Feel the New Sound of Nashville: Launching the Music City Grand Prix

When we first partnered with the Music City Grand Prix to bring IndyCar to Nashville, the organization was still in the planning phase—but they were fueled by the kind of bold idea we love to help bring to life. The GS&F team came in on the ground floor to help the brains behind the event shape it, tell its story, sell it in to key stakeholders and ultimately get the public ready to join in on the fun. Take a lap with us and check out the journey.

Giving Our City a Reason to Party

No one throws a bigger party than Nashville. However, in a city that’s been defined by more—more events, more thrills, more options—Nashvillians are beginning to ask, “What more do we really need?”

It was our job to move our audience past their excitement fatigue and give them a reason to get pumped for something truly original to Music City—something more than honky tonks and hot chicken.

Who better to take on that challenge? At GS&F, we’re proud to have made Bridgestone the star of the show at the 2019 NFL Draft, launched Amazon Prime in Nashville, broken the state record for soccer game attendance and helped establish Smashville as destination hockey entertainment. Add our work with the Tennessee Titans, and you could call us Nashville experts.

There’s a New Track in Nashville

Always audience-first, we started with identifying our fans and discovered several target audiences. Though our city is built on tourism, we wanted to appeal to locals as well as visitors. Because the event is more than a race—it’s a whole experience—we strategized how to reach those interested in Nashville’s food, music and more while simultaneously introducing racing into the mix.

We knew Music City Grand Prix offered something new—an international event, a two-time IndyCar Series champion and one of the only IndyCar races to cross a major body of water, for example—and we had unique insight into Nashville’s fans.

Raising the Tempo

To win over our audiences, we had to be better than country music and cowboy boots. We elevated the experience as an exhilarating combination of live performances by top artists, best-in-class chef-curated food and entertainment that centers on speed in a way only Music City can serve up. We encompassed everything Nashville is known for and everything the Music City Grand Prix would be with our main message: feel the new sound of Nashville. Once we settled in on our direction, teams across the agency started to build out the campaign while keeping the messaging consistent.

Working together as an integrated team, we created a robust website using nimble technology and exciting design pieces, such as an interactive 3D object. Creative and media worked together to put the right messages in the right places to get noticed, and PR created record-breaking buzz for an event without brand awareness and no followers.

Start Your Engines

On September 16, we launched the Music City Grand Prix at a press event featuring race and city officials attended by multiple media outlets in person and even more via livestream for local, regional, national and international coverage. Less than a week after the live announcement, we had 16,555 visits to the website, the video was viewed 16,000 times and more than 4,000 visitors signed up for ticket details.

And we’re just at the starting line.

This effort touched every part of our agency and demonstrated how well we collaborate even when we’re not under the same roof. We’ve laid a foundation, and now it’s time to continue helping to make the Music City Grand Prix a major success for both our city and for IndyCar.

With ongoing integrated efforts in PR, social, paid media, creative, web content development and more, we’ll be there until the checkered flag signals the first winner of the Music City Grand Prix.

Join us to feel the new sound of Nashville next August!

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