankings will be recorded in the FOX Sports app, where students can check to see their status. The on-campus event will feature “The Blue Rooms” with heated iRacing igloos where friends can race, TikTok challenge area, and a photo area for people to pose and post on social media using hashtags #RacedayRivals and #RivalryRoundup. 

The event will be hosted by FOX talent Kaitlyn Vincie and Jamie McMurry and streamed on Caffeine TV with coverage from NASCAR. The Blue Rooms could also be brought to Daytona to entice current NASCAR fans to become iRacing fans. In order to provide incentive for participation, the winning school will be provided with a concert featuring Migos. Offset, a member of the group has a weekly show on Caffeine TV and is already affiliated with the FOX platform, making this a viable partnership. The concert will take place in the spring at the end of the school year.

Why this will work

The Undercover Driver series will create earned media, while familiarizing college students and current fans with iRacing and getting them excited for the upcoming Rivalry Roundup. The iRacing Rivalry Roundup will be successful because it directly engages with younger target audiences and has an alluring element of competition and reward. The Blue Rooms also provide opportunities for further use at NASCAR events to engage current NASCAR fans in iRacing. Based on our research, we are confident that these events will created earned media and drive traffic to NASCAR iRacing on FOX.