A very recurring topic in recent years is global warming caused by humans and their activities with the relationship between motorsport and sustainability becoming increasingly important.
This problem, with the consequent criticisms and attempts to run for cover, has not spared the world of sport, in particular motorsport, which has always been accused of emitting more carbon dioxide due to the use of racing vehicles, although studies indicate that these emit only 1% and that over 70% of CO2 emissions are due to logistics and travel, a factor common to many sports.
As a result, sponsoring companies pay more and more attention to the sustainability of a particular sport before investing large sums of money. The ball then passed to the leagues and to the teams who had to develop sustainability strategies and programs to meet the needs of potential sponsors. And in this sense, which of the two top motorsport series is doing better?
Now in its eighth edition, over time Formula E has made some changes not only from a technical point of view and therefore related to the cars, such as improvements to the electric batteries in such a way as to compete an entire E-Prix with only one battery, but also from an environmental point of view: in the first four seasons the series implemented a recycling program for all first-generation Li-Ion batteries. Since 2018, however, it has begun to tackle the problem of disposable plastic bottles by installing water dispensers during events. Finally, in 2021, it pioneered the recycling of carbon fibre from broken car parts.
All this, together with the right measurement and offsetting of carbon emissions, has allowed it to become the first sports championship entirely recognized as carbon neutral.
The Formula E Championship, at the forefront of sustainability, in its short course of life has already been awarded multiple certifications at a global level: in 2020 it was awarded three stars for environmental sustainability by the FIA (International Automobile Federation), while in 2021 it obtained the ISO20121 certification (management standard for the sustainable organization of events) and received the highest score from what is the first and only sustainability index, the "Sustainable Motorsport Index" created by Enovation Consulting which examines 106 international motorsport championships.
But what about the best-known and most-followed Formula 1? Always considered the least sustainable championship, in recent years it has made great strides in this field, so much so that it was awarded three FIA stars in 2021, also thanks to the hard work of the various participating teams, who seem to have taken the issue of sustainability very seriously.
In addition, the series has set itself a very ambitious goal, namely the achievement of a zero-emissions level by 2030. This goal goes beyond the technology of car engines but also concerns the total reduction of the waste of resources on track and logistics optimization. In fact, from 2023 the races will be grouped by continent, to avoid frequent trips from one side of the globe to the other.
However, sustainability is not only environmental but also social. It should be emphasized that both Formula 1 and Formula E have developed very interesting projects, such as: “F1 in Schools”, “Girls on Track” and “Project Pitlane”. Projects that aim to bring young people closer to the study of science subjects, to bring girls into contact with a world historically with a male connotation, and the development of 20,000 NHS ventilators during the pandemic.
In the "Enovation Consulting's sustainability index", Formula 1 took second place, just behind its "cousin" Formula E, but the imminent arrival of other car manufacturers and the ongoing sustainability strategy with the use of 100% biofuel from 2025 suggests that, within a few years, the positions could align and Formula 1, thanks also to the ever-growing and vastly superior audience to Formula E, could be the place to be.
If you are interested in understanding more about how your company can align with motorsport and sustainability, give us, at Drive, a call.
If in the 80s and 90s Formula 1 teams were fighting for the biggest sponsorship in the tobacco industry, long banned due to its negative effects on people and the environment, now they are still looking for the most remunerative sponsorship in the world that's why we are talking about the relationship between cryptocurrencies and Formula 1.
Taking a small step back, it is useful to explain what cryptocurrencies actually are: these are digital currencies, think of the most famous Bitcoin, used in virtual transactions, recorded in decentralised ledgers called blockchains.
Their relevance to the world of Formula 1 is confirmed by the fact that Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, has entered into a partnership agreement with Liberty Media, becoming a Global Partner of F1.
On the team side, by now almost all Formula 1 teams have signed sponsorship agreements with companies in cryptocurrencies and their derivatives (NFT, blockchain): only Haas and Williams are missing, but one imagines they will be added to the list soon. Instead, Aston Martin was the first team to decide to operate a sponsorship in this sector, signing an agreement with the aforementioned Crypto.com in March 2021. On the other hand, Red Bull Racing closed the largest sponsorship deal in the cryptocurrency sector with ByBit: we are talking about a rumoured $150 million over three years.
More specifically, in which sectors are cryptocurrencies most used? This is a legitimate question, if you think, for example, of the strategy implemented by Alfa Romeo, which has decided to make its way into the world of decentralised finance with a partnership with Floki.
