Fireworks, Hamilton, Verstappen, millions of dollars, fast cars and race tracks in different big cities of the world. The world of Formula 1 is about intensity, and pushing the limits of both the athlete and the team, but also the technology that surrounds the sport. In the latter, technology and marketing have been used in an extremely intelligent way, with the result that in recent years Formula 1 is one of the sports with the highest growth in audience and movement on social networks.

With controversy and giving something to talk about both on and off the track, this sport has managed to have new followers of different age ranges. Formerly the target segment was aimed at men around the 70s and older, but today the panorama has changed, having much more diverse followers, which is reflected in the increase in audience and tickets purchased.

How did exactly the marketing help F1 to be so popular today?

The times change

Bernie Ecclestone, former chief executive of the Formula One Group, was focused on offering this show to an older segment and with enough money to pay for the transmission of the race on TV or to pay for the tickets, which is a luxury for some.

If we take the Barcelona race for example, just going on Sunday would cost €90, and for the weekend it varies between €130 and €495.

In 2018 Liberty Media bought Formula One group, bringing several changes and a more modern perspective of how to relate to the client with a longer-term vision than the previous ones. They were open enough to find and charm a new audience and not just older men.

The most symbolic change was the logo, but they also made many more technical changes to give a better show. Formula 1 has always stood out for the deployment of technology it uses to broadcast races on weekends. High-resolution cameras, helicopters, microphones and explanatory graphics.

The new owners of the company began to rethink the whole scheme, from putting different camera angles, microphones in different places to feel the real sound of the car, and new rules to make the race more competitive, all so that nearly half a billion viewers feel a closer experience. In total there are 90 cameras and 147 microphones.

Everything to improve the user experience

CEO Chasey Carey has a vision of transforming F1 from motorsport to an entertainment spectacle. To make it more competitive, they have put in place more technical and financial regulations, which means an important change for the teams.  “We have 21 races,” he said. “We should have 21 Super Bowls. They should be week-long extravaganzas with entertainment and music, events that capture a whole city.”

In addition, 360 cameras have been implemented, which means that VR technology is being experimented with and in the future we could watch the races from our own homes, seeing all the detail that surrounds a single-vehicle, improving how the experience of the Formula 1 is lived and made a game-changer on sports.

“Eventually, we hope to be able to stream that live from the car and then people at home could watch the main feed on their TV and [a 360° feed] on a mobile device,” says Steve Smith, responsible for the onboard camera team.

Data is King

With the help of Amazon Web, mass information and machine learning began to be applied to make use of targeted social media marketing. With more data, the company started to understand better the necessities of the fan base, and through social media they understood how to make a very technical and complicated sport much more friendly, getting to less traditional and younger spectators than before.

A lot of activity was generated on social media, especially on Instagram, where it is possible to reach an audience with attractive content, like videos and images, that manage to create awareness in the user. In this way, it is possible to have a younger base and therefore support the sport for a longer time.

This time not only the F1 social media accounts have a leading role. Garages and drivers are also part of most social networks, resulting in many more followers and fans of a specific driver or team. So athletes also become influencers; Now it is common to hear things like “Hamilton hasn’t done a post in a month. Do you think he’s going to retire?”

 

This is highly relevant to the team, not only to get a closer relationship with their followers but to the sponsorships, as they manage to land vital new deals and revenue opportunities to remain competitive and have a bigger budget.

On YouTube, they began to show the highlights of every race, which was a complete success since people could analyse the sport better and have a more specific opinion on different situations. Thanks to this they were able to double the number of followers on this channel reaching 7.33M subscribers and 4,245,630,830 views.

“In 2018 the number of users across Formula 1’s social media platforms also grew significantly, with the total number of followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube reaching 18.5m (+53.7 compared to 2017), confirming Formula 1 as the fastest growing major sport on social media platforms.”

Source: https://corp.formula1.com/formula-1-announces-audience-figures-for-2020/

In addition to this, the company began to think about how it could give the fans of Formula 1 an experience with more detail. But it’s much more than just showing the calendar, the ranking or the position of the poles. Through the “Formula1” App, a new channel is created where fans can have analysis, compare drivers, real-time news and graphics.

Thanks to the fact that they now have much more data, not just a solid base of who the customers are and their characteristics, but a historical and live base of what happens in each race and related activity, Liberty Media has managed to deliver accurate information about the drivers in real-time.

As they have a historical database and an algorithm working with Amazon Web they can see stats of the drivers in a very specific way. For example, you can compare drivers from different eras and compare in real-time if they are breaking any records.

