Every NASCAR season, race fans look forward to seeing their favorite drivers debut new & unique paint schemes on their cars. Coca-Cola paint schemes in particular carry a prestigious legacy as they have been driven by several icons in the sport. In July 2022, 3x DAYTONA 500 Champion Denny Hamlin, in his 17th year as a sponsored driver in the Coca-Cola Racing Family, was set to drive a Coca-Cola paint scheme on his No. 11 car for the very first time in the NASCAR Cup Series, the highest level of the sport. As paint-scheme reveals are consistently a huge opportunity for social engagement, the Coca-Cola Racing social team challenged themselves to create a unique ‘tease & reveal’ roll out plan to unveil the paint scheme to its followers and the NASCAR community at large.
They landed on a tease concept that covered a digital render of the paint scheme with Coca-Cola themed emojis – red, black, and white hearts, soda cups, and ice cubes. The ice cube emoji is transparent, and was used strategically to allow fans to zoom in on the car and find clues to what the paint scheme would look like and who would be driving it.
TEASE: Building Anticipation & Starting Conversation
We rolled out the paint scheme emoji tease on Coca-Cola Racing's Instagram and Twitter and partnered with Denny Hamlin’s team, Joe Gibbs Racing, and the track where the paint scheme would run, Atlanta Motor Speedway to drum up anticipation.
The tweet and Instagram post with the emoji tease garnered a total of 121K Impressions, 6K Engagements, and 200 replies and comments from fans guessing what was hidden under the emojis.
Our dedicated fans zoomed in on the emoji covered photo and took screenshots to show the clues they could find through the ice cube emojis.
The emoji tease even received media attention from Heavy.com which wrote about the intrigue caused by the post.
But the emoji tease was just the beginning, we then followed up with a Save The Date for when we’d finally reveal the paint scheme so fans could mark their calendar for the unveiling.
REVEAL: Collaborating with Partners
Finally on July 5, through an Instagram collab post with Joe Gibbs Racing, we revealed Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Coca-Cola paint scheme which became Coca-Cola Racing’s most viewed IG Reel ever with 85K views.
We used screenshots of fans’ guesses to create more content showcasing the fans who guessed correctly from the emoji tease.
Denny Hamlin promoted the paint scheme on his Twitter account twice and through an interview with PRN (Performance Racing Network).
RACE DAY: Start your engines!
Once race day arrived, social coverage continued from the track, with photo and video of Denny Hamlin with his Coca-Cola car and firesuit.
Overall, the No.11 Coca-Cola paint scheme received 395K Impressions & 29K Engagements from the tease phase to race day.
The paint scheme received attention on Twitter from NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., and FOX Sports reporter, Bob Pockrass.
The paint scheme received coverage from both NASCAR on FOX and NASCAR on NBC.
We saw amazing sentiment from NASCAR fans in the comments...
“I guessed correctly! I predicted I’d be thirsty for a Coke Zero Sugar!”
“To me, it’s prob the coolest looking car Denny has raced so far. And I’ve watched him since he started in the cup series.”
“WOW! Hey @cocacola_racing & @dennyhamlin, Let's hope this is a race winning paint scheme!🏁❤️.”
“Now that is a great looking car!!!! It will definitely look a lot better in the winner’s circle!!!! @cocacola_racing @dennyhamlin”
