Formula One is targeting new young millenial fans through a new collaboration with Snapchat announced today.
F1 will use Snapchat to promote content from its races beginning with this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
F1’s head of digital and new business Frank Arthofer said the deal is “the first step towards expanding our social media strategy.”
“Right from the start, we have said we want to work with partners to bring fans closer to the amazing show that is Formula 1, an incredible mix of technology and individual talent – and Snap fits that bill.”
“We need to continue to bring new fans to the sport – by reaching out to them on social media platforms with behind the scenes, fun and engaging content. Snap’s platform is one of the most popular among ‘millennials’, a sector we are particularly keen on attracting, as it represents the future of our sport.”
F1 will be promoted through Snapchat’s Our Stories on its Discover platform. It will include compilations of Snaps submitted from Snapchat users which are curated by Snapchat.
The first Our Story will be produced at the British Grand Prix and subsequent stories will be produced for the races in Singapore, Japan, the US, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
Snapchat vice president Ben Schwerin said “working with Formula One has been at the top of our wish list for a long time”. The company claims to have 166 million users worldwide who share three billion Snaps per day.
2017 F1 season
- Sepang pays Haas compensation for Grosjean’s 2017 crash
- Williams revenues rose in 2017 after Bottas deal with Mercedes
- Australian Grand Prix cost government £56 million last year
- “Grand Prix Driver” takes you inside McLaren’s nightmare final year with Honda
- Undisputed champion: 10 titles name Hamilton top driver of 2017
Joao (@johnmilk)
13th July 2017, 14:45
I’m a millennial and I have no idea how snapchat works anyone up to date?
Gerulf Dösinger (@)
13th July 2017, 14:59
Same here.
Tristan
13th July 2017, 15:41
My little brother got me on board. It’s a chat app like many others, that is volatile in that messages aren’t kept in history, and when sharing images they can be set to only display for a few seconds and can’t be viewed again (bar taking a screenshot which the other user is notified of.)
When taking pictures (to either share or save) you can add humorous filters and perform basic image editing such as adding text to the image.
It’s very popular with school age children and shows great initiative in my opinion.
Joao (@johnmilk)
13th July 2017, 16:15
lets imagine this hypothetical scenario
A drivers crashes into another two times during a safety car, there is a big fuss over it in social media. F1 shares the images, video, etc via SnapChat, I can only see it once? What if I want to show it to my non-F1 friends?
Isn’t it a bit odd?
DaveF1 (@davef1)
13th July 2017, 16:33
The whole see it once only applies if you send the image privately to one or more of your friends.
There’s another feature called ‘story’ where you can post a picture(s) that stays up for 24 hours which can be viewed by everyone that you have added on your account. Most sports teams, celebrities, businesses etc usually use this.
Victor. (@victor)
13th July 2017, 14:47
Just when Snapchat is dying and everyone is switching to Insta-Stories.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
13th July 2017, 15:17
@victor
no wonder some element of Snapchat mentioned above looked familiar to me even though I don’t use Snapchat.
GeeMac (@geemac)
13th July 2017, 15:11
3 billion snaps a day. How many selfies to people really need to take?
KimiRaikkonen1207 (@kimiraikkonen1207)
13th July 2017, 18:52
You have no idea – I have to live with my older brother who spends nearly 7 hours a day on his Snapchat on his phone! This generation of school aged children (in America at least) is so narcissistic…
skylab (@skylab)
13th July 2017, 15:32
Nice to see F1 attempt to reach out to a younger generation. However, as someone who is older than the Snapchat generation but younger than Ecclestone’s grey Rolex brigade it’s hard not feel passed over somewhat… :(
Ju88sy (@)
14th July 2017, 5:11
@skylab we can just stick to ‘old fashioned’ web browsing :)
Bettina Young
15th July 2017, 14:20
@skylab I’m with you.. Last year the British fans were all out on Twitter& I enjoyed it so much. This year it’s more like crickets. :(
skylab (@skylab)
16th July 2017, 3:04
Yep. Twitter works well with live events (imho). My problem is that I rarely get to watch events live these days (kids, commitments blah, blah blah!). :)
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
13th July 2017, 16:03
Do we even know who we’re talking about when we’re using the term ‘millenials’? If you go by the (slightly vague) ‘official’ definition then you’re talking about people born after 1980 and up to the mid 90s, give or take. By that definition, I am a millenial and I’m 35. Most of the drivers on the grid are millenials. In fact, the younger drivers on the grid don’t even qualify, they’d be generation Z.
