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Hello!

Apologies for the break between newsletters - I moved cities and it turns out that takes up a lot of time. But I’m settled in my new town and ready to bring you more analysis of the Formula 1 fan engagement landscape.

However, instead of analysing a specific event or form of fan engagement, for this edition I want to zoom us out a little bit and look at the bigger picture of some motivations for fan interest and participation.

Reading time: ~10 mins (2,600 words)

One of the biggest disconnects I see between teams and sponsors, and fans within Formula 1 (and also sport and entertainment more broadly) is what fans actually desire. Now, obviously, I’m not discussing all fans here, but by the same token, neither are they.

In attending the Melbourne Grand Prix (which, if you missed it, you can read about here, here and here) and in reading recaps of event experiences at the recent Miami Grand Prix, very clear trends about what brands think fans are looking for emerge. Culture is the word of the moment, which when you break it down doesn’t actually mean culture, it means “sponsor-enhanced lifestyle activations”. Not that there’s anything wrong with grooming stations and free drinks dished out by your Official Alcohol Partner or a fitness activity that you’re mostly putting on because a trend deck told you they’re the future of community. But you’re not really demonstrating an understanding of fan behaviour and how fandom communities operate as unique structures with their own rules of engagement (nor are you demonstrating an understanding of culture - but that’s an argument for another day!).

You’re also not enhancing the experience of the fan who is seeking attention and authenticity, two of the biggest motivators for deep fan participation and connection.

A central truth of celebrity fandom is that more than anything else, fans want access to and attention from their faves.

Before I get any further, I want to note here the emphasis on celebrity fandom as a category distinct from broader sports fandom and textual/media fandom. As I’ve previously discussed, I’m a big proponent of the fact that we should understand athlete marketing and fandom in the same way we understand the marketing and fandom surrounding broader pop-cultural stars. The fact the athletes are on a race track (or field/rink/pitch/etc./etc.) rather than a stage or screen doesn’t magically change the way fans form attachments and build relationships with them as individual celebrities (and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is probably a victim of patriarchal thinking and stereotypes). Not all Formula 1 fans fit into this category of fandom, but enough do that it’s worth us properly understanding some of the key motivations for their participation.

So. Access and attention.

My PhD research focused a lot on a concept called “The Economy of Attention”, as theorised by Georg Franck¹. This is a distinct phenomenon from the Attention Economy (confusing, I know!), and the difference can best be understood as “the attention we have to give” (the Attention Economy) vs. “the attention we can receive” (the Economy of Attention). To Franck, attention is a key form of capital that both brings wealth and also trickles down to others in a celebrity’s direct world, increasing their value in the celebrity ecosystem.

We can think of it like this: Fan A loves Lando Norris. Their ultimate dream is to meet him or be noticed by him on social media, but that’s pretty unlikely to ever happen. So, to keep the dream alive, they shift their goalposts to people in Lando’s orbit. These people benefit from the attention they receive from Lando, and they become more valuable in the eyes of fans. This helps to explain why fans are often so desperate to be “noticed” by the LN4 accounts, or the McLaren social teams, or Quadrant and people like Max Fewtrell. Obviously, these organisations and individuals have value in and of themselves, but a huge driver (no pun intended!) of the attention they receive does boil down to their proximity to Lando (and Oscar, etc. etc.). This also plays a large role in WAG culture. While some fans are genuinely interested in the wives and girlfriends of the grid as people, for a lot of them, the attention given is very simply because they have a direct line to a fan’s favourite person.

Fans often see this form of attention as a stepping stone that could ultimately lead to their primary goal of meeting the celebrity. If they just message the right thing, buy enough merch, prove their fandom in the right way, maybe they will stick in the minds of those with access and be put forward for future opportunities.

This concept also opens the playing field in terms of who fans are excited to engage with. While your time with drivers might be extremely limited (or non-existent), in the world of fandom it’s not just those at the top of the hierarchy that fans are excited to meet. There’s a lot we can learn from the world of fan conventions, where even relatively minor actors make a living from meet-and-greets because of their leveraged attention capital.

As much as fans want access to people, they also value access to their stuff.

When I talk about authenticity in this context, it’s not authenticity in terms of social media behaviour or brand identity. Rather, I’m talking about authenticity in terms of physical objects and what goes on display as part of activations.

I had a catch-up with someone who works in the world of Formula 1 soon after the Melbourne race. During our conversation, I made a comment about replica race suits and boots on display at some activations, and how I felt something was lacking. “But replicas are almost identical to the real thing”, they said, “surely that’s enough”.

The thing is, fans aren’t really interested in replicas. It’s a bit like if you were an art lover and really wanted to see your favourite painting and someone offered you the chance to see a print because it’s basically the same thing. Yes, visually it is the same image but the meaning doesn’t exist in the replication. The history isn’t there, the literal blood, sweat and tears don’t exist in its structure. Fans don’t want a “close enough”, they’re looking for the authentic that is physically tied to their heroes. It’s the same reason a game-worn jersey is a hot collectible and sells for thousands of dollars: as gross as it sounds, the used nature is what makes something meaningful.

A concept from my University days that often sticks with me is the “St Thomas Effect” (Chris Rojek²). In the bible, St Thomas (or “doubting” Thomas) needed to touch Jesus’ wounds in order to fully believe in the resurrection. In a similar way, fans feel a pull to not only be in the presence of the celebrity, but of their things.

