During the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, Snapchatters were able to get up-close-and-personal with Daniel Suarez’s No. 19 car in pit row. Team jackman Trey Burklin wore Snap Inc.’s new Spectacles during pit stops, showing fans what it’s like to operate on a race car via a first-person perspective.
According to Bryan Cook, Director of Digital and Social Media for Joe Gibbs Racing, it was actually Burklin’s idea to use Spectacles throughout the race. The social integration was one of the first times Spectacles has been used during a sports competition.
“(Trey) is kind of like the quarterback of the pit crew. He’s a great person to be wearing Spectacles,” Cook said, adding that Burklin is already “pretty tech-savvy,” so the use of Spectacles made sense from a variety of angles.
.@NASCAR @Daniel_SuarezG @Snapchat Better one. #NASCAR pit stop with @Snapchat Spectacles. pic.twitter.com/VjkInCQQ8k
— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) May 7, 2017
Cook, who said that the team receives the most engagement on Snapchat of any platform, further explained that Burklin has a good view of the tire changes happening on both sides of the car while he coordinates timing and placement of the jack before he and his crew mates send Suarez on his way. The digital strategist added that NASCAR encouraged teams to “submit as much Snapchat content as possible” to the race’s Live Story this past weekend, with the potential that any given Snaps could be seen by 300 million users, Cook said.
Spectacles’ usage was a double win as well for Joe Gibbs Racing, the racing team that supports Suarez. Not only could Cook capture engaging content for NASCAR fans — which have seen the sports property find success on social over the past 18 months — but also provide a view of the No. 19 car’s corporate partners, including main sponsor and communications technology company ARRIS.
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“The wheels are already turning after this experience to see what other team members we can include,” Cook said, adding that with roughly 20 team members in and around the pit box, the opportunities are endless for how Spectacles can be leveraged.
“I think our sport is perfect for (sharing behind the scenes content). With NASCAR, there’s so many technical sides to it and so many different people that make our team work and successful, like a jackman. It’s really hard sometimes to share that but with Spectacles, you can.”