{"id":8145,"date":"2020-08-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tegnacorpstage.wpengine.com\/advertise\/2020\/08\/20\/start-your-engines-what-brands-can-achieve-with-a-big-sporting-event-like-the-indy-500\/"},"modified":"2023-01-26T14:56:23","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T21:56:23","slug":"start-your-engines-what-brands-can-achieve-with-a-big-sporting-event-like-the-indy-500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/start-your-engines-what-brands-can-achieve-with-a-big-sporting-event-like-the-indy-500\/","title":{"rendered":"Start Your Engines: What Brands Can Achieve With a Big Sporting Event Like the Indy 500"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audiences are clamoring for sports like never before. It\u2019s evidenced by the fact that both MLB and NBA viewership soared upon their return – an average of\u00a0<\/span>4 million viewers tuned in<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to baseball\u2019s opener on July 23 and the NBA\u2019s opening doubleheader on July 30th brought in 2.112 million and 3.395 million viewers, respectively.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With no fans allowed in attendance, there\u2019s a sharp increase in broadcast viewership for these games. It\u2019s a trend that WTHR, TEGNA\u2019s NBC affiliate in Indianapolis<\/a>, is expecting to continue with this year\u2019s Indianapolis 500 race, dubbed \u201cThe Greatest Spectacle in Racing.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGiven Indianapolis Motor Speedway\u2019s recent announcement that there will be no fans allowed at the race this year, we are anticipating viewership to be at its highest ever,\u201d said Christine Warren, WTHR\u2019s Director of Marketing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTraditionally, the live race has been blacked out in the local television market with few exceptions. This year, the Indy 500 will air on live television for only the fourth time in the race\u2019s history,\u201d Warren explained. \u201cWTHR will also be the only local station in the market to air it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Power of Sports in the Community\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Even with<\/span>\u00a0COVID-19 struggles, nothing can bring audiences together quite like sports, and Indianapolis is a living, breathing example of just that, despite looking extremely different from years past.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time ever, the race won\u2019t be in May. It won\u2019t have spectators, and it won\u2019t have month-long events around the city of Indianapolis leading up to the race, such as the Rev kick-off party or the mini-marathon,\u201d Brent Denny, Director of Sales at WTHR, explained. \u201cThe celebration banquet will also be different – it will be limited to one hour and will be socially distanced.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These factors could be enough to deter some people from tuning in, but as Denny explained,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cEveryone loves Indy car racing in Indianapolis. It\u2019s just a part of the culture out here. It\u2019s pretty impressive. The level of interest right now is very large.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As someone new to the city, Warren is learning that sentiment quickly.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cFrom homes and businesses flying their checkered flags to Indy Car drivers sharing their favorite 500 moments and race day traditions, the passion that our local community has for \u2018The Greatest Spectacle in Racing\u2019 is just amazing!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What Does That Mean for Brands?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s been a tough year\u00a0<\/span>for\u00a0<\/span>businesses. Brands, however, have a unique opportunity to ease some of that stress and provide some hope with their messaging. For example in the 2020 Super Bowl, Google debuted it\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Loretta ad<\/span><\/a>, evoking a very strong emotional response from its viewers. In turn, it became known as \u201cthe most effective ad ever\u201d as digital and social engagement soared. The ad not only has a lasting impact on an extremely large audience but is also delivered a high ROI on a large investment. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes these types of ads so effective? \u201cStorytelling via marketing during these high profile athletic events helps to align your brand\u2019s values alongside that of the event and therefore make a stronger connection with the viewer,\u201d sa<\/span>id<\/span>\u00a0Jill Cain, Insights and Sponsorship Director at TEGNA affiliate 9NEWS in Denver.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How TEGNA Can Help <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Using platform<\/span>s<\/span> like broadcast, OTT, and digital media with TEGNA offer<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0a large and engaged audience, and with powerful messaging, brands can really make a big impact.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven when the race was postponed from May to August due to COVID challenges, WTHR partnered with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway team to keep fans engaged and excited about the race,\u201d sa<\/span>id<\/span>\u00a0Warren.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough an engaging user-generated content (UGC) promotion across all platforms, we continue to showcase fans and drivers reliving their favorite Indy 500 memories and celebratory race moments from over the years. We\u2019re also sharing unique stories about drivers and their personal race day traditions,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brands looking to advertise alongside sporting events, whether it be the Indy 500, the PGA,<\/span>\u00a0or the Master\u2019s, have\u00a0<\/span>an amazing opportunity to reach a wide and engaged audience that has been waiting for months.\u00a0<\/span>Click here to\u00a0<\/span>connect with TEGNA to get your sports strategy started.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even with\u00a0COVID-19 struggles, nothing can bring audiences together quite like sports. The Indianapolis 500 is an amazing, living, breathing example of just that, despite looking extremely different from years past.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beingoodcompany","category-sports","wpautop"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}