But there is more: the world of cryptocurrencies has even revolutionised the sport-fan relationship. A further milestone is that with cryptocurrencies, it is possible to buy NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), i.e. certificates of ownership for digital goods. Mercedes, for example, has chosen FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, as a trading partner, through whose app it is possible to buy NFTs related to the Mercedes brand and the world of Formula 1.
This recent indissoluble link between Formula 1 and cryptocurrencies brings with it problems of no small relevance: while the Formula 1 world is constantly seeking to become greener, the world of cryptocurrencies does not seem to want to follow in its footsteps. Cryptocurrencies, to be created, currently require a process called 'mining', which consumes a lot of energy and releases carbon dioxide. In addition, cryptocurrencies are not yet well regulated from a financial and consumer protection point of view worldwide.
However, at least for the time being, nobody seems to be too concerned about it. On the contrary, everyone is betting on the financial potential of the cryptocurrency world. And if you are interested to know more, give us at Drive a call.
Is it possible to recreate a casual clothing line inspired by motorsport? We asked Gabriele Pedone, CEO of Racing Spirit, the clothing brand of the Racing Force Group, which already includes iconic motorsport brands such as OMP and Bell.
Can you tell us the story of Racing Spirit and how the idea of founding this clothing brand came about?
The story began in 2012 by a nice coincidence when, as OMP, we recreated with costume designers the suits of the drivers who participated in the 1976 championship for the production of the film "Rush", directed by Ron Howard.
Towards the end of the production, given the success we were having with the suits and helmets, we were asked if we could also produce some garments for the mechanics in the movie: this is where we started the Racing Spirit project, which, in 2018, was then transformed into a company dedicated to motorsport-inspired clothing.
In your opinion, what is it about Racing Spirit garments that make them stand out from others on the market?
There's a huge choice of fabrics and fabric technologies on the market, but no one has ever considered or developed this aspect with a dedicated brand in the motorsport sector. We have applied those technologies and our experience from motorsport to create this brand of technical yet casual clothing that would meet the needs of our consumers.
Are you planning to create a clothing line that is not so much casual, but more elegant and that follows the fashion world, or do you prefer to stay on the more casual style at the moment?
At the moment we want to focus on what we do well and what we understand well, which is motorsport, so obviously, the next step is to expand our target audience but to create sportswear, not fashion. We feel closer to brands like Patagonia, North Face, Colmar, North Sails, and Quicksilver rather than to pure fashion brands like Stone Island, Napapijri, or AlphaTauri.
What are your short-term objectives in terms of brand strategy and how do you intend to position yourself in the market?
The short-term goal is to further establish ourselves in the motorsport industry. We tell a true story, our brand is born from two established motorsport brands: Bell, born in 1954, and OMP, born in 1973.
We want to build on our heritage, make Racing Spirit even more recognizable in our world, and then move out of this sector to hit a wider target audience with inspirational sportswear.
As a company, we focus a lot on our WHY: we are passionate about the sport, we are highly involved in the sport and we want to turn all the experiences motorsport has given us into something new. As in motorsport, where everything is well planned and detailed, our products are designed down to the smallest detail to ensure that our consumers get great performance with highly functional and aesthetically pleasing products.
Quoting Bruce Springsteen, for many years sponsorship experts have defined the early 2000s as the glory days of F1 sponsorship when tobacco and financial companies were investing tens of millions in the sport. Today, after a decade of struggles for F1 teams to sign big deals, we are witnessing a new F1 sponsorship golden era and the main players are without a doubt technology companies, but they are not the only ones.
We have already discussed in another article why technology companies are investing so heavily in the sport, but why this is happening now and why F1 is attracting again brands from a variety of sectors?
Digital Channels: since the acquisition by Liberty Media, Formula 1 has become the fastest-growing sport on digital channels and today has 49.1m total followers and has seen the highest engagement rate with social posts compared to other major sports in 2021.
New Narrative: Opening up social media channels and the creation of behind-the-scenes content has given the sport the opportunity to take the narrative to another level. In this way, fans around the world got to know the challenges, complexities and peculiarities of the sport, while companies have discovered so many brand stories they can tell using Formula 1 as a platform.
Growing Markets: As a consequence, there have been significant rises in the last season's cumulative audience in several markets, including many of F1's biggest markets. The Netherlands stood out with an increase of +81% Year on Year, but there were also significant gains in the USA (+58% YoY), France (+48% YoY), Italy (+40% YoY) and the UK (+39% YoY).
