Episode 252 Snippets: Jess Smith of Stewart-Haas Racing

@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
On episode 252 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil
chatted with Jess Smith, Vice President, Brand and Digital Strategy
for Stewart-Haas Racing.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. To hear the
full interview and more, check out the podcast on all podcast
platforms and at www.dsmsports.net.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 252: Jess Smith

Jess’s Career Path
“So I've been in the sports and digital space for about 14 years now. Not
to date myself, but I always joke with the team that I was working in the
space before Instagram was a thing. I was a student athlete at Auburn
University, I ran track and field. So sports have always been a part of my
life and I feel like most athletes kind of go through this identity crisis as
they're looking for the next step. What do you want to do? Sports were
always kind of the natural answer for me. So I wanted to work in sports
marketing [and] didn't know exactly what that looked like, to be honest.
It just was like, I want to be in sports, I want to market somehow.

“I ended up at a small nonprofit profit called the Atlanta Track Club, and it was
probably the best first job I could have because I wore so many different hats. So I
did all of our digital marketing at the time, websites, website redesign, social media,
outreach, coordination, all kinds of things. And I quickly learned that digital is what
I loved, like I wanted to live, breathe it, absolutely loved it. When I was looking to
make a next step, I really just wanted something where I could hone in on the digital
space. I was wearing so many different hats that I felt like I couldn't dive in.
“So I eventually went on to the NCAA and a very specialized social media role
working across championship coverage. From there, I went to Under Armour on the
brand side and have since been on the team side at the Yankees, New York Rangers
and now Stewart-Haas Racing. So a bunch of different places throughout my career,
all of them have been great stops and have kind of molded me in different ways.

“But my one piece of advice for someone when they're looking to get
into sports is to not focus on the logo. You know, I started out at an
organization that the majority of people have no idea what it is. I've
been able to pave my way. Some of my most favorite stops along the
way, if you looked at my resume, were probably the ones you would
least expect. So I think be open. There are a ton of different roles in
the sports world and don't don't chase logos, chase opportunities that
you can make the most of where you are.”

On skill development as she came up in her digital and social career
“When I started, I believe, with the Atlanta Track Club, I don't even know if you
could share photos on Twitter. It was so basic and not in a in a bad way, but it
was copywriting, right? Like that was originally what a lot of the creative output
was. And then when I went to the NCAA, that's when I feel like creative on the
channels started to change. Facebook especially was getting more visual. I
remember I created like a quote graphic at the time and it seemed like that was
like cutting edge, which is funny to think about now. But early on, because we
had to wear so many different hats, when look back at the creative, it was not
elevated or not to brand standards at all. I had to get pretty scrappy. I don't
have a design background, so I was downloading apps like Picmonkey,
whatever it was to design on the fly as simple as possible.

“I feel like my bread and butter has always been on more of the
strategy side. So as social teams started to grow and more roles
became open where you weren't wearing all the hats, like I definitely
went the strategy route, but I'm thankful for those early experiences
because it taught you to be scrappy and I was able to really learn, I
think, where my skill set was and where it wasn't and allowed me to
kind of follow into this strategy route.”

On learning the big picture and how social could fit into it
“I think that always evolves for all of us, right? Like, I think if I sat here and
told you I was always this super strategic person and always knew how to
connect the dots, I'm not being honest. I think I've always had some more
curiosity and wanting to ask questions and and wanting to connect the dots
a little bit more. I think my first role, because it was a broader marketing
role, not just a social role, did embed in me early on that all the channels
kind of need to work together, but not in this like super strategic way. I
want to say was like a 22 year old kid, it wasn't like I was building these
huge strategic plans or anything, but I've always had a natural curiosity and
I think that that kind of helped to flex my strategic muscles.

“I would say Under Armour was the first place where I felt like I was really
pushed to connect the dots. And I had really great leadership. You know, when
you work in social, so many times you're kind of put in a corner. So you're the
social person and you're not really asked to flex different muscles. When I was
at Under Armour our Social team was actually pretty small compared to a Nike
or Adidas or everything. So it was great because everyone had to help with big
projects and our VP of Brand Marketing was fantastic and she pushed me to
work on brand frameworks and larger campaign initiatives. And there was so
much cross collaboration at an environment like Under Armour because you're
product driven, so you're having to plan so far out that that was a place for me
where I was exposed to different types of thinking. I saw people who were truly
strategic and they helped me flex and I think that's where it really started
clicking.

“I'm curious what you think. I think people naturally will lean more
either super creative or a little bit more strategic, but I do think you
have to be in environments that help you flex those more…And at
Under Armour, everything was a deck. Everything had to be put to
paper because it had to be escalated above. So I think when you work
in an environment where you do have to have so much process, it
helps you learn like how to articulate what you need and how to put
plans and vision to paper and and really just pushes you to think
more strategically.”

On the objectives for Under Armour social media
“At Under Armour definitely there were goals. So we were category-
based and I worked on our women's category, among other things,
but that was my main focus. And the nice thing about that structure is
we all simply report up to the women's GM and they did a great job of
bringing everyone together, everyone understanding the goals. We're
all responsible for the success of the business. And I think that's what
good leaders do. Regardless of your role, whether you're in social,
you're a copywriter, you're in analytics, if people don't understand the
larger vision then they're not going to be excited about the work.

