You snooze you lose are what some are thinking after the grand finale of the 2012 Daytona 500.
As if rain delays, crashes and jet fuel fires wasn't enough, we also got to witness a fluke accident with a service truck as well as a driver gain 140,000 twitter followers in just a couple hours.
The 2012 Daytona 500 happenings are an amazing case study and testament to the power of interactive, social TV.
I'm going to cover two different scenarios in this post. Each one highlights different aspects of leveraging real-time marketing, social media and brand opportunities.
Read on to learn more…
1. ServiceMaster and Tide gets unexpected brandstand attention!
Driver, Juan Pablo Montoya crashes into ServiceMaster truck on turn 3 of Daytona track.
Unfortunately one of their trucks just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. As Montoya lost control of his car he ran smack into the ServiceMaster truck carrying a load of jet fuel. Immediately there were flames making a mess of the track. Luckily everyone was okay as far as I know.
ServiceMaster 24 Hour Tampa is our client. They were one of our very first clients when we started our business a couple years ago. An amazing company filled with real, down to earth people who go the extra mile and care about their customers.
ServiceMaster and Tide both gain a magic brand moment!
Often times misfortune is followed by opportunity. As the ServiceMaster truck sat on the side of the road burning from the rear it garnered a LOT of attention. All eyeballs were on the fire, the cleanup and the beautiful ServiceMaster logos on both the side and hood of the truck. The side of the truck was dented yet you could still see the logo. The logo on the hood looked 100% in tact.
So as millions watched them clean the track millions also were reminded of the strong, reliable ServiceMaster brand. The yellow color combined with the strong stature of the truck appeared quite bright and bold. It was a positive brand image. I can guarantee many will wake up in the morning with the image of Montoya's spinning car, the yellow truck and of course the ServiceMaster logo in their head.
Tide was able to catch some of the action as well since the clean-up team was using Tide to clean up the fuel spill. There were tens of boxes of Tide lined up on the track.
Sponsorship & being at right place at right time has it's benefits.
ServiceMaster is a sponsor of Nascar. I'd bet those few minutes on the track today probably delivered the ROI for all years paid sponsorship to date. They were definitely in the right place at the right time tonight during Daytona 500!
2. Real-Time Social Media Opportunity: One driver maximizes, other driver misses out, big time!
After crashing his car into the ServiceMaster truck, Montoya was able to walk away from the car, thank goodness.
Dave Blaney started trending on Twitter when he unexpectedly took the lead.
Unfortunately Dave doesn't have a Twitter account and his website is under construction. However, his competitor Brad Keselowski did have a Twitter account. Brad also now has an extra 140,000 Twitter followers as a result of of him being ready to maximize the real-time social media opportunity. Brad can be found on Twitter at @keselowski.
Brad tweeted a live photo from his car as he watched the workers put out the fire. He then continued to respond, engage and tweet with those wanting to engage with him. The live tv coverage showed Brad walking on the track and tweeting! Only at Daytona!
Brad gained 140,000 new Twitter followers within a couple hours. He gained 50,000 new Twitter followers within the first 30 minutes after the crash!
Kudos to Brad as he was one of the few drivers tweeting personally and tweeting real-time with his fans. There may have been more, however, they were not as visibly apparent or were not using the hashtags #Daytona500 or #Nascar.
How did Brad benefit from his few moments of tweeting and taking time for his fans? Well at the time I wrote this post (a couple hours after the Daytona 500 2012) he has 202,000 Twitter followers! Go Brad!
Big congratulations also to Matt Keneseth who took first place in the race! Matt hasn't tweeted in 11 hours from the time of this post. He has 66,000 Twitter followers which is just a few more than what I believe Brad started out with tonight. My guess is if Matt would have been able to send even a few tweets tonight he could have at minimum doubled and more than likely tripled his Twitter following.
