Ally Bank was the title sponsor of the Ally400 NASCAR Race in Nashville this past year and let’s just say they wanted to go… BIG. Our friends at MKTG Sports tapped us to lead the charge and develop an experience that would be truly unique. Ally is a true disrupter, so we couldn't imagine just anything. Plus, coming out of 2020, we not only needed to create a kick-ass experience, we had to ensure the experience was clean, safe and not necessarily confined to a physical space.

We ended up creating two experiences for the Ally400. The first was a 10 feet by 10 feet completely digital claw machine. Fans at the race could walk up, scan the QR code and their phone actually became the joystick (keeping touching shared surfaces to a minimum). Claw machine winners walked away with amazing prizes -- from bluetooth speakers to cold hard cash (well gift cards). Plus for fans who weren’t at the track, they could visit the same site, enter an online queue and when it was their turn, they could play the game too, right from home.

The second experience was a giant 32 foot wide trailer with a 12 foot long runway coming off the front, complete with smoke machines, step and repeats, a giant marquee and neon lights. We dubbed the trailer our Driver Intro Stage. Fans at the race would step inside the trailer, strike a pose, and within a matter of hours that footage gets dropped into an Ally branded NASCAR “commercial” and texted to them for download and social share.

The experience was so successful in Nashville, Ally and MKTG Sports asked us to continue the activation at the other races throughout the season. Now, with the help of our fabrication partner, Evolve Concepts, we're in our second season and The Driver Intro Stage, the Claw Machine and some newly added custom arcade units have not only gone to other NASCAR races but are now being used for other sports sponsorships events across the country.