“So every place has been different, right? Like some places I feel like are
more goals to paper, strict reviews every quarter and others are softer. But I
think that every organization I've been at, for the most part, has done a
pretty good job of laying out clearly what we're responsible for and trying at
least to go in that direction…Numbers are not always my favorite; important
but I like to dabble in a little more of the creative and strategy planning. I
think it's interesting with social numbers and reports because so often
organizations get caught up in like you have to hit cumulative X number of
engagements a year, X number of impressions, oh, we've got to beat this so-
and-so team in our ranking, like we can play this number game all along. Do
you want us to post 20,000 times at the X number of impressions? It
doesn't mean that it's actually moving the needle. So it's hard.

“Especially as a leader now, I try to balance that. Like, I think reports
and understanding what's working is really important, but I don't
want us to get so bogged down in are we hitting X number of
impressions this year and are they growing next year? Because there's
so many variables, especially in sports, that I think we often chase
metrics that don't matter. I would rather us focus up on truly higher-
level organizational goals than get too much in the weeds of have we
hit 10 million impressions over the last two weeks?”

On building into content and depth of engagement into success evaluation
“That's a great question. I think not all engagement is created equal. So one of the things,
we use Zoomph as a platform from an analytics standpoint and we tag content and I
always tell the team [that] there are certain things that we're going to have to tell the story
about or initiatives that we're going to have to talk about. It's probably not going to be the
most engaging, but our job is to figure out how do we take it and improve engagement, you
know, and build upon it. So I think knowing the purpose of it, to your point, there are some
things that are core to the organization, core to our partners, core to values and we have to
do them. Our job is to figure out how to tell that story the best we can. It's not supposed to
be the most engaging, but we need to make it as engaging as possible. So I think just
understanding that from a team standpoint and I always tell the team, as long as we take
care of the foundation, then those fun things that we know are going to pop and are kind of
silly and maybe are more of a fan engagement [play], then we can do that, but I think it's
just making sure that the team understands what the purpose of it is, and even though it
doesn't hit those engagements, there's still a ton of value to it.”

On going from the brand side with Under Armour to the team side with the Yankees and
Rangers
“It's interesting because I think the Yankees and the Rangers are very different from where
I am now. You go into an organization like the New York Rangers and New York Yankees,
like you're not coming in to change the brand, you're not changing the dynamic. The
foundation is already there. So the biggest thing — it's actually funny, I don't know if most
people realize this, but if you quizzed me on sports stats, I would fail miserably. So please
don't ask me any questions about rosters and stats and all that kind of stuff (laughs). Like,
I love the business more than I love sports. So it's actually when I walk into a new role, like
I know baseball, I feel like everyone knows baseball, but I don't *know* baseball if that
makes sense. Hockey was really new to me. And so it's hard because [on one hand] I feel
like learning the in and out of sports. I obviously understand the foundations of baseball,
but not like rosters and all of that. All of that is new. And then I'm also trying to learn the
brand.

“I think the biggest thing when you walk on, especially in the team
[space] though, is you have so many people who have been there for a
long time, people that know the history, you have fans. It's really
about listening and learning on those legacy brands. You're not
coming there to change the story or change the brand direction, it's
really your job to figure out what they stand for and how to unearth it.
A lot of that is through discovery with current employees, people that
have been there a long time and just asking the right questions and
then building a content strategy that ladders up to the brand
foundation that is already there.

“And there are certain brands, I feel like there are other teams
probabl,y that you could come in and maybe they've never thought
about their brand or the brand really isn't there, they don't have the
same history and legacy and you could probably come in and and I
don'twant say blow it up, but help them be more intentional but
actually craft that. But the Yankees and the Rangers it's really just
about bringing it to life. You're not going to come in and change any
of that, the foundation is there.”

On not getting too routine or monotonous season to season or during the season
“I feel like one of the biggest challenges in sports is to break out of the cycle —
because there's an off season, [but] it's not an off season and it's not long, so I think
it's very easy to get caught up in actually doing the same thing over and over again.
So really what I've found and, I would say this came kind of later, I feel like SHR is
probably the first place where I feel like we've kind of gotten in a good rhythm,
we've nailed it. But you have to plan. So if we're in 2023, we have to be planning for
2024 now, for a season, like let's just say the NASCAR season, for example. So I
think the biggest thing about being successful in sports content strategy standpoint
is getting ahead. You have to be able to, while the current season is going on, have a
plan for the next season. That's important because in the off season you've got
Media Day that will eventually happen, different opportunities for you to capture
the bulk content.

“So you've got to be able to really lay out your content pillars, the
episodes that you want, to map out a plan for the following year.
There are some seasons, of course, where I feel like we weren't ahead
on certain things and it probably became more cyclical, and we were
flying by the seat of our pants and then we had seasons, and
thankfully I feel like I'm at a good place where it's there now, where
we know what it looks like to get ahead. We know what we need to do
to make sure that we're not doing the same thing over and over again.
But it takes very disciplined planning and it's not easy when you're
pulled a lot of different directions.”

