If you run a small business (or a large business), being a part of a documentary series might sound like a marketing, exposure, and credibility-enhancing dream… but only if you approach the project in the right way, and with the right people.
Case in point: Road to Race Day, an eight-episode documentary series that premieres today on Complex Network’s Rated Red and go90. Two episodes apiece are devoted to the teams of Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Kasey Kahne.
Of course in NASCAR the end product is a race car, but the car is just the visible tip of a large, complex, incredibly high-tech organization. I learned that when I spent a week with Alan Gustafson, the crew chief of Chase Elliott’s #24 team, and Hendrick Motorsports. Road to Race Day does it better.
A lot better. (More on that later.)
And in conversations with a few of the key players at HMS and the filmmakers, I gained insight into how your small business should approach this kind of opportunity.
Four key takeaways:
1. Decide, ahead of time, what success will look like.
Well before any opportunities pop up, develop criteria that ensure the projects you do take on contain the ingredients that will result in success as you define it. That way, instead of simply reacting to each opportunity on an ad-hoc basis, you can be thoughtful and deliberate instead.
With big names behind the camera as well — Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor, Patriot’s Day, etc) is the executive producer, and Cynthia Hill (A Chef’s Life, Private Violence) directed the series — agreeing to the project seems like a no-brainer for Hendrick Motorsports. But HMS has received plenty of pitches in the past.
“Five or six years ago,” says Pat Perkins, VP of Marketing for HMS, “we really started putting a stake in the ground in terms of Hendrick-generated original content, in terms of utilizing social and digital platforms… and in the process we defined what success would look like, and developed a series of checklist and filters that would guide us in evaluating projects. A project has to help build awareness and engagement around our brand, drive value for our partners… basically use media and content as an active part of our core business, which is obviously racing and sponsorships.”
“First, we looked for great storytelling,” Pat says. “Another filter was original concepts: Innovative, focused, and definitely not vanity-driven. We want to create new audiences, appeal to new audiences, build the brand…and serve our core business without getting in the way of operations. That’s a tricky balance.”
2. Work with people you trust; not just professionally, but personally.
Fortunately for HMS, accomplished director Cynthia Hill pitched the idea for the series.
“Malinda Maynor Lowery, my producing partner, and I are always looking to tell stories of the South,” Cynthia says. “I grew up watching NASCAR with my granddad. He was a huge Richard Petty fan. There are projects we eventually want to tackle, and every time Malinda and I got together NASCAR was at the top of the list, so when we had the opportunity to present the idea to Hendrick Motorsports… we jumped on it.”
In late summer of 2015,” Pat says, “Linda sent some links of Cynthia’s work. I had actually seen Private Violence recently and fascinated by it. It quickly became clear we were dealing with true professionals and very good storytellers. In January 2016, just months later, they were shooting. The relationship formed quickly because we had an immediate level of trust: We wanted to tell a story but not in a manufactured, ‘scripted reality’ way.”
3. Be willing to spend time building relationships.
“Cynthia’s expertise is building relationships with subjects,” Malinda says, “so they trust their stories with her. We knew that if we built the right relationships we could provide a window into NASCAR that no one gets to see.
“When we go into a situation like that, our primary goal is to not interfere. We’re there to witness. We don’t want to interfere with the story. The shooting team have worked with us for a long time; they know our style is to hang back and let the stories unfold.”
“The cool thing about this,” says Alan Gustafson, the crew chief for Chase Elliott’s team (and a guy I wrote about extensively here), “is that the film crew was fun to be around. It was like they were just part of the gang.”
But also don’t forget that building relationships starts with gaining buy-in from your employees — ahead of time.
“Our crew chiefs are very good at nurturing the corporate relationships we have,” Pat says. “They saw the bigger picture. They saw the opportunity. The drivers did, too. Everyone at HMS understands the business side of the sport. They knew we would take care of their needs, they knew we would be careful to not reveal trade secrets, that we would have the best interest of the team at heart… and we made sure to make them a part of the process. So when Cynthia’s team arrived, they just turned on the cameras and watched what we did. They didn’t direct. What happened really happened. It’s real. There is no manufactured story; it’s what happened at that moment and at that time.”
The people at HMS we filmed were worried that we would get in their way,” Malinda says, “but we proved we respect what they do and that gave them the confidence to let us be there.
“They took a risk, but that’s how we captured such unique moments.”
4. Focus more on the process than the end result.
“Oftentimes marketing people are thinking about the end product,” Malinda says, “and their energy is directed towards meeting criteria that fulfill that end product.
“We knew we wanted to focus on the process of getting ready for a race weekend, which is a logical storytelling structure for people who follow the sport and for those who don’t. We wanted to show how all these layers of people come together, with such different areas of expertise — how do these teams come together? How do they work?”
And don’t expect the team you work with to have everything already figured out. Going in with a rough plan instead of a detailed script may sound risky, but that approach is much more authentic — and resonates much better with viewers.
“I walked in the door feeling very nervous,” Cynthia says, “especially since we switched teams every two episodes. That meant acclimating to the team, getting a feel for team dynamics, figuring out the story for that team, that race, what makes it different… we have to figure all that out on the fly. That’s both the challenge and the fun.
“With the 24 (Chase Elliott) team, it was a little easier, because he was new to the team. He was replacing the retired Jeff Gordon, so the story was natural: new driver, working with an experienced team… that was a nice way to enter the story for our production team and for the audience, because the audience can instantly relate: We’ve all been the “new guy,” or been part of a team when a “new guy” comes in.”
Should You Watch Road to Race Day?
I’ve seen the first four episodes — two with Chase Elliott’s #24 team, and two with Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s #88 team — and they’re excellent. While the drivers do appear, they aren’t the focus.
The teams are the focus. The individuals that make up those teams are the focus.
The result is a story we can all relate to. Teamwork, interpersonal dynamics, small decisions that have a surprisingly large impact… the themes are common to any team and any organization. The race car is the end result, but cars are built by people: People with different backgrounds, different experiences, different forms of knowledge and expertise… all of whom come together to try to accomplish something great.
Sometimes they fail. Sometimes their standards seem impossibly high. In one episode, Dale Jr. fights his way back from two laps down to finish second at Bristol — yet crew chief Greg Ives is clearly dejected.
Sometimes they work incredibly hard for seemingly no reason, like when Chase Elliott’s team works to repair his damaged car at Daytona. Why work frantically to return a car to the track that will eventually finish in 37th place, 40 laps down?
“Pride,” says interior mechanic Jordan Allen. “For us, it’s his first Daytona 500. We don’t want to be loaded up on the truck while the cars are still going around the track. It means a lot to us… you put this much effort into it, you might as well finish the race.”
You’ve been there. We’ve all been there. Sometimes pride is all you have — and yet everything you need.
Check out Road to Race Day. You may not become a NASCAR fan, but you will become a fan of some of the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes — at least until now.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.