Marketing Integration at Its Best: How Interstate Batteries Increased Brand Engagement by Over 400% in Less Than One Week

At the core of Interstate Batteries’ culture is our commitment to serving the communities in which we live and work. So, with Kyle Busch set to drive the #18 Interstate Batteries car in the Sprint Cup race at our home track, Texas Motor Speedway, and a fleet of 200-street legal #18 green and white Toyota Camrys, we saw an opportunity to do just that. As the founding partner of Joe Gibbs Racing, of which we’re currently celebrating 25 years of partnership, and backed with hundreds of distributors and franchisees nationwide, we had the tools needed to impact the local Dallas-Fort Worth community in a big way. But, even with an array of resources at our fingertips, it was going to take nothing short of a strong, collaborative effort to execute flawlessly, and that’s exactly what we did.
 

In total, with several national and local media placements, and after monitoring social media, blogs and news websites for mentions of the Interstate Batteries brand during the time period of April 3-9, we were mentioned 2,019 times, delivering an earned reach of 8.6 million. Brand mentions were up more than 400% from the previous week, 180% over our weekly average. We had a vision, we set expectations, and we executed flawlessly; this is what happens when the brand & communications teams, several agency partners and dozens of volunteers come together. How did we do it? Allow me to explain:

 Wednesday, April 6: We executed a satellite media tour at Joe Gibbs Racing headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., to leverage Interstate’s NASCAR sponsorship and promote the 25-year partnership between Interstate Batteries and Joe Gibbs Racing and, by association, the celebration of that milestone through the Driving for Good program, a nationwide initiative that gives back to communities in need. Our goal was to marry the two by leveraging the 25th anniversary to demonstrate our core values through our Driving for Good Initiative.

We prepared Coach Gibbs with Driving for Good messaging which he worked into 85 percent of his 19 interviews, including CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and FOX’s nationwide “FOX News Edge.” What’s more, the earliest numbers for the SMT and our advance work leading into the races at Texas Motor Speedway have yielded over 13 million impressions. In addition, media materials promoting the partnership were prepared and distributed to more than 1,500 journalists in advance of Saturday’s race.

Thursday, April 7: Interstate Batteries hosted a food drive for the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) at Klyde Warren Park as part of our Driving for Good campaign and in preparation for Saturday’s NASCAR® Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. In just two hours, Interstate Batteries and the NTFB received over 2,500 meals-worth of donations. This wasn’t the first time we’ve worked with the NTFB, and it certainly won’t be our last as we both plan to leverage our relationship to continuously benefit the community for many years to come.

Saturday, April 9: Kyle Busch wins the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in the #18 Interstate Batteries car. To date, this Interstate Batteries team victory has earned more than 196 million impressions, with segments on ESPN, NBC Sports and FOX, among others.

I’m still charged up after watching my #1 driver Kyle Busch take home a victory at the Sprint Cup race almost 2 weeks ago. So humor me with an analogy outlining the true keys to leveraging brand assets with powerhouse agency partners for a successful marketing integration:

 Let’s keep things on track:  The brand provides the guiding principles under which everyone operates, just as the track provides a guide for the cars. After all, without the track, there is no race.

Every driver needs a skilled and nimble pit crew:  It takes a village. While the structure of the pit crew varies depending on the race, the role of the pit crew does not. Pit work is carried out by as many as 20 individuals, and while each member is a specialist in his or her craft, they’re all ultimately working together as a unit to achieve one common goal. In this instance, our strategic partners (TrueSpeed Communications, Jackson Spalding, Firehouse Advertising Agency), brand team and dozens of volunteers fulfilled that role.

Your car can’t run without an engine: Timing is quite literally the driving force behind it all. It’s important to connect with consumers at the right time, and the right place, so the consumer becomes a motivated user and fan of the brand. In this instance, our timing revolved around Saturday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, where Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing would eventually bring home a victory in the #18 Interstate Batteries car.

Get ready to start your engines!  The brand activation and events may seem like your strongest asset, but without a pit crew and a driver, a car is just an empty shell with a lot of potential. But, using activation strategies such as the satellite media tour and our food drive leads to a strong relationship between consumers and what the brand stands for.

Don’t forget: You’d be nothing without your fans: Without their support, nothing is possible. Whether it’s traditional media, social media followers or those who came out to donate on Thursday, engaging with our consumers is an indispensable key to success.

In closing, I’ll leave you with a few words of wisdom, straight from the core values of Interstate Batteries. Always remember to treat others like you'd want to be treated, lead with what people need, do great things with the gifts you've been given, learn, improve and boldly drive change that matters, work hard, laugh often, be who you are and live up to your commitments, and finally, always remember that together, we are better.