On planning and planning for reactive opportunities
“I feel like in sports you actually have to plan for the unexpected. So
you know, when trade [season] start to happen, you have to build all
the templates and think of all the different scenarios that could
happen. I feel like you have to be anticipatory and plan for the things
that might not happen. That's hard because sometimes you might put
in work on something and it might not ever see the light of day, but if
you don't plan for it, the team's going to be in not a good spot. So it's
all about planning for what you can plan for and being prepared for
the unexpected.”

On moving away from the day-to-day executing to leadership and management
“I feel like it's always hard for people when they step away from the keys. I've
had this conversation with so many people, and I think it's hard for people in
social because it becomes your baby. You pour so much life into it. But for me, I
absolutely love leading a team. And I think the biggest thing that I've always
tried to remind myself is what it was like to be in their shoes. Candidly, letting
go of the keys wasn't necessarily hard for me because I feel like it was out of a
place where I was ready to do that and I knew in order to take the next step it
was necessary. You can't lead a team and also be completely in the weeds. If you
have a team around you and you're the one doing the majority of the publishing,
then I feel like you need to do some self-reflection on that just because it is your
job when you start managing a team is to empower them to do the work.

“But I love leading because I know what it's like to have been in their
shoes. Like, our generation, you and I talked about it, I feel like we were
in it from the beginning, and so I know what it's like to feel bogged down
in the day to day. I know what it's like to have a boss giving feedback on
small tactical things and how annoying that can be. So I always try to
remind myself of what it's like to be in their shoes. You know, the hardest
part about really leading a team isn't stepping away from the channels,
but I think it’s those normal management things like learning how to give
feedback, learning how to motivate people, because none of us go through
management training. So for me, it wasn't the the social piece that was
tough, but just making sure that I'm the best leader that I can be and that
I show up for them in the way that I want to show up.”

On creating a framework for the brand and social media strategy
“So at SHR, we've actually built a social media playbook. It was a
collaborative effort with everyone on our team. It outlines everything from
who we are as an organization — our content pillars, our platform strategy,
our tone and voice. We channel our owner, Tony Stewart, he's an easy
character to embody, and everyone's part of that process which I feel like is
important because they have buy in. I'll get in the weeds with the team if they
need it, but they have autonomy to write the copy and just go with it, right?
Like I don't review those things, if they ask questions. And, candidly, often
when they come to me and say, ‘Hey, I have copy X, Y and Z,’ I'm going to say,
‘Well, what do you think?’ Because they can make those decisions themselves.

“I do try to roll up my sleeves as a leader. We have a big team, but it's not a huge team,
so, like, if someone needs a day off for a race weekend, like I'll publish probably 2 or 3
times a year. But that's about the extent of it. Really, my job is to give them a
framework, empower them. We don't have a crazy approval process, it's pretty fluid
and fun. I just ask that they come to me if something is questionable, if they feel like
they're pushing the edge, because at the end of the day, I'm responsible for all the work
and if we're going to push it, I want to know because I'm going to have their backs no
matter what.
“So, as a leader, putting in that framework and that playbook, I feel like it's the most
important thing because your team can run with it…Like, I believe in process, but I
don't believe in process for the sake of process or process that just feeds egos. Someone
starts in a role, they’re learning the voice and tone, sure, you might want to see copy for
a little bit, but there's just no need for that type of process in the social space…

“I also think one of the things, and this actually this is probably the
hardest thing as a leader stepping away from the keys, is that no one will
ever do the job exactly like you do it. And I think you have to understand
that and you have to figure out the moments — okay, where are the
moments where I'm going to give feedback because this is important or
where am I just giving feedback because this is how I would have done it?
And just how I would have done it doesn't mean that it's right. So I think
like letting go of some of those tendencies where like, well, I always did it
this way — just because I did it that way doesn't mean it's right. So giving
myself that gut check was really important starting off because everyone
builds a type of style, I feel like, and everyone does things differently and
that's okay.”

On expressing the brand across platforms and being flexible
“TikTok, for sure, is the one where I'm like, ‘We need to get comfortable being
uncomfortable.’ I feel like if you don't push the envelope there, if you're not a little wacky —
that's a place we're really trying to burst the NASCAR and even motorsports bubble. So our
tone and what we post there is definitely different. But I would also say my perspective on
what fits within a brand box has evolved over the years. I feel like early on I was overly
strict, it was like, you know, brand above all else. Not saying this is my perspective with ,
but ‘if you’re the Yankees, you can't have fun.’ They are held a certain way. And as we
evolved over the years, I do believe there's a brand foundation and you have to do the work
that matters. So you have to understand who you are. You have to understand your tone.
You have to understand what you won't do. I think that's really important. Always outline
what you won't do. But the media landscape has changed so much. People, I feel like,
consume to take a break, it's entertainment [and] every brand needs to loosen up a little
bit. You have to figure out what that line is for you.

“You know, the Canes (NHL team) are going to be very different than
what the Rangers do, and that's expected. But both of them need to figure
out, like, where is that fun side of my personality? So for me, as long as
we're taking care of our foundational stuff, if we're telling our partner
stories, if we are telling our driver stories, the different pillars that we
need to hit; we've taken care of the big moments, our team can flex and
have some fun. It's silly examples, but like we race in Sonoma every year
and they wanted to do ‘Vines of SHR’ because they wanted to plant wine
country vines. Totally silly, off the wall, probably a little off tone of our
normal stuff. Fans loved it though. And I think moments like that, as long
as not everything is super silly and over the top, it's good. People are
multi-dimensional and I feel like brands can be, too.”