Real Sustainability: Formula 1 is effectively making giant steps to make the sport more sustainable as possible: F1 cars have already a hybrid engine and they are way more efficient than our road cars, additionally they utilised E10 fuel, a mixture of 90% fossil fuel and 10% ethanol. But with the launch of the new generation of Formula 1 engines in 2025, they will run on 100% sustainable fuel.
Conclusively, Formula 1 did not rest on being the most popular annual global sport, they have listened to the brand's needs and taken the sport to a new level in so many aspects. That's why we are talking about a new golden era for F1 sponsorship and we, at Drive, are looking forward to speaking with you.
One of the car manufacturers that truly believes in the power of motorsport as a global marketing platform is Nissan. That's why we had a chat with Tommaso Volpe, General Manager of Global Motorsport and Partnerships, to understand how Nissan approaches motorsport and what are the overall objectives.
Nissan is in Formula E, GT World Challenge, Super GT. What does motorsport represent for you today?
Surely motorsport, for us as for many other car manufacturers, is a platform on which to showcase not only the technical skills of Nissan when directly involved in the development of the car but also a platform through which to create engagement with fans and audiences and to promote the brand by giving a new narrative. In short, it has a double value: a technological and a marketing and communication one.
You have been in Formula 1 for about 10 years with the Infiniti brand, first as a partner of Red Bull Racing and then of Renault. Infiniti, however, was a technical partner and therefore the operation was not just simple marketing. Does the same principle apply to Formula E? How was the transition from F1 to FE as a marketing platform?
The projects were initially developed in parallel to serve two different brands: Nissan entered Formula E when Infiniti was still present in Formula 1 with Renault. We cannot, therefore, speak of a real transition, but in any case, the underlying logic is the same. Infiniti had entered Formula 1 to increase its brand awareness, especially in Europe, since it was still a young brand. However, the costs and commitment required by F1 made the decision lean towards becoming a sponsor of Red Bull Racing without having an effective technical involvement in the first place. However, a car manufacturer cannot be satisfied with just marketing actions so, from the beginning, an active entry into the sport was envisaged. This was then achieved with the Alliance (Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi) who decided to enter F1 with the Renault brand and the natural choice was to have Infiniti as a technical partner in the development of the hybrid engine. For Nissan, on the other hand, the decision from the beginning was to enter Formula E as an all-around team.
From a technological point of view, F1 is always portrayed as the environment in which to do R&D for a subsequent transfer of solutions to road cars, even now with the hybrid maintaining a certain competitive advantage over the electric. How much of what you develop in Formula E can you bring to electric cars? Even in a comparison with Infiniti's period in F1.
First of all, they are two different projects. Both Infiniti and Nissan already had a wealth of experience in technology before entering their respective sports. Nissan was even pioneering in the electric sector well before Formula E: we have been working on projects involving the electrification of cars for 70 years and we sold the world's first electric car aimed at the mass audience (the Nissan Leaf) 11 years ago. So, in reality, we went through the reverse process: Nissan transferred its 'road cars' knowledge to racing cars. In the long term, however, we have extended our participation in the championship until at least 2026. Our plan is therefore to start taking the more classic path: from the track to the road. For Infiniti, the story is similar: the first performance hybrid engine of the Q70 was launched well before it became the power unit technology in F1.
Many manufacturers are currently aiming for the WEC, attracted by the new Hypercar regulations. What are your thoughts on that?
The WEC is becoming more and more interesting, especially some categories with approval shared between Europe and the USA. At the moment we are focused on the FE, but we keep under observation all the championships, always keeping in mind the same criteria: participation in a category must make sense on a technological level, with possibly previous know-how, and it must make sense from a marketing point of view in a broad sense.
In 1991, Genesis were singing those words "you buy a piece of paradise, you buy a piece of me". Well, as a technology brand you can buy a piece of paradise in the sports industry, let's see what that is. You don't have to be a sports sponsorship genius to see that technology brands are dominating the landscape nowadays. This is a trend involving the whole sports industry and there is no sign of slowing down. However, there is an even stronger trend: Formula 1 and technology brands.
According to the latest Power List, published by the Sports Technology Group, Formula 1 is at the top of the ranking, followed by NBA and UEFA. Why is that?
Simple, whilst other sports are "supported" by technology, Formula 1 is "driven" by technology instead. But more than that, Formula 1 is where innovation is made and then applied to other environments: from manufacturing, retail and pharmaceutical.
Data and analytics are now present in every sport and footballers or tennis players are monitored to understand how they can play better and more efficiently, but the level of real-time analysis of data that takes place in Formula 1 during a race is simply unthinkable for other sports. A racecar deploys more than 100 sensors onboard and produces 900GB of data each weekend, those data are the keys to unlock performance.