3. You Snooze You Lose!
Brands ignoring social media are missing out. Where was Dave Blaney's marketing team? Why didn't he have a Twitter account? Why didn't his marketing team take the two minutes to set one up as soon as they heard he was trending. The fact he was trending and didn't have a Twitter account was announced on the live TV Daytona 500 coverage. The most important question I have is did they know he was trending and did they even know there was an opportunity he missed out on? Or did they just ignore the fact and as a result miss out on an opportunity to connect with hundreds of thousands of fans?
I simply do not understand why brands, celebrities and any public figure would want to ignore social media. If Twitter is where your fans are, then why wouldn't you want to leverage the communication channel to connect with them? Why wouldn't you do your research to understand what social platforms your fans, partners and target markets are using so you can leverage them to engage, communicate and foster relationships during one of your biggest events of the year?
Case in point is during the race tonight I received numerous tweets from people and brands, all part of the Nascar and Daytona 500 ecosystem. From owners of car mechanic shops with only a few followers to sports junkie tweeters to sports media. They were all ready and eager to follow, tweet, retweet, engage and show some social love to the people and brands willing and able to do such.
Given the amount of money given by brands to sponsor these drivers, the size of their teams, I question why they are not investing in social media? Why is a little one man mechanic shop taking the time to engage, look for Twitter lists so he can follow his favorite driver, yet the drivers themselves are not there to communicate and have not even taken the time to join the platform.
I am surprised the brands who sponsor these drivers and teams are not demanding that there is a social media component to their sponsorship and driver's marketing plan. This is true for any brand sponsored sporting related event or activity. Where is the gap? Is it in the agencies serving them, or the driving teams not seeing social as a priority?
Big missed opportunity in my book. Bottom line I think we have just touched the tip of the iceberg with adoption of social media. When events as large as Nascar and Daytona 500 are not maximizing social media, we have only just begun my friends.
For any driver, team, agent or brand wanting help with social media component at your upcoming races or event, this year or next you know who to call. I promise we won't be shy in telling you our honest opinion and getting you on the zoom track to leverage each and every opportunity possible to inspire, connect and achieve results.
Join the conversation.
Matt Weinberger, sports analyst and writer for Forbes.com reached out to me during the Daytona 500. He just published this article “All Fired Up from Nascar's Big Race” and will also be joining us for a lively discussion on the #GetRealChat Twitter chat at 9pm et tonight. We'll be discussing the race, the social media opportunities leveraged, missed and why it's important for brands to quit ignoring social media. We'd love to have you join the discussion and share your opinions on the race and surrounding media. You can also join the private Facebook group for pre and post chat conversation.
Your Turn
What are your thoughts? Did you watch the race? Did you wake up with a ServiceMaster, Tide or other logo in your head? What are your thoughts on brands and individuals being left behind in social media?
Pam, this is such a great article – it really drives home the power of social media and why businesses need to be in the social space.
@DonnaGilliland Thanks Donna. Glad you liked it! Yes, businesses who aren’t are truly missing out and it will begin to become more apparent over the next couple years.
might want to edit some, David Blaney wasn’t the driver that hit the jet dryer.
Just fixed it… that’s what I get for writing after midnight. Thanks!!
Great write up, Pam! This will get lots of good coverage and helps folks understand the importance of a well executed, integrated sponsorship and marketing plan.
Sent this article along with the Forbes article to my teammates here at work. Great, great examples on why we should be involved with social media. My company won’t be sponsoring NASCAR events anytime soon, but some great lessons to be learned from last night! Thanks for turning this case study around so quickly and so well!
@wiedenu Thanks! Glad you liked it.It was definitely a late night for many who covered this story real-time. Fun times in the social ecosystem, that’s for sure!
@wiedenu Thanks! Glad you liked it.It was definitely a late night for many who covered this story real-time. Fun times in the social ecosystem, that’s for sure!
@DonMedia thanks for telling others about our posts. Feel free to drop a comment. What’s your take? @PamMktgNut #SM
Pam touches on a key point that I had expressed in a blog post earlier this morning. Keselowski’s growth would have been trivial had it not been for either NASCAR or Darrell Waltrip (@allwaltrip) noticing that he had tweeted from his car and then pushing that to the captivated TV audience. This is why us social media strategist types keep harping about cross channel promotion and multiple strategy solutions folks.