“One thing that we always say, it's different for us at SHR because I feel like
we actually have a really good — like Tony Stewart is our muse is very easy
and tangible. If you meet him off the track, he's actually the most humble guy.
Hilarious, funny, like want to grab a beer with, people gravitate towards him.
On the track super serious, fiery, like it is go time. So I always tell the team,
especially when it comes to competition, when it comes to race day or when it
came to game day, you have to reflect competition. We're not going to make
jokes about performance. If our coaches, if our crew chiefs, if drivers, if
players read it, they need to know that we're putting them in the best light
regardless of performance. So in the sports space, I feel like you do have to
have a sense of right time, right place. And there's definitely, in my mind, I
think regardless of organization, probably a wrong place to make jokes.”

About NASCAR and the makeup of the SHR team
“I think NASCAR and motorsports is unlike, they call it stick and ball, which is
a weird term [I hadn’t heard] until I got to motorsports. So it’s unlike stick and
ball sports because you have individual teams within the team. So essentially at
Stewart-Haas Racing, we’re a six-car organization. We have four of the
NASCAR Cup series which is is pro and then we have two in the Xfinity series,
which is more like the minor league. Motorsports is different from stick and
ball in the sense that for so long drivers and partners actually have driven the
interest in the sport. So a driver retires, you might lose the majority of your fan
base. You're rarely going to hear a NASCAR fan say ‘I'm a fan of Stewart Haas.’
They're often a fan of, let's say, Kevin Harvick. And then because of that, they're
a Stewart Haas fan. So it's hard.

“We've actually really been trying to change that dynamic. When I stepped in here,
when I was interviewing for the role, I was talking to them, they kept talking about
brands and they were actually talking about partnerships. And I was like, ‘Well,
who's responsible for defining what SHR is?’ ‘I don't know. You could be if you
want to be.’ I was like, okay, well, here we go. Because for so long they had an
incredible driver lineup, they have incredible partners and the affinity from a fan
perspective with drivers and the partners, so there was really no need to think
about the brand. That's changing in our sport and I think that's a good thing. But
it's definitely a balance for us because you have, on the Cup side, we have four
teams within our team, different dynamics, they all operate differently and we've
got to figure out how do these drivers fit our mold, how do we ladder up to the
brand, how do we get excited not just about our drivers but us as an organization?
And it's a challenge because people care about the drivers more than they often
care about the organization.”

“...We need to build fan affinity for us as an organization because at
the end of the day, partners and drivers are going to come and go. So
that's been a huge undertaking the last two years, defining what we
stand for, defining who we are, defining how our drivers fit that mold
and making sure that, with Kevin Harvick is retiring this year, when
Kevin retires, people still want to root for us.”

On working with the drivers and helping raise their and the SHR brands
“One of the things that I love about working in NASCAR is it's the most down to
earth sport that I've ever been part of. So I feel like drivers are so much in our
fold. Our team helps craft driver positioning for them. So thinking about how
they want to show up, we help them on the content side. We have candid
conversations about that. They're not going off and doing their own thing
because like you said and like we talked about, drivers define so much of the
brand. The brands are defined by the drivers. So we've got to all work together.
It can't be one driver over here, and SHR positioning him in a different way.
None of us will be successful with that. So it's really important that we're all on
the same page. We're all connected and we're lucky that we have drivers that
are bought into that.”

On defining the SHR brand and content pillars
“It's really our team that's responsible for that. And then we'll bring in, depending
on the conversation, people in our partnership management team or a sales team
because they have good ideas. But I actually don't think that pillars change year to
year. The content and how that falls under the pillar change because you want to
mix it up, but our content pillars are defined by our our brand and our
organization. So for example, one thing that we always say about ourselves is we're
a bunch of racers. When I first got here, everyone was like, Oh, we're just a bunch
of racers. Like, yeah, I'm sure every race team says that, that just seems like a
bunch of BS. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when I dug into it, like, what I actually
learned is — Tony, for example, didn't grow up with money, he had to earn his ride.
And he loves to race. You put him in anything and, like, yeah, he's not just good at
it, he wins. Racing is in his DNA. It's all he wants to do. It's all he thinks about.

“And our organization, when we were founded by Gene Haas and Tony Stewart;
Gene actually had a NASCAR team prior and then he brought Tony on board
and when Tony joined the organization he brought people who had this racer’s
mentality; like live and breathe, and all they want to do is race. So what I kind
of unearthed was, while that seems like just basic marketing speak, everyone
across the organization — like our fabricators are spending their weekends at
Millbridge local dirt track, racing a dirt [race]. Like it's true to our DNA. So
‘bunch of racers’ is one of our pillars. Like we want to show up how all of our
drivers, most of them race outside of NASCAR. They'll do dirt racing, they'll do
modified. Kevin tonight is doing SRX, like they love racing. So that's going to
show up. That pillar is never going to change; if it changes and it's not core to
our DNA, but how we tell that story needs to change year to year.