Cybersecurity is another big topic. Of course, every sports organisation has a certain level of secret data that they want to protect but in most cases, those data are related to the business side rather than the sporting one. Differently, the tyres' degradation level or the operating temperatures of the brakes are the kind of data that in Formula 1 defines who wins and loses.
Artificial Intelligence is also something that is increasing its presence in the sports environment, but Formula 1 teams have been working on it for several years. During a race, a team can hear many radio communications also from other teams and extrapolating crucial information from these conversations can be a game-changer in terms of race strategy. But to do that quickly and while cars are going at 300 km/h, teams utilise AI systems. Are there other sports where technology plays such a big role? We don't think so.
The storytelling is then very authentic and the audience is the perfect one: in fact, 57% of fans are senior decision-makers and they are 49% more likely to work in an IT role than average, representing exactly the people to sell technological solutions to.
Additionally, more than 300 brands are involved in the sport and B2B opportunities are simply limitless.
So, what are you waiting for? At Drive, we are looking forward to speaking with you regarding the relationship between Formula 1 and technology brands.
Many times we have heard marketing executives saying the sports sponsorship was not the right tool for them because they could not measure the ROI. This statement couldn't be further from the truth and we have interviewed Samantha Lamberti (Managing Director, Nielsen Sports Southern Europe) to understand how analytical and measurable sports sponsorships are today.
What is the role of Nielsen and your team in motorsports?
Nielsen is the global leader in data analytics in the sports and sponsorship sector, including motorsport. Specifically, it helps to support and settle all sponsorship transactions, in particular, to calculate the return on investment of sponsorships and to understand how to maximize the sponsorship account. In particular, we support both the rights holders - the teams, Formula 1, MotoGP -, and the brands in understanding how, or where to invest or the type of investment to request through what is the sponsorship life-cycle.
In the last ten years, the concept and structure of sponsorships have changed a lot. What has changed in your approach and in the services you offer?
Nielsen Sports was born as a company that originally focused on media evaluation, but over the years the customer needs have evolved, and so we did. Over time, indeed, focal points such as the impact of sponsorships on the sales of the sponsoring brand have gained increasing importance. Just last year we released a solution - ROSI 2.0 - which, by leveraging on the know-how of Nielsen, provides the ability to estimate the outcome both predictively and post-event. Nielsen has a Marketing Effectiveness based department that deals with Marketing Mix Modeling for big brands. By using this internal expertise and combining it with Nielsen Sports’ specific data and expertise, we were able to create a model that is able to quantitatively determine the impact on sales and brand equity a brand generates from one or more sponsorships.
Between sports properties and sponsors, who tend to be most interested in these innovative services?
Speaking of sport in general, there are many interested customers: from federations to teams, to organizers of mega-events, to brands that previously did not include sponsorships in their analyzes. The requests grow in number and depth when we talk about sponsorships of significant size. However, we are still in an initial phase where the market needs more checks, but at the same time requires more strictness in understanding the return on investments generated by sponsorships.
Taking a step back and returning to a stage prior to signing the sponsorship, Nielsen is also specialized in sports property support work to create a data-driven business strategy. Can you describe how this step takes place?
Nielsen supports the rights holders throughout the sponsorship cycle: starting from the analysis of the fans, for example, using our database, we build models capable of associating the categories/brands that would benefit the most from the sponsorship, always keeping in mind key data such as viewership, fans’ propensity to buy, brand’s investment capacity.
A very recent trend in sports sponsorships is the esports world. How do you manage it?
We have a department dedicated to esports which, in addition to providing the same services used by traditional sports, also defines the opportunities of joining this sector both for the brand and for the right holders. In particular, we are able to contextualize esports with traditional sports and to explain the main differences to those who still don’t know much about this field.
Several times we have been asked by a brand if signing a sports sponsorship just for one race was possible and our answer has always been "Yes". However, this does not mean that it is what we suggested to do. The question is: one-race deal: good or bad?
Brands, particularly the ones that are new to sports sponsorship, tend to believe that a one-race deal can be the solution to evaluate the potential results of a year-long sports sponsorship, but it is not.
A sports sponsorship is a toolbox and every brand needs a learning time and a strategy to fully optimise it and generate the first results, that's why one-off activities are not generally the way to go.
A one-race deal is anti-economical and difficult to integrate into a wider brand marketing strategy. Moreover, the personnel inside the brand does not have the time to understand how to utilise the sponsorship assets.
