Turbocharging fan engagement: The growing success story of Formula 1 and Salesforce
Ever since I was a kid, cars have been parked in my head rent free.
From watching races to daydreaming about the car I’d own when I grew up and got my licence, it’s been a big part of my life from early on.
It didn’t really matter what kind of car either, everything from the Italian exotics to the Japanese street racers captured my imagination.
Me and Mum bonded over cars too. She would take me out to the V8 Supercar races at Oran Park in Sydney where the visual and aural stimuli was almost overwhelming for a young kid.
But these days, like most other car nerds, it’s the pinnacle of motorsport that provides me with just about all of the stimulus I need: Formula 1.
The perfect formula
F1 has everything — high speed, drama, colourful characters and cutting edge technology. But the biggest part of F1 is arguably reserved for ‘tragics’ like me. It’s the fans that make the sport so popular, and F1 recognises this too.
In fact, they’ve recently put their money where their mouth is in a big way by committing to a massive partnership deal that will enhance every aspect of F1 for the fans and bring them closer to the action in a more personalised way.
Formula 1 and Salesforce announced a five-year partnership this year with the overarching goal of growing fan engagement. It’s a clear sign that the sport recognises the value of investing in their fanbase while growing their markets at the same time.
So, how does Salesforce plan to make F1 even better?
F1 is exploding in popularity globally, and with that growth comes a need to make the fan experience even more engaging and individualised.
It should come as no surprise really that a sport so defined by technology sees the inherent value in investing in technology on the periphery of the racing action too.
Salesforce has come on board to help F1 better understand what makes their fans tick. Through using Customer 360, Salesforce’s integrated real-time CRM platform, they can now dive deeper into the broader fanbase data to determine how fans engage with F1.
Salesforce Customer 360 first pulls together individual fan touchpoints like merchandise, social media, TV, gaming, ticketing etc, to paint a detailed picture of the consumer. This allows for an infinitely more personalised experience, and undoubtedly drives up genuine engagement.
The power of connectivity
One of the biggest early wins coming out of Salesforce’s partnership with F1 is the greater emphasis being placed on enhancing the sport’s social media presence.
It’s based on the premise that if fans are the heart and soul of F1, then social media is the town square where they can all connect with each other and the sport. It essentially acts as a vehicle to make lasting connections, capture data and hype up races.
It’s already paying dividends too. With skyrocketing engagement rates in the US in particular adding an exciting new dimension to F1.
Shows like Netflix’s Drive to Survive have also been part of the sport’s engagement ecosystem too, playing a pivotal role in connecting the dots between race day, online engagement, and entertainment.
How can these tools help other businesses?
Of course, platforms like Customer 360 are customisable and flexible enough to suit a whole range of applications.
As commerce continues to warm to a real-time, highly connected, automated environment, the possibilities to harness this power are endless.
Modern F1 is a brilliant test case to show how technology can benefit both consumers and businesses. On the recruitment front, it also demonstrates how skills in this area will be beneficial and relevant for years to come.
And with many Salesforce roles looking to be filled right now, feel free to get in touch if you’d like to find out more about what I’ve got on offer.
~ Garth Kharitou
