Marketing Strategy that Revived the fate of Formula One part1

 When Lewis Hamilton first came to F1 racing in 2007, he had a 14-inch collar size. Today, that collar size is approximately 18-inch. In a sport where bodies go from 300kph to a standstill in mere moments, G-forces are so high that drivers need to train their neck muscles to insane levels. In fact, Fernando Alonso has a fan-favorite party trick – he can crush a walnut between the side of his head and shoulder!

F1 is an excruciating sport for drivers. Over the 90+ minutes of racing, each driver sweats over 3kg body weight, withstands constant temperatures of over 55 degrees Celcius and loses an average of 40% brain function by the end. In fact, drivers are so weak by the end of the race that there are rules about how heavy the trophies can be!
 

Sports Are a Business

Sports generate incredible amounts of passion, in the athletes and in the fans. And they generate money too. Every team, every organizer, and every sports league (at some level) is doing what they do for the revenues. But most fans and spectators don’t think of business when they think of sports. Even so, sports are serious business. The global sports market has a value of somewhere between $500 and to 600 billion.


The Beginning of F1 Racing

Automobile racing began as soon as the internal combustion engine came into existence in the 1880s. The first true race was reportedly held in 1895 from Paris to Bordeaux and back. It covered a distance of 1178km with cars going at an average speed of 24.15kph.

F1 itself has its roots in the Grand Prix races from the 1920s and 1930s. It officially began in 1950 when the definition for the single-seat racing event was put in place. But mostly, the event was less a business than a racing festival.

The incredible rise of the sport is credited to Bernie Ecclestone, a British business tycoon who turned F1 into a stable business operation. He took over the operation in the 1970s. As such, he was commonly described in journalism as ‘F1 Supremo’.

He brought in the money and safety which have trickled down into all levels of motor racing. With cars now hitting speeds of 370kph, taking pit stops under two seconds, and the sport itself having a turnover of $4 billion annually and employing over 50,000 people in 30 countries, F1 has become the pinnacle of prestige, glamour, technology, and speed.

But, by the time the sport reached 2016, the sheen was somewhat fading away. The 2010 and 2015 F1 global fan surveys revealed significant dissatisfaction in the fan base.

Formula One essentially had an image and a reach problem. There was no direct relationship with fans and third-party digital services were siphoning off fan attention rapidly.

The small team essentially ran F1 as a 68-year-old start-up. It was mostly focused on securing media rights and promoters while ignoring digital, marketing, communications, strategy, research, and fans. It was ironic that the most technologically advanced sport in the world was stubbornly out of touch with the digital world. In short Formula One had a big problem with its marketing strategy.

The Change

It was time for a change. And that came in the form of Liberty Media taking overall commercial operations in 2017. Since the company came from a media background, it treated F1 as a media rather than a sports problem.


The new owners asked Chase Carey to lead the organization. Through his 30-year career in media, Carey had been COO of Fox, Inc., CEO of DirectTV, president and COO of News Corporation, and, most recently, former vice-chairman of 21st Century Fox. At that time the organization also had no formal marketing, promotion, sponsorship, or research departments.

And in media, it is all about the eyeballs. Liberty Media took F1 from a perceived billionaire’s playspace to an accessible ultra-competitive entertainment event dominated by performance and data.

STAY TUNED FOR THE 2ND PART

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