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“Rally Mapper” developed for spectators at World Rally event
As sponsors of Repco Rally New Zealand, Repco’s fan activation site shares vital info and exclusive content for every stage of the race.
General Manager of Marketing and Retail Strategy at Repco, Elizabeth Cox explains,
We were keen to have a look at Rally Mapper because one of our key goals as naming rights sponsors for the World Rally Championship is to build a fan experience to make the event more enjoyable for rally fans. One of the ways we do that is by creating a site where people can plan their day out.”
Helping revheads enjoy their day at the rally
Rally Mapper shows spectators at car rallies the best places to watch the action safely. They get all the info they need to enjoy the event in a handy format they can view on their phone.
Rallies are a complex environment. The course moves, spectator sites are different every day, and spectating is time sensitive. As a fan you need to know how the whole operation works because it’s split-second timing. You have to be standing in the right place at the right time or you miss the action. It’s also important for health and safety that fans know where to stand.
As a result, the course map is the starting moment of the whole rally experience and the first port of call for anybody planning their day at the rally. To add value to the fan experience, we had to start with the map. The first thing spectators do is ask, where do I go? Where can I park? Where can I stand? Where are the toilets? Where’s the food? So, we needed accurate maps, those maps needed to contain important info, and we wanted the capability to display rich content such as videos alongside the maps.
Built by a team of rally enthusiasts
Rally Mapper began as a passion project by the Abley software and web development team. As rally fans, they wanted better quality maps to help them find those prime spectator spots, so they built Rally Mapper to help. Rally New Zealand trialled the new tool at events in Whangarei and Canterbury before Repco integrated it into their fan site.
Abley’s deep understanding of the rally environment came in handy when Repco were building their digital hub for the World Rally Championship. Elizabeth recalls,
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We had a tight timeframe. Rally Mapper was a turnkey solution from a team who spoke the same language and knew how to work with Rally New Zealand to find the info we needed to make the maps highly functional. We looked at Rally Mapper’s functionality, cybersecurity, and how our digital environments might interact. Abley worked efficiently with our tech teams through that process, so it didn’t take long. Then when we started building, because Abley had direct lines of communication with the rally organisers, they were able to glean info directly. The process was very smooth.”
Exclusive event content for fervent fans
In September 2022, when the World Rally Championship returned to New Zealand for the first time in a decade, over 3,000 rally fans used Rally Mapper to plan their day.
The Rally Mapper maps were the foundation of the fan experience. We enriched the maps with exclusive event content, shooting videos before and after the event and interviewing drivers during the event. Kiwi motorsport legend Greg Murphy gave tips for what to look out for at each corner. It was about creating content that helps fans get the most out of their Repco Rally New Zealand experience in a simple sign-in environment that enabled us to do a bit of data capture.”
“The Abley team know rallies. They drive rally, spectate rally, and have a deep understanding of the information spectators need and want. Rally Mapper works really well as a turnkey solution developed specifically for rally spectator environments, flexible enough to work alongside or within other digital environments.”
Take your rally sponsorship activation to the next level
Rally Mapper gives rally sponsors like Repco the opportunity to marry high quality maps with exclusive content to give rally fans the best possible rally experience on the day, all while capturing fan data for your marketing.
Elizabeth Cox from Repco says:
The Abley team know rallies. They drive rally. They spectate rally. They’ve a deep understanding of the level of information passionate spectators need and want. And Rally Mapper works really well as a turnkey solution developed specifically for rally spectator environments, flexible enough to work alongside or within other digital environments.”
To talk to us about using Rally Mapper to supercharge your rally sponsorship activations, or developing a customised spectator app for your event, email Ria Chapman at ria.chapman@abley.com.
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