World Rally Championship:Driving High Performance in New Media Technologies
...f Hungary’s population. On television the event claims an international audience of 4.8 billion in 186 countries. But even that level of mass-market appeal wasn’t enough for David Richards, former World Rally champion and entrepreneur, who bought Londonbased International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC) in April 2000, and acquired the TV and commercial rights for the World Rally Championship. On taking control of ISC, Richards kick-started an unprecedented level of commercial and marketing focus on the Championship. In rapid succession, ISC negotiated key partnerships with terrestrial broadcasters to increase prime-time TV coverage and with Sony to create an official WRC game on PlayStation 2. Also with its sponsorship partner, Inmarsat, to help develop aspects for future TV coverage. But a critical element was still missing. A new media strategy and innovative technologies that would further extend the brand and move the WRC closer to its audience. And the clock was ticking. WRC’s first event of the year was set for Monte Carlo in January 2002. ISC needed a partner to help it launch a new, state-of-the-art Web site. This would be no ordinary Web site. Richards wanted nothing less than an unequalled interactive experience for the Rally enthusiast. He wanted to help them see and experience the races in real-time as if they were actually attending in person. He also wanted to attract a new 16 to 35 year-old target audience by communicating the essence of the WRC in the most entertaining, informative and interactive way possible. That meant building a sense of community and loyalty among WRC fans around the world and those visiting the site for the first time. Equally important, Richards wanted to take advantage of technological advances that could deliver WRC content and applications via short messaging services and mobile devices; as well...