So, we could say that overall a one-race deal is bad. However, there are situations which can be useful. For example, if your objectives as a brand are focused on that single market and your only ambitions are media value generation and delivery of hospitality experiences, it can work.
Also, if you have already signed a sports sponsorship deal for the season after, you can use the one-race deal to announce the deal and have your marketing team familiarise you with the team.
In conclusion, a one-race deal can be useful in a couple of situations but it is not an alternative to a full-season deal. Instead, it can be a total waste of money if there is no strategic reason behind it.
If there is a brand that is truly motorsport-driven, that brand is Motul. They are involved in almost any form of racing and we took the opportunity to have a chat with Romain Grabowski, Head of Brand, to understand how they approach a partnership and what are their future plans.
Motul is a brand with a strong heritage in motorsport, how everything started and how you can evolve such a strong brand every year?
Exactly, Motul decided to be involved in motorsport from the very beginning to develop and improve the product but then from 1954, specifically at the 24h of Le Mans, Motul understood that motorsport was also a great platform to raise the awareness of the brand. However, because of sponsorship regulations, we had to wait until 1972 to be the sponsor of a car, in that case, a BMW Schnitzer. Today, we are still in motorsport because even if it is not mainstream as it used to be, there is still a strong community of passionate people and at Motul, we are truly passionate ourselves about motorsport and we want to meet the fans and show the technicalities of our products. Moreover, racing is the best place to build relationships with OEMs.
You are involved in so many championships, how do you select what to sponsor and are you afraid that there might be some cross-over of audiences in some instances?
No, we are not afraid. We have a very clear strategy in motorsport: we are very involved in motorcycle where we are n.1 brand and we feel that is our responsibility to keep this position. Regarding cars, GT racing is very important for us because it is a good compromise between being premium and being close to road cars. Then, we like endurance racing because few clients are looking for performance, but all of them wants reliability. So, endurance racing is the perfect place to showcase our capabilities.
Do you see Motul more as a motorcycle-dedicated brand rather than a car-dedicated brand and what are your plans?
Both, but we can actually lubricate also marine and truck engines. When we decide to enter a market, we start activating the motorcycle community because it is made of passionate and DIYers and after that, we use these solid foundations to access the passenger car market. So very often we get to the car customer via motorcycle.
You recently entered the lifestyle space, tell us more about it.
We are one of the few companies that can do it in a very genuine way because of our strong heritage since 1853. And we are doing it because we want to share more with our fans, until 2020 we were able to provide very high-quality lubricants. Now we can provide clothing and step by step we will be able to provide much more. But we will only do something that is aligned to the Motul brand and our environment.
As we enter the final quarter of this action-packed year, we thought to look at the key sports marketing trends in 2021.
Clearly, many of them are the consequence of the disruption that the COVID-19 pandemic created in our world, but some are here to stay and worth considering if you are planning your sports marketing strategy.
Embracing complexity: Changing fan habits and new technology are transforming the way that sport is delivered and consumed. This trend has only been accelerated by the pandemic, creating a complex, fragmented distribution landscape that offers both challenges and opportunities for the sports industry.
Entertain me: While demand for non-live content has been growing in recent years, the pandemic has cemented it as a crucial part of the way fans engage with sports. The lack of live events drove rights holders to open up archives and create different experiences while sparking greater interest in content beyond the field of play.
Performance and flexible partnerships: There are significant pressures on the budgets available for sports sponsorships, from the increased attractiveness of digital ads to the economic fallout of the pandemic and the impact of event postponement and spectator-free stadiums.
Tech boom: Data matters more than ever, fans are demanding ever-evolving ways of engaging with sport content and disruptors are reshaping every aspect of the market. During this time of transformation rights holders and brands must look to embrace the opportunities presented by the boom in innovation in sports technology.
A new essential ingredient: The mainstream potential of the esports phenomenon was well established before the pandemic as one of the fastest-growing sports segments in the world. But, the restricted access to in-person sports events as COVID-19 spread across the globe drew in even more viewers and competitors, including those from traditional sports.
While ongoing uncertainty about the resumption of play in various markets continues to have an impact, there are positive trends that have either accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic or look set to soar during the transition period and beyond.
These trends offer rights holders and brands attractive opportunities to further develop or establish revenue streams and to drive deeper and richer fan engagement in the short term while positioning for higher growth once social and travel restrictions are eased.
As a sports marketing expert that supports brands to anticipate and capitalise on new trends in sports marketing, Drive stands ready to help rights holders and companies navigate current uncertainty to make the best strategic choices to harness the potential of these key trends.