From Drivers to Stars

In 2018, the year that Liberty Media began to be in charge of F1, a deal was signed with Netflix to make a docu-series about the entire world that surrounds the sport, having access to intimate spaces of the different teams and drivers to be able to document moments previously were impossible to see.

Thanks to the series, it was possible to see the real intensity of the sport, the drama behind it, the politics between the teams, who are all the characters that participate on and off the track, and everything that makes this sport possible. What was previously difficult to understand suddenly became simple and interesting for many.

Source: Statista,2022

The result was extremely successful. The series brought not only increased value for those already passionate about the sport, but also new TV audience interest and even boosted F1 ticket sales. A sport that was previously only for older men began to be accessible to all ages and genders.

“The number of women attending the event has risen by 30% compared to last year, according to Soberon, who is the president of race promoter CIE.”

“50% of fans who have started following the sport within the last 12 months are female, with 46% of all those interested in F1 now women.”

Going for an existing gap 

As can be seen above, along with the change of ownership of the company came extreme changes in how the future of the company is seen. Unlike the previous owners, Liberty Media was able to see an opportunity to find potential followers through social media and also the implementation of new technologies.

Figure 1. The Elusive Fan- Irving & Kotler

If we take into account the Fan Involvement Ladder in Figure 1, we can see that the company initially focused on the first two steps. Most of the new fans were on the “Indifferent” step, people who have no interest in this sport, but then through social media or multimedia content began to attract their attention and little by little they managed to have a larger and more solid base of followers.

Data management in marketing is key for detecting these existing opportunities and gaps, since without precise information it is difficult to visualise a specific approach to the opportunities that can lead a traditional project to be a leader in technology and marketing strategy.

Marketing has become essential for the survival of some sports or shows. Thanks to the fact that they had more information, they knew how to focus time and money on the necessary resources to capture this segment that had not been attracted previously. People who were never interested in this specific sport now can’t miss watching a race on the weekend.

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT BELOW! 

Source:

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/we-have-21-races-we-should-have-21-super-bowls-what-f1-can-learn-from-the-nfl/3221518/

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/formula-one-liberty-media-chase-carey-bernie-ecclestone#:~:text=There%20are%2025%20cameras%20positioned,each%20of%20the%2020%20cars.

https://racingnews365.com/which-drivers-have-the-most-social-media-followers

https://corp.formula1.com/formula-1-announces-audience-figures-for-2020/

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.formula-1s-tv-and-digital-audiences-grow-for-the-second-year-running.OqTPVNthtZKFbKqBaimKf.html

https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/26/netflix-f1-series-caused-surge-in-interest-from-women/

https://sportcal.com/Insight/Features/126889

The Elusive Fan- Irving & Kotler 2007

https://www-statista-com.uow.idm.oclc.org/statistics/480129/cable-or-broadcast-tv-networks-formula-one-f1-racing-watched-within-the-last-12-months-usa/

 

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Sponsor a Gambian Girl (SaGG) Foundation is a charitable organisation that focuses its efforts to change inequality in terms of education and gender in The Gambia, helping girls to complete their school education.

Through its website and presence on social networks, the SaGG Foundation presents competitors, such as Abaana, “charity set up for the benefit of less privileged people in Africa” and ​​Plan International UK (PIUK), that “work with girls and boys growing up in some of the world’s poorest communities”. 

We will see how foundations handle social networks and interact with their target market. SaGG foundation and Abanna are similar in social media size, but PIUK is a bigger foundation so we will compare their social media to see the reason why they perform better. 

Social Media Listening

First of all when you google search for the keyword “Girls education charity gambia”, both Abaana and ​​PIUK are up in the paid search, and SaGG Foundation is the first in the natural search, which reflects a correct use of SEO.

On the SaGG Foundation’s and Plan International’s webpage there is an active blog, which is very positive for creating relevant content around the situation and the institution. Abanna also presents a news section which is a very good way to keep informed and reflect on the impact of their work.

Facebook and Instagram are the most used social media channels in general. Despite all having the number of followers shown above, and being active, posting almost 1 daily post, they are all low on reactions and engagement. They have few likes and comments on all the publications.

SaGG has low-quality content; The photos and videos don’t look professional, and it’s difficult to read the text in it. Abaana in this sense presents better quality pictures. The two present too much text in each publication, so in general, both should reduce the text to short explanations and create better quality content.

