Ally Arena

Our Island Escape

Ally Financial

From Concept to Creative Mode.

The largest digital bank in the United States, Ally, has long been a racing sponsor in NASCAR. But recently we’d helped them push into gaming as a means to attract and educate a new generation, and we could think of no better platform to unite competitive, young, active people, than Fortnite.

Enter the Metaverse.

It was in that spirit that we decided to connect the rabid fan base of NASCAR to the die-hard gaming world, using an experience built within the best metaverse gaming platform out there - Fortnite. But one just doesn’t ‘do something in Fortnite’ — you have to bring your A-game.

Wanting to ensure that our partnership of Ally and Fortnite was tied as tightly and as authentically as possible to racing, we made the choice to turn the Flagship Fortnite island experience, Island 48, into a racetrack. Not just any track either - ours took the form of a giant, real-to-life stock car, the #48 Chevy Camaro.

Nobody had ever attempted something like this before - so we gripped the wheel, found a great partner, and put the pedal down. We ended up concepting and creating a game where the track goes up, down, in, around and through the engine, livery and cockpit of the NASCAR vehicle for an adrenaline-filled circuit we called the Chaos Course.

The Challenge.

To draw an audience to the island, we enlisted Hendrick Motorsports and Ally Racing #48 driver, Alex Bowman, to throw-down “The Beat Bowman Sweepstakes” where we challenged the world to beat Alex at something only a handful of people had ever done. Driving. Could anyone beat a time set by the world-class driver himself on the Chaos Course?

The Influencers.

Once we seeded social content, the campaign hooked up to influencers across gaming and E-sports to encourage their followers to try to Beat Bowman during live streams, experience reviews, and other content schedules.

Then we went to THE track.

Our Promotion ran through a very specific date on the NASCAR calendar. The Daytona Night Race, known by race fans as one of the most chaotic nights of racing on the schedule. All weekend long, fans were lining up to race in Island 48 thus connecting racers to gamers and gamers to racers.

Racing at the Race.

Even if they were new to Fortnite, we could count on NASCAR fans to wanna race anything with wheels. They lined up for hours to test their mettle against their favorite driver before heading for their seats to see him race.

The fastest billboard possible?

The paint scheme and Fortnite + NASCAR mashup became the talk of the garage area and within gaming platforms worldwide, and was an incredibly fast-moving invitation to jump into and explore Ally Arena. Who doesn't love a Stinkfish and a Cuddlefish on a racecar?

In the end, it all went off without a hitch. On a glorious night in Florida, we let the world into the Ally Island 48, where gaming fans, race fans, and just about anyone could become an ally of a big, fun, has-it-ever-been-done-before? idea.

View the case study video: