NASCAR...I've joined the community!

Posted by Brendan Kenalty at 2/17/2008 11:40 PM
Categories: social networking



Ok…maybe it’s the time of the year being stuck inside with no more football...or maybe it was the 2 hrs I spent playing in the NASCAR store with my 2 sons during a 4 hr layover at Charlotte airport last weekend…but I’m hooked.

I used to make fun of the NASCAR thing…but it is truly a marketing and entertainment masterpiece. No wonder it is the fastest growing US sport and building an audience that is >50% female. My 5 year old bugged me all week to “make sure we didn’t miss the race” and left the park on Saturday to come home a watch it. We watched 2 races this weekend as a family…even my wife watched a bit!!

As a huge NFL fan ….NASCAR delivers the same incredibly engaging event experience ….but with total brand advertising integration. “the Interstate Toyota sure was fast today”….imagine if (and probably when) NFL teams are re-branded…”the Dallas Exxon Cowboys played great today”…what’s that worth to the NFL?

Stock car racing is an incredibly complicated and technical activity, but NASCAR wraps cartoon simplicity around it. Unique characters, simple plotlines, colorful cars, on screen pop-up bubbles and lots of action. They make it folksy, sizzly and simple all at once. In the course of 2-3 hrs of pre-race coverage my 5 year old son and I learned everything we needed to “get” the NASCAR story and engage with the event at a level beyond the cars going round-and-round…next year he says he wants to go to a race…cool...for now we'll join the on-line community...

Check it out…what u think?

 

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