Mobil 1 - "Virtual Showdown with Tony Stewart" (2016)
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity —
Nominated by Weber Shandwick Global (2017)
Clio Awards — Nominated by Weber Shandwick Global
(2017)
PRSA Bronze Anvil — Award of Commendation Winner (2017)
PR News' Platinum PR Awards — Shortlist Finalist (2017)
RESULTS: With noteworthy placements with the Associated Press, NBC, FOX, Sirius and Yahoo, the team exceeded KPIs, generating more than 700 earned media hits and 200 million earned impressions.
When we were tasked to amplify an Mobil 1 race sponsorship, I had an idea: what would happen if a real life athlete faced off against a virtual athlete in a 1:1 simulation? The result was the concept for the Mobil 1 Virtual Showdown with Tony Stewart. Because of the technology in virtual racing (real tracks are actually laser scanned for every bump in the road), it may be the only pro sport where a real life athlete can face a video game player in a true 1:1 match of real world vs. virtual talent. Try doing that in basketball.
Now, this was 2016...and Twitch was not really on many agency and brand radars yet: "why would anyone watch someone play video games?"
So, first I had to convince the account team we should put an actual NASCAR driver in a 1:1 Virtual Racing Simulation against the world's best eSports drivers to drive earned media.
Soon after, the client would see the possibilities as well and greenlight the idea.
In addition to the idea and execution, I developed supporting creative copy for social, press releases, website copy, internal communications, at-track messaging, promotional videos, and more for this 360 activation.
Thanks to the efforts of the PR team, the campaign saw 200 million earned media impressions, 700 earned media hits, and was Nominated by Weber Shandwick Global in the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, nominated by Weber Shandwick Global in the Clio awards, won a PRSA Bronze Anvil — Award of Commendation Winner, and a shortlist finalist in PR News' Platinum PR Awards.
I'll let Weber Shandwick's President of Global Consumer Marketing tell you all about it.
Mobil 1 team takes racing (and client) beyond its boundaries
Late last month for the NASCAR race at Pocono Raceway, ExxonMobil’s Mobil 1 brand was prominently featured on the cars of THREE superstar drivers: Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick and Kevin Harvick. To heighten race fan awareness of the 'Mobil 1 Triple Hood,' Weber Shandwick designed a series of activations with high-profile digital content that ultimately saw program success across owned, earned and paid channels.
The team pushed into a new space, executing a digital concept by leveraging the emergence of gaming (and, more importantly, consumers watching live gaming online) as a brand marketing platform. On Twitch, Facebook and YouTube, nearly 100,000 fans caught the “Mobil 1 Virtual Showdown.” During this live experience, Stewart raced 40 top eSports drivers, replicating the real-world Pocono race for the gaming drivers. Meanwhile, announcers and graphics replicated a real-world NASCAR race-broadcast for fan viewers. The video game cars were designed exactly like the drivers cars for the real Pocono race. Throughout the broadcast, announcers relayed Mobil 1 talking points, key of which was the reminder of the “Mobil 1 Triple Hood.” The broadcast even included commercial breaks incorporating our time lapse video. The entire “Mobil 1 Virtual Showdown” broadcast, with commercials breaks and announcer messages can be seen here.
NASCAR Superstar Tony Stewart goes head to head with iRacing's top drivers
