During a week when many NASCAR and IndyCar teams will focus fan outreach around events at their race shops, Chip Ganassi Racing is basing its plans entirely around social media. In recent years, Ganassi tried an event called Sound Garage where it brought in musical acts, drivers and trendy corporate activation elements along with influencers and fans to grow the team’s cachet with teenagers and young adults. The team has decided to focus this week exclusively on social media content and engagement and will hold what it is dubbing as its first Digital Fan Fest. This is the biggest week for motorsports globally with IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500, NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 and F1's Monaco Grand Prix all taking place Sunday. Ganassi is one of two teams with cars competing in both the 500 and 600 (with the other being Team Penske), and it is providing deeper levels of access to fans to stir up hype and excitement. “The Digital Fan Fest is simply another way to create unique marketing content to engage both our current fans and hopefully build our fan base,” Ganassi COO Doug Duchardt said in a statement. “We had much success over the years with the Ganassi Sound Garage and this is simply taking that concept of using social media to make an impact for our team and our partners’ brands.” Plans for the Digital Fan Fest include tours of the shop on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter that the team says will include areas never before shown to the public. Ganassi will have drivers Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, Scott Dixon and Ed Jones like, retweet or reply to messages on Twitter the day before the races for people who use the hashtag #DigitalFanFest. Ganassi plans to launch a new podcast during the event that will first interview Duchardt and highlight people throughout the organization. Other elements include behind-the-scenes live videos of things like team meetings and looks at drivers’ motor coaches or the view from the spotters’ stand. Ganassi also will offer a discount on merchandise to its online shop to fans who use the #DigitalFanFest hashtag during the event.
