CHALLENGE

Formula One is one of the world’s most popular sports, bringing excitement to generations of fans. Now, F1 begins a new era, with new owners, a new brand and new ambitions. Our brief was to demonstrate Formula One’s commitment to putting the fans first by designing a new digital ecosystem that made the racing more exciting, accessible and entertaining; by blending content and data in new ways, improving the user experience, delivering fast-paced content and bringing to life a dynamic new brand.

INSIGHT

We wanted to create a digital experience that suited all fans' needs, so we split the audience into five groupings: excitables, purists, habituals, incidentals and sociables. We mapped these groups across the three stages of the fan engagement: pre, during and post-race; and this gave us a map of features that would please the masses of Formula One supporters – while ensuring that the fanatics get their thrill.

SOLUTION

The re-brand and re-release of the Formula One platform was a complete system overhaul. From September 2017 to September 2018, we built three mobile apps, a Unity integration, two websites, a fast-publishing content management system, a data layer and a backend for Formula One. This was all strategically placed to hit the mid-season break so that fans could experience the new product for the last 7 races of the year. Through all of this, we were able to give fans unprecedented access to the sport:

•Pre-race – MORE DRAMA: Access to expert opinions, standings and exclusive content. The app counts down to the action and gets the race going with a live blog.

•During the race – MORE SPEED: 3 million fans join in minutes, with real-time visualisations of the race track, commentary, and streams from drivers’ radios.

•Post-race – MORE ACCESS: In-depth analysis of the race, highlight videos, and replays of the full race experience.