HP and NASCAR Unveil Fan and Media Engagement Center

HP - Press Releases - January 14, 2013 

HP and NASCAR Unveil Fan and Media Engagement Center

PALO ALTO, Calif. — HP Enterprise Services and NASCAR today unveiled the NASCAR Fan and Media Engagement Center (FMEC), a business solution designed to better serve NASCAR’s industry, media, fans and sponsors by facilitating real-time response to traditional, digital, broadcast and social media.

The FMEC, the culmination of a collaboration between NASCAR and HP announced in June , leverages HP’s broad portfolio of services and solutions including: business solution design and implementation services , servers, displays and Autonomy software to provide an integrated solution only HP can deliver. This solution helps NASCAR analyze fan sentiment, identify emerging issues and discover topic trends for instantly actionable insights. Based on that, NASCAR and its partners will be not only better informed to take advantage of local and national coverage opportunities, but also able to conduct regular media analysis to help shape business practices.

“The Fan and Media Engagement Center will serve as a showpiece of NASCAR’s strategic technology vision,” said Steve Phelps, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, NASCAR. “We believe this center will be the best of its kind in sports. Thanks to HP’s consultative approach to our vision and their technology, software and services, NASCAR will be able to provide added value to our fans and industry.”

Combined with its media and entertainment industry consulting services, HP  leveraged its Autonomy Explore , Autonomy Intelligent Data Operating Layerand Autonomy Media Aggregation Service applications to provide NASCAR with access to a complete analysis of all key forms of media, including print, television, radio, video, images and social media. Unlike other monitoring and measurement systems that focus on only social or digital media, the FMEC platform will give NASCAR a unique perspective into analyses that combine several different types of media.

The FMEC also will leverage offerings from Jive to enable cross-enterprise collaboration and disseminate information from Autonomy to various NASCAR organizations including marketing, leadership and sponsors.

“The ability to monitor information and sentiment to adapt quickly to changing environments can provide tremendous competitive advantage,” said Charles Salameh, vice president—Americas region, Communications, Media and Entertainment Industry, Enterprise Services, HP. “HP’s integrated solution not only benefits NASCAR’s complex ecosystem but shows HP’s strategy of delivering unique, customer-centric solutions that make it all work in action.”

The FMEC will leverage HP ProLiant BL460c Generation 8 (Gen8) server blades, providing NASCAR with a dynamic IT environment that can keep up with the center’s future growth.

NASCAR’s Integrated Marketing Communications department will operate the FMEC, which will work closely with NASCAR Digital Media. The 500-square-foot, glass-enclosed space, with multiple seated viewing areas, will be outfitted with state-of-the-art HP Digital Signage Displays including HP LD4730 47-inch Micro-Bezel Video Wall Displays and HP LD4720tm 47-inch LCD Interactive Digital Signage Displays. The FMEC is located at NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, N.C. A full rollout of FMEC’s capabilities is expected by the start of the 2013 NASCAR season in February.

About NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for one of North America’s premier sports. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and in 20 languages. In the U.S., races are broadcast on FOX, TNT, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2, SPEED and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. NASCAR fans are among the most brand-loyal in all of sports, and as a result more Fortune 100 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport. NASCAR consists of three national series (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as well as two international series. Also part of NASCAR is Grand-Am Road Racing, known for its competition on road courses with multiple classes of cars. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., NASCAR has offices in eight cities across North America. The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the Daytona 500, will air February 24 on FOX. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.nascar.com . Follow NASCAR on www.facebook.com/NASCAR or on Twitter: @NASCAR.

(Source: www.hp.com)