A man who brought the skills of one sport to the world of another, and created a global phenomenon from 5 YouTube videos: Ken Block and Gymkhana.
Ken Block began his professional driving career in 2005 as a rally driver for Vermont SportsCar. To skip ahead: he did well, but wasn’t winning every race or taking home every championship. He did, however, get publicity as rookie of the year and had sponsorships from DC shoes as well as Subaru and Monster Energy. Despite getting better and better in his sport, what brought Ken Block out of the WRC (World Rally Championships) spotlight and into the broader spotlight of the world? Gymkhana, YouTube, social media, and GoPro.
First, a definition of gymkhana: “an automotive sport that takes place on an open field or parking lot and requires drivers to skillfully maneuver their car around a series of cones, slaloms, 180 degree turns, 360 degree turns, figure 8 turns, or other obstacles using extreme acceleration, braking, and drifting.”
Now, what happened:
In early 2009, despite his improving results and undeniable skill in the WRC world, Ken Block was still known in those circles and few others. Like most drivers in the sport, he was poised to be perpetually captured in online video as part of a montage of race clips – most of which focused on crashes and not victories – all from a spectator’s home video camera. Then, in late 2009, he forever stepped out of the typical rally driver’s shoes and into real limelight. He filmed Gymkhana Practice and proceeded to get over 13 million views.
Gymkhana before this point was a dead sport and a fun way to practice car handling skills for Block and some hardcore fans, primarily taking place in small parking lots and at slow to moderate speeds. Stepping this up in order to build his personal skills and revitalize the sport, Ken moved practice to Inyokern airport in California where he created his own course of sorts. Playing among the planes and the hangars on both tarmac and dirt, he learned the finer points of car control. One day deciding it might be fun to record the session, he and his sponsors filmed Gymkhana Practice and it went viral.
In the world of YouTube, “viral” is a catchphrase term covering videos with anything from a hundred thousand views to millions. On that scale, Ken and his practice video went extremely viral (Followed by his sequels Gymkhana 2, 3, 4, and 5, linked below). So let’s break it down a little and understand why:
– First, he had not one or two twists to the plot of each video, but an almost un-ending stream of moments where the viewer gasps and holds their breath, only to let it out in astonishment moments later. However, that is only a half-step up from typical car crash and WRC compilation videos that hardly scratch his viewership.
– Second, it was shot in much higher quality with much better editing than other such compilations. Multiple camera angles coming from everywhere the ground, handheld cameramen, Ken’s helmet, his sun visor, and even a few of the fenders – both inside and outside. This allowed for an unprecedented set of images for the viewer who got to feel as if they on the course and inside the car.
– Third, it kept getting better. Simply put, each of his videos outdoes the previous one. New stunts, remakes of old ones, new camera angles, better production, story lines, locations, and even a few fun tricks with other people.
As the video series went on, it built Ken Block and Gymkhana into an incredibly powerful brand that DC Shoes, Monster, and now Ford, are barely hanging on the coat-tails of. More importantly, it revitalized the sport as Ken partnered with Gymkhana GRID to host competitions in this new full-bore form of Gymkhana around the country.
Getting back to the point, how did Ken go from one or two videos to a series of five and essentially a world-recognized brand? He never missed an opportunity for a key promotion, partnership, or unique way to use technology in promoting himself and Gymkhana. Whether it be bringing Ricky Carmichael to help him wow the BBC Guru of Cars from Top Gear, or playing a “Game of Suck” with Travis Pastrana , or demonstrating the vast capabilities of the GoPro Camera in the most unique ways imaginable, Ken kept pushing the boundaries of what was currently available and acceptable in order to expand his presence and solidify both his brand and this newly revitalized sport. Not to be confined to presentation-media like YouTube, Ken actively blogs on his website and has consistent content updates through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where he has a combined following of over 3.9 million people.
Truly a master of technology, Ken Block, DC Shoes, and Monster energy have changed the face of motorsport in the new age.
Video Links:
Gymkhana 1(Gymkhana Practice) – 13.8M views
Gymkhana 2 – 40.2M views
Gymkhana 3 – 50.8M views
Gymkhana 4 – 23.6M views
Gymkhana 5 – 45.2M views
For automotive tech-heads, a build video of one of his earlier Subaru and an overview of the new Ford Focus.