At the beginning of 2019 we launched Year 1 of an exciting partnership with Mercedes AMG-Petronas F1 as an official sponsor for the team. As we outlined the goals of the sponsorship we wanted to do more than just amplify this partnership on social media - we wanted to create a unique experience for our followers that extended the experience of each Grand Prix.
Throughout the Formula 1 2019 season our social media objectives guided our strategy as well as our coverage as we supported select Grands Prix in real time:
One of the themes we wanted to pull through was “High Intensity” or “High Octane”. This drove our cadence; how actively we posted & how often. This came through in our language; with shorter captions, less exposition, more consumable content, with an active voice less evergreen than our normal voice. This also guided our visuals; including the pacing of our videos, the staging of images that lean away from relaxed atmospheres, and the use of assets that tie us directly into the outcome of each Grand Prix. And lastly it came through in the fast motion of our videos, the style of cuts, and the video opportunities we tested on our platforms.
At 6 of the Grands Prix we were on the ground, at the track, generating assets and publishing real time content that amplified our support of the partnership. This included influencer tours, sharing their experiences at Singapore or in Mexico CIty. Driver interviews with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in Montreal, Hockenheim, and Budapest. And concluding with creation of unique art by Meagan Morrison of @travelwritedraw at the historic final Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.
In between the Grands Prix where we had a physical presence we kept our momentum by recasting and recutting high quality moments from the other races including Q&A moments with the drivers remade as a quick video in an Instagram Story.
These quick snips of consumable content not only increased the engaged audience for luxury consumers that also enjoyed F1 but it gave us an opportunity to test and benchmark various opportunities. Like new visual aesthetics for the brand, social placements, and continue to refine our paid targeting to develop a hyper engaged audience of global affluent F1 fans that would stay at a Ritz-Carlton during a Grand Prix.
The persona for our social targeting was a more niche segmentation of our standard profile. This persona is a global, affluent consumer with an interest in travel, and may have traveled recently. They live in either one of the 10 major cities with the highest, most quality engagement for luxury travel or in one of the destinations where we supported a Grand Prix with an on-the-ground presence. They have an interest in Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, and / or Mercedes AMG-Petronas Motorsport. They have no interest in discounts or coupons and use the most modern tech (iPhone X for example) to connect with Facebook or Instagram. They may have an advanced education and when in certain regions they prefer high-value goods.
By the end of Year 1, this strategy was a monumental success which let us re-evaluate our goals for Year 2 to aim even higher than we ever expected.
Year 1 of this partnership was an exceptional success providing a platform to test new creative and paid opportunities, drive awareness of the brand on social to an audience we would not normally be able to reach contextually, generate hundreds of assets, and work with new influencers.
As this was a first of its kind campaign and partnership for the brand we used Year 1 to benchmark future success but several performance metrics exceeded our expectations.
We generated over 2 Million video views, mainly from promoted Instagram Stories featuring our moments with the drivers. We also drove over 40k Clicks to our landing pages, especially the partner page that also linked to our content portal.
We also drove 82 Million Impressions across all paid & organic content and 2 Million Engagements.
Our Earned content included stunning stories from 10 influencers across 5 destinations generating an additional 2 Million Impressions. Our influencers shared the excitement around each race in Hockenheim, Budapest, Singapore, Mexico City, and Abu Dhabi through live IG Stories coverage, in-feed Instagram posts, as well as starring in our own social-first videos. These luxury KOLs allowed us to further leverage this partnership to unique audiences we would never be able to reach otherwise.
These results far exceeded our expectations for Year 1 and we are excited to see this partnership grow as we enter Year 2.
