Smithfield Foods, Waffle House and Richard Petty Motorsports have teamed up and launched a new mobile app aimed at getting (and keeping) NASCAR fans engaged with their brands. The Race For Rewards app debuted earlier this month.
Pork supplier Smithfield had some prior experience with NASCAR sponsorship, but was looking for the right partners to maximize engagement across the board.
“We had been looking for a partnership with someone who had the same values and would be able to reach out and touch the consumers where we have some common ground,” says Dennis Pittman, director of corporate communications and public affairs for Smithfield.
Waffle House was already a Smithfield customer and Richard Petty Motorsports is a huge name in
the NASCAR World, so the partnerships made sense all around.
“The last thing we wanted to do was just hang our name on the side of the car, because it’s going 200 miles per hour. We were looking for value and assets beyond that to help drive our business. Richard Petty and his organization defines NASCAR because they’ve been running a car in every race for 60 years. That brand in and amongst the NASCAR fans has huge traction,” says Bob Weber, senior director of business development for Smithfield.
The challenge was in finding a way for everyone to benefit from the mobile app, and the team came up with way to keep users engaged through a points system that earned users rewards, as well as a fantasy racing league platform.
The big draw for race fans lies in earning and tracking reward points through the app for a chance to win a VIP race weekend experience surrounding the October 11th Charlotte Cup Race, which will include tickets to the race, a pit and garage tour and a ride-along experience with the Richard Petty Driving School.
App users can earn points by voting for their favorite Waffle House location, tracking their purchases at any Waffle House restaurant (while earning bonus points with purchase of Smithfield menu items) and by participating in the app’s fantasy racing league, where they pick each week’s race top finishers. Points can also be redeemed for various prizes ranging from a key chain to an autographed racing helmet.
“We are compelling users to get involved—if you eat at Waffle House you get more points and if you buy a menu item that has a Smithfield product in it you get double points. We know the consumer behavior is out there, we just have to condition them to do the right things and we’ve got the basis to work with,” Weber says.
The app program allows Smithfield to show the value that its brand brings to retail and food service partners.
“We want retailers and restaurants to know that we’re driving customers to their establishments to enjoy Smithfield pork,” Pittman says.
Smithfield partnered with developer ZeitCode to create the app coding and software, and had built the app platform for iOS and Android prior to the campaign. The fantasy racing league platform is native to the app.
“We want users to come back to the app every week, so this is a weekly fantasy league. Points aggregate over time, but every week users pick their top five finishers. They’re reminded by a notification that goes out on Wednesday where they hear a NASCAR engine revving on their phone and a text box reminding them to make their selections,” Weber says.
But users are most excited about the chance to attend the October 11 Charlotte event.
“This is the third year we’ve done this event at Charlotte with customers and contest winners. They get the garage tour, a meet and greet with Richard Petty. Each year we try to make it a little bigger and better for our customers and their customers,” Pittman says.
Waffle house is also excited about the app launch and the opportunities it presents the brand to engage with customers.
“We know that there is a strong connection between race fans and the Waffle House brand and we are excited that our friends at Smithfield were able to bring this opportunity to us,” said Greg Rollings, Waffle House vp of marketing. “The new mobile app developed to support this promotion will offer both race fans and Waffle House fans the opportunity to earn valuable prizes through their participation in the Fantasy Racing league as well as eating at any of our 1,700 restaurants.”
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