“So that's kind of how I look at content pillars. When I think about that
playbook, like we think about those 2 to 4, whatever's right for the
organization, core stories you want to tell. For us, it's a bunch of racers.
We want to own our attitude that stems from Tony and his DNA, but it's
really the entire organization. And we want to educate people about
racing because we love racing so much, we want to share it with you.
Those pillars probably won't change over the next 3 to 4 years, but the
execution of it will. You might add 1 or 2, you might have 1 or 2 that
kind of come in and out because sometimes priorities do shift a little bit.
But I think that's a foundational thing about how you want to articulate
your brand, and it's the execution, the creativity that's different.”

About activating SHR partners and driving revenue
“I mean, partners are our lifeblood and so it is extremely important for us to
service our partners. We have awesome partners who are so much fun to work
with. And I think the biggest thing is they're buying marketing platforms when
they come on board with us. So you're not getting a logo slap, you're going to
get an integrated marketing program that authentically, it sounds like
marketing speak, but it's actually very true, authentically connects with our
fans. Because as you said, our fans genuinely care about the partners. They
know that without partners, the sport doesn't exist. So anytime we have a
partner come on board, we always sit down with them, it's almost like a brief.
We just want to learn, what are you trying to accomplish? What are your
values? What are your brand platforms? And then we'll ideate from there.

“There's two things that we always try to do. Cars are often the star in
NASCAR programs, so paint schemes can transform in so many
different ways. So I always say that paint is a vehicle for activation.
Our team, let's say Busch Light is trying to promote a dog brew or
Busch Peach or something like that — our team's job is to figure out
how to translate that car into storytelling. So it's not just about a paint
scheme, it's about getting creative on the content that shows up
during the week. Then when it comes to larger integrated partner
programs, it's really about finding those touch points where there’s
synergy. Sometimes it's something small in messaging, sometimes it's
much more deeper rooted values.

“Then our team always tries to come up with integrated content. You
will rarely find just a logo slap. We always try to be very intentional
about how our brands come together and that's important because if
you are just broadcasting or your channels feel like a sales space, fans
are going to tune it out. So we're lucky that our partners understand
by creating content that feels authentic to our channels but integrates
them. It's a win for them.”

“It's so interesting because when I came to NASCAR, I didn't know much about the sport and I
feel like there's so many misconceptions. I feel like you would be hard pressed to find another
sport where the marketing is so, I don't want to say sophisticated, but it's complicated. Every
single day I have to be thinking about how does our brand SHR show up, how are our drivers
are showing up, and then we have to be building as a team marketing programs for everything
from Busch Light to Mahindra Tractors to Mobil One. And it's not just, like one content series
like often in stick and ball sports, you have a Bud Light Celly of the week, right? It's sold in, it's
done for the year, you don't have to think about it again. Like, we have partners coming to us
saying, like, look, I need our tractor dealers more engaged. How do we solve for that? I'm like,
well, I never thought of tractors and dealers, but here I am.
“So the cool thing is like, we're almost like an agency to help solve their problems. And I think
that in the sports marketing side, like NASCAR and motorsports is so highly underrated
because the partner side of it makes it fun and it always changes and it's complicated.”

Creating fans of drivers and fans of the sport
“We were actually having this conversation this week as we're thinking about
2024, because there is this interesting shift in NASCAR where there's a lot of new
teams that are coming in. So Pitbull owns a team called Trackhouse with Justin
Marks, Michael Jordan owns a team 23XI. They're after this new fan that's never
thought about racing. And there's actually, I believe through YouGov, the number
is like 41 million die-hard NASCAR fans, which is a pretty big number. We were
having this conversation this week that I think what actually separates us is that
idea of that we are a bunch of racers. Like, we can speak to people at a grassroots
level. So I don't think that we're trying to pull in someone who has never thought
about racing ever in their life. We're trying to pull in the grassroots racing.
There's someone that's watched F1 and got an interest in it.

“Like we’re trying to talk to the motorsports enthusiasts or the person
that's on the outside because that's what's core to our DNA. All of our
drivers are really big on the grassroots racing. So when you think
about that pie, you think about NASCAR, I think we have to be really
intentional about who we are or we'll dilute ourselves and then we're
competing against a bunch of noise and almost don't stand for
anything. Oof course we want to bring in casual fans, but I think that
where we do our brand a service is focusing on those casual racing
fans and trying to bring them into the fold.”

“You know, our ownership group, so Gene owns an F1 team, Tony owns a
drag racing team, a dirt team — our umbrella touches a lot of different
motorsports and motorsports is seeing this really fun kind of uptick right
now with F1. So I think it is about trying to bring those casual fans, but be
confident in who we are and the fact that there are still people that have
an interest in motorsports that we don't need to go so far on the outside
that it feels like it's just an absolute stretch.”
“So we have six cars between Cup and Xfinity and while we have, we
have a big team, you do spread your resources. But at the end of the day,
you know, our Xfinity program and our Cup program are both important
and we just have to find a way to balance that..

