Casio – leveraging sponsorship online
Casio wanted to leverage its relationship with Red Bull Racing for the Edifice watch brand, to make that product the de-facto choice for motorsport fans and enthusiasts. H+K Strategies built a Facebook application, to create a piece of direct to consumer activity that could last all season.
A competition mechanic entitled ‘Guess the Time’ was born. It was a simple but engaging prediction engine, where users predict key lap times before each F1 race. Overall winners are rewarded with Edifice watches and money-can’t-buy Red Bull F1 factory tours. To keep users coming back, a grand prize of a trip to the end-of-season Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was added.
A month after launch, the Casio Facebook page had grown by 55%, a total of 6,000 new likes. The launch also attracted coverage from Sports Industry, New Media Age and F1 publications and blogs. Audience engagement spiked on the Casio Facebook page:
- 39% increase in page views
- 15% increase in Twitter followers
However, most importantly, Casio was able to reach motorsport enthusiasts – an important audience for the brand.