People keep referring to millenials and I think what they really mean are ‘teenagers and children’ not people in their late 20s and early 30s.
And for the record, I don’t use Snapchat though some of my friends do.
Joao (@johnmilk)
13th July 2017, 16:21
I guess they are talking about the official definition, which barely includes me on that generation, and I don’t use it either . I don´t think any of my friends use it. However my nephews and nieces do, and they are all from the generation Z.
Maybe they shouldn’t have approached it like this. A simple for those who use this sort of media to get their news from…
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
13th July 2017, 16:46
@johnmilk well I have a hard time identifying with people who would currently be in their early 20s, with their skinny jeans and snapback caps and thier on fleek music tastes. I don’t feel like part of their subculture at all, and I feel like there is a very noticeable generational difference between myself and my 23 year old colleague.
But when you look at it, the only driver on the grid who was born prior to 1980 (and thus would be inarguably Generation X), is Raikkonnen. So it’s a very strange scenario we have here were almost every driver on the grid belongs to a generation which is only now being targetted for F1 promotion. I would say this is most likely a very significant factor in the decline of F1 viewership, since Ecclestone was only really interested in Rolex-wearing octogenarians like himself. I guess when you’re in your 80s, a person in their late 20s or early 30s really does seem like ‘the young generation’. I think this is in part one of the reasons why Formula E has been popular – because the people promoting it targetted from the start, people who were pretty much the same age as the people competing in the sport, not old men.
Joao (@johnmilk)
13th July 2017, 19:11
Good points you make there. It is really a big failure that F1 lost contact with a genetatiob that includes pretty much all of its drivers. That is a result of losing the connection with the real world, something Bernie excelled at during his finals years
BigJoe
13th July 2017, 21:00
@mazdachris
Good points although I think it was more of a case of F1 becoming up its own arse to an incredible extent and the sponsers crawled up there with them. It’s doable so long as the fans keep sucking it up. Formula E starting from a clean slate was a million miles from that.
Ju88sy (@)
14th July 2017, 5:33
@mazdachris I think you’re observations are correct, especially around Ecclestone it should come as no surprise F1 viewer numbers dropped in the last ten years. Liberty are now starting to experiment, the beauty about digital channels is fast execution , immediate feedback and specific demographics can be targeted.
On a secondary point my wife has an employee whose 11yr old daughter has just this year become a huge F1 fan, neither parent had any interest in the sport however the Channel 4 live coverage was on in the background one Sunday and she became hooked, now a massive Bottas supporter and the F1 channel was added to the Sky package.
This highlights the need for continued availability of F1 through Free to Air channels and poses a challenge to Liberty and F1: how to engage with an 11yr old girl in way that she finds compelling and nurtures that interest in F1!
George (@george)
13th July 2017, 23:27
Funny, I always assumed millenials referred to people born in the 90s judging by how they’re represented. I’m 28 and I don’t feel associated with the term.
salcrich
13th July 2017, 18:10
I’m 71 and I use Snapchat – so millennials and boomers??
Racerdude7730
13th July 2017, 23:02
I gotta say Liberty is really making a great effort this year to make F1 what it always should have been. Something with a huge laid back internet friendly content. Putting up videos (something Bernie would have had a stroke over) and with stuff like the London show and the 2 seater and all that. They are prob spending a lot of money but I like it. There’s plenty of areas to improve but so far it’s good and I’m kinda surprised.
On a side note I think F1 needs to do some London like shows here in the states to try and get more people into it. I know the crowds wouldn’t be as big as London but there would be a chance to grow