Putting F1 back in poll position

Keeping F1 fans tuned in with no racing.​

Overview:

For decades, Formula 1 had relied on broadcasters and circuits, but neglected its fans. This had left F1 cut out of any direct relationship. We have successfully built the first direct relationship with F1 fans by transforming traditional CRM into an entertainment channel. It drives both long-term engagement and monetization of products and services.

Challenge:

F1’s new owners wanted to put fans back at the heart of F1. They wanted to build a direct fan relationship that formed an indispensable element of the F1 fan’s engagement with the sport. This could offer the opportunity to re-engage fans, rebuild the equity of F1 and grow new revenue streams.  

Insight:

We decided to think like an entertainment channel, not a CRM programme. F1 fans are obsessives. They want to know everything. And they wanted to know it now. So, to nurture and grow that fan base, we gave them exactly what they wanted. The inside track.

Strategy and Approach:

By going beyond sports news, we invited fans into the season as a drama series. Each Grand Prix became the next episode in an unmissable saga, with the drivers, managers, and circuits as the characters. We created a season of stories that fuelled fan passions, told by an F1 insider, delivered directly to fans.  

Through our real-time campaign evaluation, we were able to understand what fans were clicking, sharing, and responding to. From the start, we developed a robust test-and-learn programme to allow us to obtain and implement findings to keep optimising the emails, both in terms of content and style. So, we were able to give fans more of what they wanted.

Results:

Our platform of long-term engagement became the stage for sales activation. The ROI from sales uplift is strong enough to support an extensive always-on program of customer journeys that has helped F1 better understand and serve their fans across the globe. So far, we’ve seen £6m incremental sales and an ROI of 6:1. 

114% more sales (F1 TV, Tickets and Merchandise). Fans in the programme were five times more likely to buy multiple products vs. control group.

Fanbase engagement up to 45.6% over a race weekend, beating the 33% target, 39% of our audience engaged with over 25% of all emails they received. Average open rate 31%.  

17% decrease in F1 TV churn. In lockdown, we maintained engagement benchmarks, delivering an average open rate of 29%. When racing returned in July 2020, we smashed sales targets for F1 TV by 238%.