There is one question that should be asked by any team, venue or even sponsor considering asking for support or giving support in motor racing. The question is, will our association be the right fit?
Will the corporate culture, desired outcomes, and most importantly the personalities “on the ground” coalesce to form a team built for success.
As advertisers we ask this question in a different way. How do we gain permission from consumers to enter their lives. In other words, what are the messages that we can create that prompt the consumer to say that product or service may be the right fit for me.
In this blog we detail a motorsports marketing campaign that has a slightly different twist. One that is in its infancy and represents a sponsor in search of a race team and a race team needing a sponsor. It’s truly an example of two entities creating the right fit.
Oracle’s Big Idea
Yes even a $180 billion company faces marketing dilemmas. In the case of Oracle, they were keen on establishing their place as a global player in cloud technology. And as all modern technology companies do, they were asking themselves, how do we activate our brand, introduce it to younger audiences, what is the “big idea” we need that captures the essence of who we are, and how do we communicate that to a worldwide audience? Their answer, partner with Formula One.
With the growing interest in F1 in across the globe, especially in North America, Oracle realized that an association with the racing league could be a perfect messaging fit that would marry the cutting-edge technology and thrill of auto racing at its highest level with a world leader in advanced computer technology. The big idea: racing powers Oracle, and by association, Oracle powers racing.
Oracle/Red Bull Racing
The fit became clear when Oracle hired Ariel Kellman as CMO in 2020. Kellman had been directly involved in Amazon Webs Services (AWS) work with F1 in the past and was key to guiding Oracle to Red Bull. The attraction of Red Bull wasn’t just it’s spectacular success on the track, but its success building a vast social media presence. In 2022 Red Bull surpassed as the second most supported F1 team with a staggering 92 million fans-second only to Ferrari. This was accomplished by designing a social media marketing program which leveraged the excitement of the Red Bull brand with timely, entertaining content. Oracle realized that an association with Red Bull meant that its customer base (especially younger, tech savvy consumers) would grow by tens of millions with the sign of a pen.
But the right fit wasn’t just Oracle sponsor money for access to Red Bulls fan base. Oracle reciprocated throughout the development phase of their association in 2021 by building a Customer Relations Management (CRM) system for Red Bull to mange their vast fan base. The result: a robust communications system where Red Bull can instantly communicate on a global scale with tens of millions of followers across all of the Red Bull Racing Sponsorships.
What you bring to the table
Oracle/Red Bull Racing is a business relationship on a macro level. Together, the partnership encompasses over 1000 people with Oracle contributing a staggering $100 million per season over five years. While these numbers are symbolic of the scale of a modern Formula One team/sponsor relationship, the necessity of having the right fit is exactly the same whether you’re a global player or a passionate racer seeking support to maintain your team. A sponsor of any race team should be asking themselves one important question: what marketing goal would be achieved by supporting motorsports? And the race team seeking sponsorship support needs to identify, what value added component can we bring to a sponsorship relationship?
Whether you’re a sponsor interested in promoting motorsports as a component of your marketing programs, or a race team, driver, or track looking for support, we encourage you to reach out to DHG MOTO.
We are a creative, hard charging agency dedicated to developing the right fit for you and a motorsports marketing program.