On this matter PIUK does a better job creating actualised content with a short text, having a simple and clear call to action, always anchored to the link to donate.

The focus and tone of voice used by the SaGG Foundation are for a female audience; making them protagonists they only use female faces in addition to pink and other strong colours in most of its publications, unlike the other two institutions that have slightly more sober or standard colours, appealing to the help of a more general public, and focusing on the general problem and not on gender.

All of them are active with Instagram stories. They have good profile stories explaining the foundation, what they do and what is achieved, with a cheerful and hopeful message. Showing a positive story will make the viewer feel hope and that this situation can be reversed. 

On Twitter, SaGG Foundation publishes every 1 or 2 days, so it remains quite active. The problem is that the images and content are similar to the channels mentioned above. Anyway, the message contains a call to action and the text is shorter. Abaana has been inactive since 2018 on this social media and PIUK correctly focuses on publishing attractive and simple videos and images and leaving the text more than anything to the call to action.

Sagg Foundation has some videos on YouTube but the potential of this channel has not been exploited. PIUK presents a wide variety of videos (more than 100 videos), showing different news, children’s situations and insights related to the importance of the problem under discussion and the foundation.

In the case of LinkedIn, the SaGG Foundation uses the appropriate number of words, since in this social network there is the possibility of posting something a little longer. PIUK also correctly takes advantage of this channel to thank the contributions and demonstrate that the help is not in vain, generating interaction with users.

Building Trust in the Foundation

No one would give a large amount of money to an institution that does not know specifically where those funds are destined or that is transparent in its use. “Trust in charities has decreased significantly since 2016 from 51% to 48% agreeing that they believe charities to be trustworthy.” 

Source: (CAF, 2019)

“Successful organizations overcome cynicism by proactively working to build trust. They make it clear that donations are helping beneficiaries, by openly sharing their accomplishments, especially the important outcomes for each year.” (Rees, 2021)

To whom should charity be directed?

People of different generations have motivations and emotional attachments to different current problems. Statista 2021 states: “People that were over the age of 75 were the most likely age group to give to charity in England and Wales in 2020. By contrast, those aged between 16 and 24, the youngest age group surveyed, were the least likely to give to charity, at 50 per cent.”

Source: (Clark, Statista, 2021)

They also say: “In 2021, approximately 67 per cent of women in England advised that they had given to charity, compared with 59 per cent of men. Throughout this provided time period, a higher share of women gave to charity than men.”

Source: (Clark, Statista, 2021)

Institute of FundRaising made a study where they concluded that “the only area where men showed greater support was in the sum donated, with an average gift of £29 compared with £23.” (Plummer, 2017) 

Elders on social media

What channel to use to generate a relationship or attract the attention of this age group?
In order to reach out to them, we need to create content on their most used social media, Facebook and Youtube.

Source: (Social Media for Older Adults | Senior Tech Club, 2022)

Recommendations

• Generate appropriate content for Facebook. By increasing the quality of the pictures and videos the user will engage better and believe in the institution.
• Content diversification. More content pillars in each network, but also differentiate one network from another according to its potential.
• Giving more information and results will show transparency in the institution, so people will feel safe giving money.
• The current blog could be written by external collaborators and also promoted on other social networks.
• Add a Newsletter on the website to keep the people involved informed.
• Focus on the older age range, as they are the ones that give more money to charities.
• Women are indeed more involved in charities than men, but when men donate, they donate more, that’s why they shouldn’t be discarded from the targeting.
• Develop more content for Youtube, as it is one of the most used social media of this target group.
• Youtube videos can be used for advertising on the same channel and also on other platforms, showing quality content.

Finally, we leave you with a video proposal, which is mainly intended for Facebook and YouTube. The idea is to show the story of one of the foundation’s girls so people can see the results achieved with the contribution, and in this way, it seeks to promote awareness to our target customers, for them to feel attracted and then engage them.

Below is the video proposal following all the ideas raised above:

References:

https://www-statista-com.uow.idm.oclc.org/statistics/1234458/number-of-children-out-of-school-in-africa-by-country/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/525663/age-structure-in-gambia/

https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/caf-uk-giving-2019-report-an-overview-of-charitable-giving-in-the-uk.pdf?sfvrsn=c4a29a40_4

https://getfullyfunded.com/why-people-give/

https://www-statista-com.uow.idm.oclc.org/statistics/292936/giving-to-charity-in-england-by-age/

https://www-statista-com.uow.idm.oclc.org/statistics/292929/giving-to-charity-in-england-by-gender/

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