It’s March. The place is Bahrain. Rising in the air is a cacophony of noise. Well, maybe noise to some, but to fans who know the sound, that noise is a choir. It is a beautiful harmony created by engineering, science, and mechanical skill. It continues to rise and fall, like waves against a beach. Lights suspended above the gathered competitors illuminate red, one at a time, progressing across the display, until…

Lights out.

Now joining the roar of engines is a particular scent. You might think it’s “burning rubber” but to the spectators in the grandstands wearing the papaya of McLaren, the emerald of Aston Martin, or the tri-color combination of Alfa-Romeo, this is the cologne of competition. This is the thrill of the Grand Prix. This is Formula One. This is also MotoGP, NASCAR, and the Baja 1000. This is the essence of motorsports, and fans everywhere are celebrating the new season starting this month. That celebration is just a part of the raw desire fans of motorsports have for content. From the new season of Drive to Survive to updates from Twitter and Instagram, fans are hungry for the latest news, clips, and race updates.

But before you jump free from the opening crush with a media production schedule that will deliver to the fans what they want, you should first get your video engagement strategy together.

The Starting Grid: Building a Video Engagement Strategy for Your Franchise

When building your content strategy, the best starting position is not necessarily pole. Pole position, in this case, would be the launching point — you’ve got your goals and targets lined up and you are ready to take the lead; but in this analogy, the drivers in the back of the grid can be looked at as the strategy’s foundation. What stories do you have to tell? What broadcasting and social platforms do you want to occupy? And finally, what are the tools you need to bring this strategy to fruition?

Let’s take a closer look at that grid, waiting to start. What are the stories you want to tell in motorsports?

• The race. When it comes to the race itself, the story is omnipresent within the intensity of the start, the battles far from the lead where drivers battle for points, the fastest laps, and the most overtakes.

• The franchise. In the words of Lawrence Stroll, one of Team Aston Martin’s principal sponsors, “It’s the car of James Bond. Of course, they need to be in Formula One.” Every one of these franchises, from McLaren to Mercedes to Hass, has stories; and these are stories that are waiting to be told.

• Off-the-Track Tensions. To say there is a lot of drama in motorsports would be an understatement. Racing features competitors becoming teammates, and rivalries between drivers coming to the surface well after the race is done. When Dale Earnhardt ruled the NASCAR circuit, his nickname of “The Intimidator” didn’t just apply to his racing tactics. Soap Operas don’t have a thing against the behind-the-scenes stories of motorsports.

From the Grandstands to the Couch: Where Are Your Fans?

Once the race is underway, drivers focus on reaching the finish line, ahead of them miles on miles of movement, pit stops aside. The same can be said for the fans of motorsports. Consumption of media happens anywhere and everywhere now, and just as drivers like Sebastian Vettel, Kyle Larson, and Rahel Frey are off the line and on the go, so are the fans. With so many consumption platforms, though, where do you begin to lay down the groundwork?

Begin with the basics: Video. When cars are revealed and analysts come in to break down the race, YouTube tends to be a popular video engagement platform for motorsports. Here, production facilities can easily shoot, edit, and release breakdown videos. From these videos, clips can be repurposed for other popular platforms like Instagram and TikTok, bringing the best of the race to mobile devices around the world. Branching out from the basics, you can look at other platforms — including a franchise’s website or the motorsport’s website — that feature native formats exclusive to these other platforms.

Final Lap: Gathering the Tools for Your Video Engagement Strategy

Your stories are ready to be told. Your distribution platforms are targeted. Your strategy is taking shape.

Now, you need to make it all work.

Like a solid gearbox, good brakes, and tires ready to take on the track in its current conditions, you also need the right tools to create and deliver your videos whenever and wherever the story emerges. This is where and when Dalet offers you award-winning platforms that allow you to get your video engagement strategy underway.

When it comes to organizing all these assets — footage of drivers, of races, and hours behind-the-scenes and between-the-races — Dalet Flex can leverage AI solutions to index, catalog and manage your assets, archiving clips for later projects while organizing other assets for present projects, and prepare your content for a variety of social and digital platforms. Speaking of those numerous viewing platforms, what will you need to prep those clips, recaps, and moments from the Pit Crew for all these output options? Coming out of the chicane and passing on the inside is Dalet AmberFin, granting you the ability to transcode your media to numerous formats and codecs for best results on both mainstream media and mobile outlets. These solutions are ready to take your strategy to a higher level of efficiency.

But is there an up and coming driver to watch?

Around the turn comes Dalet Pyramid, our latest offering for news planning, production, and distribution optimized for on-location and mobile storytelling. This next-gen, storytelling-centric newsroom solution is ready to take your strategy to the cloud, giving you the ability to keep your motorsport community always informed and constantly connected through your media productions.

And That’s a Checkered Flag

Presently, other motorsports are looking for their own Drive to Survive sensation; but even without a popular Netflix series promoting their particular brand of automotive prowess, motorsports remain a popular pastime, its history reaching back to the end of the nineteenth century. Technology now grants everyone involved, from the sports organization themselves down to the individual drivers, to build or even rebuild their brand, create communities, and make connections through audio and video.

Dalet can help you nurture these communities, build these connections, with the content product, management and distribution solutions we have created so you can achieve your video engagement goals. Our solutions make it easier for you to create compelling content, reach audiences everywhere, and be ready to scale when the time comes.