F1 Marketing Strategies: New for 2022?

The 2021 formula 1 season ended in an extremely dramatic and controversial fashion when Max Verstappen made history in Abu Dhabi by becoming the first-ever Dutch winner of the world driver championship. The season finale garnered 29% more views than the previous years’ counterpart, hitting 108.7 million viewers from across the globe.

So as we approach the opening weekend of the new season, have formula 1 adopted any new marketing strategies over the off-season, or has it just been more of the same?

As per formula 1’s corporate strategies, their official marketing goals are to:

- Build targeted campaigns with recognised partners that strengthen perceptions of F1 as the ultimate racing and entertainment spectacle.

- Access popular culture to ignite people’s passion for F1 through influencer partnerships.

In terms of helping people become more immersed in F1 as more of an entertainment spectacle than just a sport, the Netflix original series ‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive’ plays a big part in doing this. The series premiered in 2019 and provides viewers with a behind-the-scenes view of the drivers and races competing in the Formula One World Championship. The fourth season (2021 race season) was released on 11th March 2022, a week before the opening weekend of the new season, which helped create hype for regular viewers and reminded them to watch, but also offers a way for new viewers to become engaged with the sport and become fans of certain drivers and racing teams. This is a very similar strategy that has been recently used in football, such as the Amazon Prime series ‘All or Nothing’ which has followed and given similar insight to premier league football clubs Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

The digital sphere is becoming increasingly more important in all industries, especially sports. The F1 social and digital sphere is increasingly more successful year after year, as in 2021 they were the fastest-growing major sports league on the planet in terms of follower growth and saw the highest engagement rate with social posts compared to other major sports in 2021. They are so successful as they swear by their content creation goals, which are to:

- Produce original and tailored content to deepen fan engagement.

- Increase fan interactions by creating engaging content available through always-on social and digital platforms.

Another way in which F1 markets their product is through where they host the events throughout the season. Instead of other sports such as football where their international tournaments are usually in one host country (with Euro 2020 as an exception), Formula 1 hosts each event weekend in a different location, so far it has visited over 34 different countries, which has creatively expanded the sports fanbase. It has taken their product to a global scale, giving fans from across the globe an unmissable opportunity to experience a live Formula 1 event and become lifelong consumers.

Formula 1 also has many world-renowned sponsors, from Pirelli, Heineken, Emirates to DHL. They all serve a specific purpose that gives the brands opportunities to have their name associated with the Formula 1 brand. Certain events will promote mainly their products, like the beer sold will mostly be Heineken at races. A further example of this is on the official F1 website, there is an official countdown to the beginning of the season, sponsored by Rolex, its official timekeeping partner. This is just one of many examples of how they make their sponsors feel valued, enticing more businesses to invest with the brand and grow even further.

A way that F1 is expanding their product into other spheres is through gamification. They offer a similar ‘game’ to that of football with their ‘fantasy’ feature, which is an effective way of getting a younger audience involved with the sport. They also have multiple console games and mobile gaming to engage audiences in the off-season and when races are not on, it also helps audiences affiliate and engages with teams and drivers to become fans, encouraging them to become lifelong consumers.

Formula 1 was one of the first major sports to embrace blockchain technology, to begin to move into web 3, as they made this move in 2019 by launching ‘Animoca Brands’ F1 Delta Time’ game, but after three years, the Ethereum-based game is ending in March 2022, and Animoca Brands will give NFT holders replacement NFTs for another racing game, alongside tokens and other benefits.

However, web 3 certainly is not going anywhere, as the premier league are the latest of many global sports organisations to become associated with NFTs and the new digital space. The fact that Formula 1 is an official partner with Crypto.com (they signed a 5-year deal) and Aston Martin released a collection of NFTs in association with them reaffirms the fact that NFTs and web 3 are 100% going to be a staple in the future of revenue making and marketing in Formula 1.

This begs the question, is Formula 1 going to be successful in implementing web 3 across their digital sphere? Let us know your opinions in the comments...