NASCAR announces development of fan center

During its NASCAR Fuel for Business Council Meeting today in San Francisco, NASCAR announced plans for the development of the Fan and Media Engagement Center (FMEC), a resource that will enable the sport to better serve the industry, media and fans through a platform that facilitates near real-time response to traditional, digital and social media. HP Enterprise Services has been selected as an exclusive partner in the development.

"The Fan and Media Engagement Center will leverage industry-leading technology from HP in order to better engage with the massive community that is the NASCAR fan base," said Steve Phelps, NASCAR senior vice president and chief marketing officer. "This is a clear example of our commitment to using cutting-edge technology to better inform our sport. Ultimately, this tool will help our industry connect with media and fans more effectively and efficiently."

NASCAR will design the engagement center in collaboration with HP to be a dynamic tool that is specially tailored to meet the evolving needs of NASCAR's unique industry. In addition to listening to and engaging with fans in real-time around NASCAR content, the center will provide 360-degree traditional media monitoring.

The FMEC will provide NASCAR the ability to monitor, analyze and better understand the current media landscape more clearly in order to respond more rapidly to national, local and global media.

"Social media has forever changed the sporting world and how fans interact," said Rob Vatter, vice president, communications, media and entertainment industry, HP Enterprise Services. "HP's broad social business and analytics portfolios and industry consulting services will enable NASCAR to continue to deliver innovative fan-engagement opportunities for its sponsors-while also delivering the fan experience it has become known for."

Measurement also will be a key function of the Fan and Media Engagement Center. Those capabilities will expand across qualitative and quantitative measurements and include tonality, volume, proximity and other coverage attributes in regular reports the FMEC will generate.

NASCAR will work with HP to identify industry-leading third-party partners to deliver data and information into the FMEC. The center will be staffed and managed by the NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications team and collaborate closely with NASCAR Digital Media. Located on the same floor as NASCAR Digital Media in the offices at NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, N.C., the FMEC is slated for testing in October, with a full rollout expected by the start of the 2013 NASCAR season. The center will be housed in a 500-square-foot, glass-enclosed area, outfitted with state-of-the-art touch screens, television monitors and multiple seated viewing areas and work stations.

NASCAR is committed to being a leader in innovation and this new center is the latest example of investments in technology designed to benefit the sport.