THE CHICK-FIL-A KYLE PETTY CHARITY RIDE ACROSS AMERICA

Client:

Assignment:

The Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride selected Jackson Spalding to launch a campaign to raise awareness of the Ride within the general public and the communities along the route through proactive media relations, social media and community outreach in 2008 and 2009. Jackson Spalding also proposed and implemented the first-ever Charity Ride Dream Team Challenge, a grassroots fund-raising effort.

Strategy/Implementation:

In preparation for the Ride, Jackson Spalding authored a Wikipedia entry to provide background on the Ride and its primary beneficiary, Victory Junction, the Petty family’s summer camp for chronically ill children. We also set up Facebook and MySpace pages to engage fans and raise awareness for the event. Each day during the event, the team authored blog entries and posted photos from the day. A YouTube account was created to post video PSAs and video from along the Ride route. These videos were posted to Facebook and MySpace as well. In 2009, we also assisted Kyle Petty with updating his Twitter status and uploading pictures live from the road.

Results:

Social media efforts greatly expanded the Charity Ride’s “grass roots” reach, and audiences within these mediums continue to grow. Kyle Petty’s Facebook Friend Page, created in 2008, reached the maximum of 5,000 friends in 2009. The page was recently converted to a Fan Page, which has already reached a network of more than 8,000 fans. The Charity Ride fan page was launched in 2009 and has reached nearly 2,000 fans, some of whom attended events along the route and raised money as a result of what they learned on the social networking sites. Kyle Petty used Twitter to promote the 2009 Ride and its sponsors. He remains an active participant with more than 15,000 followers. The Dream Team Challenge, promoted almost entirely through social media, raised more than $40,000 in its first year. The Facebook page attracted media interest and even caught the attention of celebrities who offered to help with the cause.