Mobil 1 - "Virtual Showdown with Tony Stewart" (2016)

Selected recognition:

• 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)

In 2016, Twitch and livestreamed gaming weren't exactly standard tools in the agency playbook. I kept hearing the same question: Why would anyone watch someone else play video games?

I had a different question: What if a real professional athlete competed directly against a virtual one?

Virtual racing offered a rare opportunity. Real tracks were laser-scanned to recreate their bumps, turns, and details, making motorsports one of the few places where real-world and virtual talent could compete on remarkably similar ground.

Try doing that in basketball.

I developed the concept for the Mobil 1 Virtual Showdown, putting NASCAR champion Tony Stewart into a racing simulator against 40 top esports drivers on a virtual recreation of Pocono Raceway.

First, I sold the idea internally. Then we brought the client onboard and built a live broadcast designed to feel like a real NASCAR event, complete with announcers, race graphics, branded cars, and commercial breaks.

Beyond the original concept, I developed copy across social, press materials, web, internal communications, at-track messaging, and promotional video, while supporting the activation through production.

Nearly 100,000 fans watched the live event across Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube. The larger campaign generated more than 700 earned media placements and 200 million earned impressions, with coverage from the Associated Press, NBC, Fox, SiriusXM, and Yahoo.

Client: Mobil 1
Role: Creative Concept Lead / Copywriter

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.