This Sunday marks the 100th running of the Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and to commemorate the event, Firestone has produced a special tire. Firestone announced this version of the Firehawk racing tire back on February 19th of this year, at the 100-day mark prior to the Indy 500.
The special edition tire has bright red sidewall markings of the brand-name and logo, as well as every driver’s name who has won the 500 using Firestone tires. In all, that number stands at 66 spanning back to Ray Harroun in the first 500 in 1911 and up to the current champion Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015. The tire’s visual design is visually refined by the inclusion of red “F-shield” logos at 90 degree offsets to the red Firestone name, and the 100th Running logo created by the Speedway to commemorate the century mark. The winners’ names are listed in chronological order from Harroun forward, along the sidewall in high-contrast white ink and stand out from the black sidewalls with great definition.
It’s this kind of thing that makes me love graphic design. Yes I know this is a splendid piece of promotional marketing, but in the end someone had to design this. A graphic designer, and an art director for sure. Probably a committee had some say in the final executed result. It doesn’t matter how we got here, its the fact that someone thought about this little detail, and executed it so well. I can’t wait to see every car lined up wearing these shoes tomorrow.
This week marks the countdown to the biggest auto race in the USA, The Indy 500. I’m not a huge Indy fan, nor am I a NASCAR guy. I tend to like auto racing that isn’t based on an oval track, where the cars turn more than just left. I know, all the NASCAR fans just groaned and said “He’s missing the point”. None the less I am sticking to guns and watching SCCA, Formula 1, Rally, etc.
Now with that said, to help kick off this big racing week here in America, I am posting a little bit about BMW racing. Come on now, There is a lot of German heritage in this country so humor me, and this is one hell of an advertising campaign to promote BMW Motorsport and celebrate BMW M’s 40th anniversary.
To introduce the BMW German Touring Car Masters team, BMW has launched a new print and video campaign built around “Welcome to the team. Come closer”. The campaign emphasizes the involvement with racing fans and offers an opportunity to experience BMW racing even more direct and unfiltered.
The campaign was implemented by Service Plan in Munich and has been distributed on an international level. Creative Director Matthias Harbeck, says the campaign is designed to make BMW racing feel closer, more personal, intense and a dynamic show. The campaign highlights the brand by bringing the excitement of racing to the fans and at the same time to differentiate BMW from their competitors.
The printed portion of the campaign uses beautiful photography that highlights the racing cars on the track. Dramatic lighting and camera angles help accent the intense feeling of being at the track watching the car and drivers preform. There is a minimal amount of copy which allows the images to sell the brand. A simple call out to the BMW Motor Sport website and the “Sheer Driving Pleasure” tag line are all that is needed.
The companion YouTube video has a really nice feel to it. The editing is spot on accentuating the fact that this is a team sport. There are some really nice slow motion shots of the car in action combined with re-timed footage that adds drama to the video.
All of this is combined with posters, advertisements, autograph cards, branded ticketing agents, flyers and give-aways as well as the branded features from hospitality, to the paddock behind the racetracks. All of this is targeted to include special guests and the public.
In addition to the traditional advertising materials, BMW has developed required reading for all BMW fans with a 200 page magazine titled “110%”.The magazine is available at tracks where BMW is competing as well as BMW dealers.The magazine is a glossy book that deals with all things relating to BMW Motorsport, including behind the scenes with BMW racing, driver and the team portraits, the track circuits and of course the new BMW M3 DTM. Through out the magazine there are QR codes which are tied directly to additional interactive content, and a BMW Motorsport micro sitewith even more video, images, and an on-board 3D video of the new M3 DTM in action on the track, as well as a complete pit stop action from eight different angles.
Modular 4 