“It just depends on storylines, right? Like what's going on with the driver, what's
going on from a partner standpoint. So we do have to balance that. Like, we do all
have limited resources. That's normal with any team. So you do have to figure out
how to prioritize. You have to have those conversations. Okay, this week, what
partners have special activations across Cup or Xfinity; that's series agnostic, like
we have to have those conversations. Are there any driver storylines? So we're
going to Las Vegas which is Riley Herbst, he's one of our Xfinity drivers, his
hometown, like we might lean more heavily into them. So I think the biggest thing
on that when you're looking at a bunch of different priorities within an organization
is having the conversations and understanding those moments where you can flex,
when you can say, okay, this is a priority this week because X, Y and Z. And we do,
we always have a weekly shot list prioritization meeting, and that's where we have
those conversations on what are the partner storylines, what are the driver
storylines, and we figure out what's priority.”

On drivers using and building their own social platforms
“I said this earlier, but I love working in NASCAR because it's the
most down to earth sport that I've ever been part of. So the cool thing
is we have drivers here that will stop by; like we have one driver right
now that's really interested in (Instagram) Reels, wants to make his
own Reels and he'll stop by and ask the team questions. You don't find
that in any other sport. Of course we have certain drivers that
understand it more and are more interested in it than others. That's
natural, and you have different personalities. But they're engaged and
they understand the importance of it from a business perspective.

“And I think the thing that I love the most is they actually look at our
team for guidance and they want that guidance and they're open to
the guidance. The sport just in itself understands what they need to
do to drive things forward. Drivers are bought in and I think the thing
that's just so cool is they're just very down to earth. The biggest thing
that I've learned is you just have to educate. You have to tell them why
it's important. We've tried really hard as an organization the last year
to not just put in a request with drivers, like we want to give them why
we're doing it.

“So we have brand positioning for them. We sat down and we walked
their brand positioning. So now they know when we have a content
request, we're not doing it just because it's like, fun and silly, we're
doing it because it maps back to something more important. You
know, Kevin Harvick is retiring this year and I don't know if you know
Kevin, but he'll be a future Hall of Famer, and right before his
retirement was going to be announced, we were like, we really want to
sit down with you and walk through a plan. Like we had this really
robust plan with this platform that we wanted to do. And Kevin's really
busy. He's got young kids, he's pulled in a million different directions
and, candidly, I didn't know how much of it would be able to do.

“So we sat down with him and we walked through the plan and he and his agent
were like, yes. And the biggest thing that I can tell anyone working across an
organization when you're working with athletes and drivers and C-suite is if you
can put forth a plan and articulate your why and look buttoned up, it's so much
easier to get buy in. We've executed, I mean, everything that we wanted to across
Kevin's retirement because we were organized. We explained the why and he
bought in.
“I've learned a ton here about getting buy in from athletes and I think organizations
have to stop making excuses about they don't get it or they don't want to do it and
all that kind of stuff. Like, it's part of the job for any athlete at any organization and
you have to explain the why and it's our job to be as buttoned up as possible and
make the ask as easy as possible and then I think it's much easier to get buy in.”

“It's so funny because I feel like so often this sounds, and I think NASCAR
is different because we have six drivers we work with, so it's a smaller
team, but you have to give them the seat at the table as well, for lack of a
better term. You can't just be like, Oh, I need this content, but they're
busy. That just seems like we have to do a better job as professionals of
giving them the bigger picture. It's just like you were asking on the
strategy work — we all want to understand the why. Well so do the the
athletes that you work with, and I just think so many — I look back at
even other organizations and things I could have done differently or we
could have done differently as teams and I'm like, gosh, so often in the
social space, we move, move, move that we don't take the time to really
explain why we're doing things.”

A book or a podcast or an article or a piece of content or something that's stuck with Jess
and has been meaningful
“Actually, I just got a piece of advice. It was from my old boss at the Atlanta Track Club.
Her and I have reconnected, she's actually doing some career coaching, so her and I have
reconnected on that. And we were working through just different things about managing
teams and insecurities and we all have kind of imposter syndrome. And she was like, In
any situation where you doubt yourself, I want you to take a moment [ask], is that really
true? I know it sounds really silly and really simple, but it stuck with me because I feel like
so often when you're navigating careers and difficult situations in work, we build up our
own things in our head that actually aren't true, but then don't take the time to pause and
work through it. So that's a piece of advice that I've gotten recently to just stop, pause and
ask yourself like, are these thoughts that you have in your head really true? Am I making a
bigger deal of it than it is? It was really powerful for me and I'm going to try to practice it
more.”

On putting her thoughts and insights on marketing and social, and becoming
unintentionally influential in the space
“I need to start writing more, man, it's been so long and I'm off my game. So that's a goal
hopefully within the next like six months. But it's a funny story. I was working at the Atlanta
Track Club, which was my first job, and I knew I loved digital, but I was wearing a lot of
different hats so I couldn't dive in. I had a friend that was working at an ad agency and he
was talking about QR codes and he said, ‘QR codes’ and I honestly had no idea what he was
talking about. Like, no clue. And I was like, Oh my gosh, if I don't know what he's talking
about and I want to work in digital, how am I going to compete in this space? And because I
was at a small organization, I didn't have anyone to help kind of teach me, which wasn't a
fault of anyone else, there was just no one else in digital. And so I was like, I've got to find a
way to hold myself accountable. So I started writing as a way to learn and to kind of analyze
the space myself. And that's how it started. The rest is kind of history. But it's really an
accountability thing for me. And it all started because I had no idea what a QR code was.”

