COTA stop in the ‘tracks’ fan experience

Article posted by Coliseum, August 22^nd, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Rob Zuer and his team know the art of keeping the fans in good humor as well as placing the world at the fans’ feet. He has his fingers on the pulse of the fans and also has his ear to the ground when it comes to the fans’ behavior – their likes and dislikes.

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Rob Zuer, who is the Senior Vice-President for the full-service global agency Elevate and is presently lead for their Circuit of the Americas (COTA) project in Austin, Texas (US), has been instrumental in fueling the fan experience at the motor racing track. He is with Elevate for more than four years now.

Rob Zuer, SVP Circuit of The Americas at Elevate, US, provides an exclusive insight to ‘Coliseum’ on how Elevate has hit the nail on the head vis-à-vis ‘elevating’ the fan experience at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and the secret sauce – Zuer and his team are totally clued-up about the fans’ likes and dislikes and are adept in experiential marketing which has led to creating unforgettable experiences for the fans at the Austin motor racing track. He also asserted that collecting data is key to growing businesses and fans want an enchanting track experience rather than losing sleep over “Max Verstappen winning every single race”.

Circuit of the Americas (COTA)

The 150,000-capacity Circuit of The Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 International Automobile Federation (FIA)-specification 3.426-mile (5.514 km) motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One (the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars) United States Grand Prix, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR’s) Texas Grand Prix and the Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas.

Elevate

Elevate is a full-service global agency with expertise in brand consulting, sales strategy, data-driven insights, and talent optimization. Established in 2018, Elevate set out to help sports teams and leagues spark innovation and drive performance.

Rob Zuer starts off by stating that not every fan that walks into the Circuit of the Americas is a motor racing buff but the cool offerings of the complex make it a head-turner.

He informed that COTA opened in the year 2012 and the race track’s challenging layout and lively ambience not only appeals to the dedicated speed junkies but also first-timers.

Questioned Zuer, “The 2022 United States Grand Prix had record attendance but was it sustainable?”

Data Key

Talking about Elevate, he informed, “At Elevate, we have a number of different arms and platforms within our company that we can use when we partner up with a venue, a team, a league, a track to help drive their business. From the year 2023 we started collecting data which we all know is key. We all value fan data but more importantly once you get the data how do you analyze it, what does it mean and then more importantly, what are you going to do with it? How can you use it to grow your business?”

Zuer said only data collection painted a precise picture of whether the business model was sustainable or not. Only data provides a clear picture “on how to plan five years down the road when demand is going to plateau or low down. So, when we started the first thing we did was to dive into the fan data which helped us to exactly find out who the fans are that will buy tickets and how to get new eyeballs”.

Jaw-dropping Experience

He added, “We realized that the people that were coming to the race weren’t necessarily motorsport fans. They were event fans, they were sport fans, they wanted to come and experience but that was not necessarily just the race. So, these are the datasets one needs to know in order to grow your businesses especially when you don’t have demand.”

He also pointed out that fans want to “relish an experience when they come to the track that will sweep them off their feet – music, concerts, gourmet food. That is what you need to serve them and not Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch motorsports racing driver) winning every single race.”

Zuer and his team has been successful in providing an enchanting experience to the fans at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and have left no stone unturned to ensure that they come in by droves.

Sum-up

Rob Zuer summed up by stating that since they are plugged-in about the fans’ choices it has helped them to carve out a COTA Hospitality Strategy. The collection of data has helped them to put together a long-term model through which people will keep coming back to the entrancing Austin track and “we have already grown our percentage of people that are coming back year over year, we are going to create loyalty not just to the race but to COTA in general and now that we have an extension with the track – till 2026 end – it is a long-term sustainable business model.”

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