@KevinMullett Or FOX continuing to show Kesolowski on his phone and making mention that he’s the only person who has a phone on the track. When they interviewed him towards the end of the red flag, he was well aware AND prepared to mention Twitter. He knew what he was doing last night.
@wiedenu @KevinMullett Yes he sure did know what he was doing. Very strategic, smart move on his part. Go Brad!
@KevinMullett Excellent point Kevin. I Would have never seen the trend, wrote the post etc. if it wasn’t for the live TV coverage. I was headed to the couch w/laptop to write a new whitepaper and watch the race on the DVR. As I sat down I heard mention of Dave Blaney trending but had no Twitter account. I immediately took seat at the tweet deck to see what was up. Rest of the story is history particularly considering that shortly after my client ServiceMaster truck was hit by Montoya. Then thanks to Twitter connected with Matt Weinberger, Forbes writer. He and I chatted and coordinated our posts a bit, and now have him scheduled as a guest on the Twitter GetRealChat tonight. Wow, the power of social! Those who are not learning how to integrate into the DNA of their biz are truly missing out!
Excellent point Kevin and you are 100% correct. I would have never seen the trend, wrote the post etc. if it wasn’t for the live TV coverage. I was actually headed to the couch w/the laptop to write a new whitepaper and watch the race on the DVR. As I sat down I heard mention of Dave Blaney trending and immediately took seat at the tweet deck to see what was up. Rest of the story is history particularly considering that shortly after my client ServiceMaster truck was hit by Montoya. Then thanks to Twitter connected with Matt Weinberger, Forbes writer. He and I chatted and coordinated our posts a bit, and now have him scheduled as a guest on the Twitter GetRealChat tonight. Wow, the power of social! Those who are not learning how to integrate into the DNA of their biz are truly missing out!
Thanks for the article Pam. I added the post to my daily curated NASCAR news stories. I was monitoring @Tide’s Twitter feed to see if they would take advantage of the opportunity. I even tweeted them a heads up. Brands still have a learning curve to figure out the best strategy for leveraging social media. Too bad Tide missed out on a literal windfall last night! Here is a link to my curated NASCAR news with your blog post: http://www.scoop.it/t/nascar-fans
@degree_31 Thanks so much. Will check it out. Yes, Tide missed out big time. Glad ServiceMaster got the coverage. We have been working with one of their local franchises from the inside out. 2012 will be the year they ignite their social as we’ve helped them implement much internal needed change the last two years. Exciting times for businesses who invest in the right things and are patient. It’s about so much more than a single Facebook page or Twitter account. It’s more about the power of what can be done with those pages, profiles and communities once social becomes an integral component of the business.
I’m copying in jmatthicks just to test to see if this works:)
Brands may be missing a trick, and their “Contracts” could lead a driver to the water, but will it make them drink? Isn’t the sport better off having the “early adopter” drivers who are naturally social. Having them use Twitter will give them first mover advantage.
This will probably bring in more fans that driver who aren’t naturally social.
Now I would agree with you and I’d get the drivers some coaching. And explain how their brand value would grow as a result. I’m sure if they connect the dots to the dollars they would be on board in a heartbeat!
I’d drive a lap or two for a 100k followers:) Just not so sure it’s a core talent of mine!
Thanks Pam.
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@PamMktgNut Yep, great read! #getrealchat
@sacevero I was there! Great race, long day.
@GaryLaneGibbs jealous
@micksay @PamMktgNut I watched that race .. It was Insane! Twitter was going CRAZY!
Yes and 2012 will be the year @SvcMaster24hr Tampa gets on social! Social from inside out is the only way! So proud of them.
That was very cool and certainly an interesting story; you are right, how simple would it be to engage. No doubt about it, Nascar is still popular but what a great and simple way for the drivers to reach out to their fans. They are still one of the few sports who seem to appreciate the fan interaction. Maybe Brad’s move will open some eyes.
Good one, Social media service providers are the drivers, they will help to attain huge followers for our account.