Jess’s favorite non-sports brand on social media and why
“The national parks (@NatlParkService on Twitter, @NationalParkService on
IG), they're incredible. I'm also an outdoor enthusiast, so it speaks to my heart.
But they do an incredible job. When I think about their mission, I feel like
they're meant to educate people on our spaces outdoors in the US. I think
they're supposed to be approachable, right? It's not like a Patagonia, like an
intense outdoor brand, it's open parks, open access and they do just such an
incredible job of one having a sense of humor, but they always tie it back to an
educational piece. It's relatable, it's funny, it's clever. The content actually isn't
— it's not like they're producing these long form and crazy videos, but they just
have a great tone and a great way of going about educating, and I feel like tying
everything back up to what their mission is supposed to be.”

The most memorable campaign or piece of content from Jess’s entire career so far
“My favorite has definitely been all of our stuff that we've done around the Kevin
Harvick retirement campaign. We have a whole umbrella, it's called 4EVER. And
the reason why we went that way is because we can throughout the season, we're
telling all the different sides of Kevin Harvick. Kevin's kind of been this like
misunderstood guy. So we're going through all these chapters; like this week, it's
4EVER a Dad, so we're talking about all the different sides of Kevin as a dad, and
you've got kid content and the kids talking about him. So I'm most proud of that
work because I think in sports you only you have few moments that are really
impactful. Kevin has an incredible legacy with the way he came into the sport and
the way he'll leave. He's been our DNA at Stewart-Haas, and I think we've truly
done him justice.

“And it's like a true full integrated campaign, and I feel like we're giving fans
and him the sendoff that he deserves. It wasn't easy and it's been super robust.
So that one for me I'm really proud of and I'm proud of the organization
because I think we've approached it very differently than other organizations
would. Kevin was at RCR, Richard Childress Racing, before he came to Stewart-
Haas, and we're doing this long form series called 4EVER Defining. So there's
all these different episodes that talk about Kevin through the eyes of people that
know him best. And we've had all kinds of people in the sport come on and talk
about him, everyone from Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. to Richard Childress, we have
competitors and the content, actually, most of it isn't about SHR. Like we've
had moments, we've talked about the number four team. We'll talk about his
championship down the road. There are episodes that talk about SHR, but a lot
of it is just like Kevin and who he is.

“For a lot of organizations that would make them really
uncomfortable, like we're showing an owner of another race team in a
video, but in my mind, Kevin has been critical to our DNA and it's our
job to send him off the right way. And it's helped our organization, it's
built fan affinity, they're so appreciative. So I'm proud of it for a lot of
different reasons. I think just the organization bought in to
something, something big and unique, and we've actually been able to
execute it, I feel like, the right way.”

The most memorable game or sports event that Jess has ever been at, whether it's
for work or as a fan
“It actually has to be my very first Auburn game. Not because of the necessarily the
game outcome or anything, but I was looking at a lot of different schools to run track
and I had no interest in Auburn because I just thought for some reason it was going
to be a little too southern for me. And I went to Auburn-Tennessee at night, and it
was electric and I'd never experienced anything like it. I'll probably never forget it.
And it was the first school I visited and I was like, I'm totally sold. Like, I never want
to go anywhere ever again. So that one will probably always live with me.
“Then on the heartbreaking side, I did see Auburn in the Final Four and
unfortunately they lost. But that was also a pretty cool experience, even though it
was a heartbreaker.”

Advice Jess would give to someone that is taking on a leadership role
“Oh, man, it's a good question. So much advice. One piece of advice — I think
that you owe it to your team to give feedback and [to give] feedback often.
When I first stepped into a management role, it felt like feedback sometimes
was not, I don't want to say a negative thing, but I was uncomfortable giving it.
And as I learned, if you don't give feedback, no one can read your mind. So it's
important for you to make sure that you give feedback, you give it often, you’re
direct, and you also have candid conversations about your style. Like I'm going
to give feedback, it's not a negative, it's a positive because I'm trying to help
you. So I think the first time you step into management, just learning to give
feedback, learning your style is super important because it helps your team and
I feel like if you're not giving it, you're just doing a disservice to everyone.”

“Also, you know, when you lead a team, you're responsible for the dynamics of
the team, and let's say there is someone on the team who, just for an easy
example, is cutting some slack for whatever reason. You know, if you don't have
the conversation with them, people eventually around them might get
disgruntled. You also never know what's going on. So my approach when
someone maybe has not been performing up to to what I know that they can do,
like, I'm going to start with, Hey, is everything okay? I've noticed, you seem
disengaged. I want to make sure that everything is okay. You're responsible for
the results and how everyone's running in the same direction and if you're not
coaching your team, then you're not doing your job. And I think that's the thing
that I've shifted to. It's not feedback, it's coaching. You're helping people, and I
think that's really the number one job, and when you step into a role, you have
to learn how to get comfortable with that.”

