By Nicole Spears/ Ohio University Compass
What do the Indy 500, the Ohio University College of Business, and Instagram have in common? Jarrod Krisiloff.
As marketing director for the Indy 500, Krisiloff is leading a team that is making the Indianapolis Motor Speedway one of the first brands to use a cutting-edge that allows companies to crowdsource photos posted by users of the Instagram app. This is just one component of a larger "Indy500OrBust" campaign that Krisiloff is spearheading. The campaign is building up to the Indy 500, which will take place on May 26.
“The Instagram campaign is fun because it lets us to really engage our fans online and allows them to share their stories,” Krisiloff said.
Krisiloff is currently a student in the College of Business Professional Master of Sports Administration (PMSA) program. The program—which boasts alumni such as University of Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley and Arizona Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall—prepares students for senior-level positions relating to sales, management and marketing within the sports industry.
After advancing through several marketing and communications positions within the motorsports industry, Krisiloff was compelled to enroll in Ohio University’s exceptional program after a recommendation by his boss, Michael Redlick. Redlick, senior vice president and chief sales and marketing officer at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, graduated from Ohio University’s MSA program in 1996.
The Ohio University PMSA is a unique and highly competitive program that admits only 25 students per year. Krisiloff was accepted in September 2012.
“For me, OU’s reputation in sports and the unique culture of the alumni base makes OU’s Sports program unique,” Krisiloff said. “OU’s sports program is ranked as #1 in the world. You can’t beat that.”
His decision to continue his education stems from his desire to be admired as someone who is remarkably great at their job. Thus far, the PMSA program has exposed Krisiloff to a broader world of sports. He is confident that his Ohio University education will allow him to meet his greatest career potential.
Krisiloff was recently promoted to senior marketing director at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after ascending through several different positions. His team wanted to focus on an inclusive fan experience for this year’s race.
Indy 500 was the first brand to use the new application programming interface (API) technology realized by Venueseen. The first to introduce this API capability, Venueseen allows brands to gather and display images posted by users of apps like Instagram, Foursquare and more.
This interactive Indy 500 campaign component will be a trial run of sorts for the Venueseen software. Krisiloff hopes to see it engage Indy 500 fans online, and draws attention to the fact that the photos are not being used for a commercial purpose. This is key due to prior controversy surrounding Instagram’s terms of service.
App users who upload their photos with the #Indy500OrBust hashtag are submitting their pictures to be shared on the campaign website, www.Indy500OrBust.com. Users who claim their photo on the website can then enter a contest to win a VIP Experience at the race.
“The campaign empowers fans to be the advocates of why the Indy 500 is such a big weekend or a ritual to families,” Krisiloff said.
Krisiloff hopes to continue the growth of the Indy 500 as an epic sporting event and a cultural tradition.
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