Now, Rojek is quite negative in his view of this phenomenon, tying it to stalking and other extreme behaviours. However, I argue that it is a useful descriptor to help explain why even run-of-the-mill fans feel compelled to seek out the celebrity and parts of their world. It’s one thing to see someone on a screen, but when they mean something to us, we want to get as close as we can to know they truly exist outside of our devices. To continue with the religious theme, it’s the same underlying behaviour that sees people seek out relics from Saints: we are drawn to things that were once in the presence of power and significance. For these kinds of fans, the interest does not necessarily lie in the glove as a glove, or the helmet as a helmet: it is the fact that has been touched, held, worn by the person they feel connected to. If they can’t touch the person themselves, they want to be one degree of contact away.

So, regardless if we’re talking about celebrities or their things, fans want access to the real deal. To paraphrase Hamilton (the musical, not the driver), fans want to be in the room where it happens. Or, at least, the room with things that were in the room where it happened.

Now, before anyone tries to tell me I don’t understand funnels and that for many sponsors who are showing up in sports via standard lifestyle activations it’s all about awareness building and data gathering and they’re not actually trying to engage with fadom communities, let me assure you that I am very aware of that fact. But in a sea of sameness there is potential for brands to focus on core relationship building with fans rather than targeting everyone who wanders by.

So what can sponsors do to learn from - and leverage - fan desires for proximity?

Contrary to what people in the world of partnerships may have you believe, fans won’t necessarily care about you just because you’re a sponsor. If you’re looking to target fans (as opposed to B2B sponsorships that focus on making deals in hospitality), you have to prove your value to the fandom. There’s a time and a place to go with the standard activation for your category, but fandom spaces are not one of them. This is especially true in the increasingly crowded Formula 1 partnership landscape, where eleven teams all have the same categories of sponsors vying for attention. You need to think about what you can offer fans that sets you apart, especially amongst the other brands in your category.

The best example of this is Kraken, who despite being a crypto exchange, invest in the fandom by sponsoring the Williams Fan Zones around the world each year. While crypto is present in the space, they avoid the stereotypical “let’s launch an NFT” or “fans must sign up to our exchange to participate”, and instead give fans a memorable experience with truly authentic access to the team and drivers. This sets them apart both within their category and within the sport itself, where the Williams Fan Zones provide fans with the most extensive and engaging team access out of the entire grid.

Replicas might fill up space but they don’t add any value to a fan experience. The obvious exception to this in the world of Formula 1 is show cars, which serve a different function. But if we’re talking about gloves, shoes, driver suits or helmets, you need the actual, driver-touched product or you begin to lose fan interest. And authentic items can add significant value to otherwise run-of-the-mill activations.

We saw Quad Lock do this exceptionally well at the Melbourne Grand Prix this year. Instead of just having a pop-up store, they added an Oscar Piastri memorabilia exhibit. Seeing real parts of Oscar’s career on display was a highlight for fans who went out of their way to attend, and then, in many cases, purchased items from Quad Lock while there. Quad Lock didn’t just expect fans to show up and buy; they gave them a reason to attend using their unique access to Oscar and his family.

Use attention capital to your advantage. Do you have access to key team personnel? Involve them! Even if you don’t have access to the drivers or team principal, fans are interested in anyone with insider knowledge and relationships. There’s a whole subset of fans who would love to meet the social media admins for teams, and others who would be thrilled to chat to an engineer, or a personal trainer. It’s not just those at the top of the hierarchy that fans are keen to engage with, and access to someone from the wider world is better than no access at all. And by facilitating that access, you benefit from both attention capital and goodwill.

But remember: if you’re going to provide access to talent, make sure you understand fan behaviour and plan responsibly (especially when it comes to queue culture!). Too often, meet and greets and similar functions with team personnel turn into overwhelming crowds where fans leave disappointed with the experience. A huge crowd is not a marker of success if your target audience comes away with a bad impression.

The most important lesson you can learn is that fans are not your everyday audience, customer or consumer. What works in your standard marketing plans may not be as effective when targeting fandom communities who want you to prove your worth and value to them. It’s important to understand what drives fan interest and participation and to draw on insights from your community to build your participation strategy. When brands use trend decks as inspiration rather than digging into their actual fandoms, you end up with situations like this year, where half the grid are hosting sponsored run clubs and yoga sessions that blur into an indistinguishable blob. As I constantly say, getting people through a door is not a sign of success when it comes to proper fan engagement. Focus on adding true value, even if it’s for a group of fifty core members of your community, rather than five hundred people looking for something to do.

Celebrity fandom makes up just one slice of the Formula 1 audience ecosystem. However, when correctly understood and engaged with, it has the potential to be one of its most loyal and powerful.

Don’t get me wrong: I do not believe in the term “superfan” or in ever viewing fandom communities as ATMs that will just print you money regardless of your effort. These approaches are shortsighted and misunderstand the actual experiences, expectations and behaviours of the individuals within the communities. But when organisations take the time to understand what motivates fans to engage, participate, connect, and most importantly, stay, there is a lot to be gained.

At the moment, examples of this understanding are extremely few and far between within Formula 1. While obviously there needs to be a balance between speaking to the masses and speaking to a niche, calling the same few examples of lifestyle activations fan engagement tips the see-saw in the other direction.

Not every sponsor is going to be looking to tap into celebrity fandom, and nor should they. But there is plenty of room for those who believe they can help facilitate true value adds for a passionate subsection of the wider community.

'til next time!

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