“I would actually have one more [piece of advice] and I think this is
something that is is hard. I really care about employees that are on
the team. You have to learn how to have boundaries, so you can care
deeply about people reporting to you and not be friends. And I think
learning how to navigate those healthy boundaries and those places
where you can give space for people to show up as they are, you can
have moments, like after a weekend and go over and talk about the
weekend and they'll make some jokes about how I'm old and not hip,
and we have those like human moments, but you also have to know
how to set those boundaries. As a first time manager, I think that
that's always really hard.”

What Jess has observed about MLB fans vs. NHL fans vs. NASCAR
fans
“I don't even know how to answer this, to be honest with you. NHL
and NASCAR fans are more similar, I think in the sense that the fan
bases are both very passionate. I don't want to say it's niche, but it's a
little less broad. So I think there's definitely a certain passion.
NASCAR fans, though, I will say, have this interest in the business. So
like we talked about this because partners; like without partners,
teams don't exist. They try to connect all these dots, so they're very
interested in the business side…”

“I think you see generational fans on [all] sides. And I think especially in NASCAR,
because you have Chase Elliott, Bill Elliott, [his] dad drove, like there's a
generational aspect. I don't think that's unique to just MLB…I think that honestly,
probably the hardest part that's different with NHL and NASCAR than MLB is
baseball's accessible. So a lot of people have played baseball at some point in their
life, like it's a sport that you can pick up a ball and a bat and you've experienced it
at some point. Hockey and motor sports — motor sports is even less accessible than
hockey. Getting into racing is crazy expensive. So your entry point into those
sports, if you didn't play it, is hard. And I think especially in motorsports I don't
think the younger generation has much of an interest in driving and so us figuring
out; it's not like they're going to pick up a dirt-modified car and go around the local
dirt track; like, how do we get someone who's never experienced it into the sport? I
think hockey has sa little bit of a challenge of that, as well, as a smaller example.”

The best meal to get in North Carolina and where to get it and the
best meal to get in NYC and where to get it
“I'm going to break the rules a little bit here because I live in
Charlotte, but the best meal I've had in the state of North Carolina
is in Asheville, which is only two hours [away from Charlotte].
Asheville has, I think, the most underrated food scene in the entire
country. And The Admiral is just this like old converted gas station.
So very unpretentious vibes on the outside but the best food. And I
actually went well before I moved to North Carolina. I typically
don't like to go to the same restaurants over, but I've been like 14
times and it never disappoints. It's incredible…I don't eat much
meat, ao they always have rotating pastas and they do really great
veggie dishes, but my husband loves meat and he gets like a huge
sirloin with butter on top of it, the sides always rotate and it has
never disappointed. But it's like elevated American food. It's so, so
good…The food scene in Charlotte is good, but the food scene in
Asheville is better.

“New York is hard. I think my
favorite dining experience in
New York was probably at the
Minetta Tavern, because it was
like essential New York. But
Little Mermaid is probably [the
one that has] my favorite dish.
They have a lobster roll that I
really like.”

Jess’s favorite outdoor experience she’s had
“Oh, that's hard. My favorite actually is probably in New York, and the
Adirondacks. So the Adirondacks are super rugged. I feel like out west you
have switchbacks, [on the] East Coast, you just go straight up a mountain.
We climbed Mount Marcy, which is the highest peak in New York, and
there was snow on the ground and it's above the tree lines, and it took my
breath away. I feel like most people don't realize how beautiful the state of
New York is. We've had so many beautiful, great experiences out west, but
I kind of expected, like you hear about how great the out west is and New
York itself, I think, the state is beautiful outside of even just the city, and
Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks is probably one of my favorite hikes.”

Which Auburn team between MBB, WBB, and football will win a
national title next?
“I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to say that Bruce Pearl is
going to give Auburn men's basketball a national championship. I feel
like we're a basketball school right now. Not really, but I like what
Bruce has done with that program. I feel like there's a new energy
around it. So it has definitely been fun to see what he's done with
them.”

Jess’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
“This is so hard for me. I was trying to give it some thought and I'm like,
there's just so many good people out there. But actually, there's a guy
named Jon-Stephen Stansel (@jsstansel). I believe he used to work in
higher ed, he's maybe gotten some shout outs before, but I feel like for
anyone that works in social, he's got a bit of humor, he understands the
landscape. He's always got some good hot takes, and it's relatable. I feel
like sometimes we all look for insights and stuff that we relate to and he
does a really good job, I feel like, from a social media perspective of just
relating what it's like to be in someone's shoes that are in those roles.”

Where to find Jess and Stewart-Haas Racing on digital/social media
Jess is @WarJessEagle on Twitter and Instagram. Also find her on
LinkedIn and follow her writing on Social 'n Sport at
https://socialnsport.com/
Follow Stewart-Haas Racing is @StewartHaasRcng on Twitter and
@StewartHaasRacing on IG, TIkTok, YouTube, etc. And check out the
Kevin Harvick 4EVER series on YouTube

@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
Thanks again to Jess for being so generous with her time to share her
knowledge, experience, and expertise with me!
For more content and episodes, subscribe to the podcast, follow me
on LinkedIn and on Twitter @njh287, and visit www.dsmsports.net.

Episode 252 Snippets: Jess Smith of Stewart-Haas Racing

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