The creator of an award-winning documentary series (“American Stock: The Golden Era of NASCAR”) on the rags to riches rise of NASCAR and the “average Joes” who pioneered what had become the largest and fastest growing sport in America, retained MAX Communications to launch the luxury DVD gift set of his four-hour documentary. Since the documentary was an unsanctioned NASCAR product and unavailable at NASCAR retail locations, the PR Team was challenged to drive sales through e-commerce only and build awareness for the American Stock brand outside of traditional NASCAR channels.

MAX Communications developed a two-part publicity campaign: The first, compelling influential trade and consumer media to write reviews about the documentary that would be timed with NASCAR’s premier seasonal kick-off event, the Daytona 500; the second, positioning the DVD set as the perfect Father’s Day and holiday gift for men.

Recognizing that NASCAR’s founding fathers were WWII veterans, MAX Communications developed a cause-related marketing campaign that sought to honor the sacrifices of today’s servicemen and women who follow in their footsteps. Partnering with Operation Gratitude, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing U.S. service men and women stationed overseas with care packages, MAX Communications enlisted the help of major celebrity, philanthropist and actress Elizabeth Taylor (the former wife of now retired U.S. Senator John Warner, R-VA and former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, who narrated the DVD series) to write a holiday greeting to the troops, which was included along with the DVD series in more than 10,000 Operation Gratitude holiday care packages.

Sports writers in NASCAR markets all over the country, as well as such major national news outlets as the Associated Press and USA Today, praised the DVD series as a must-see documentary. Additionally, media outside the sports arena, including NPR, Parade magazine, FOX and Friends National Morning Television News, AAA’s Metro New York magazine, the Robb Report and Newsweek covered the debut of the series as the perfect gift for dads and veterans.