The towering ambition of Audi's title sponsor: 'We can make F1 even bigger'
The comparison with Red Bull is seen as a huge compliment. It isn’t far-fetched either, because Revolut wants to shake up the Formula 1 world with Audi as title and main sponsor. Antoine Le Nel, Revolut’s Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, explains how.
It’s the question on everyone’s mind: How much is Revolut paying to be the new Audi team’s key partner?
With a smile, Le Nel, the Chief Growth and Marketing Officer of Revolut, answers during an exclusive conversation with GPblog: "I can't share the numbers with you, but it's our biggest investment from a partnership perspective. While that is the case, it still remains reasonable within our marketing budget."
Being the main sponsor of a Formula 1 team isn’t cheap—especially now that the sport is booming. The world’s biggest companies are willing to spend tens of millions—sometimes over a hundred million—dollars to be prominently linked to an F1 team.
'Disrupting the elite'
Ultimately, Revolut wants to be more than a brand that has its sticker on an F1 car. Interaction and engagement are key in today’s marketing world. Le Nel nods, because that’s exactly what Revolut wants to achieve with this partnership. For that, it’s important that Audi and Revolut are a good fit.
"Audi, by entering the sport, is trying to disrupt the established elite the same way as we are doing with banking. We are new to the banking world and we try to take over the traditional banks. So there's really a connection into what Audi is trying to achieve and what we're trying to achieve."
"Audi builds everything themselves. I think they're very proud of that compared to other teams that are just bringing pieces together.
"This is key for us, because this is how we are doing things at Revolut. We are building everything ourselves to propose the best experience for our users. Moreover, I think Audi is a very strong brand, very relatable. Premium, but relatable. More relatable potentially than other brands on the grid, which brings trust. If a company like Audi is ready to share its F1 team with Revolut, that sends a very strong message."
'Audi and Revolut are a good match'
Le Nel indicates that discussions were held with multiple teams about a partnership, but Audi was the best fit for Revolut—just as Revolut is a strong fit for Audi.
"It's not just about the money you bring. It's about what do you bring as a brand to the sport, to the team. F1 teams are very selective. They are because they have a great platform, a great sport that has such hype around it at the moment that they can choose who they want to work with."
Audi opted to return to Formula 1 in part because of that global reach. The end of the Formula 1 hype is nowhere in sight, according to him. He sees “enormous growth potential,” naming the United States first. But also South America and Asia; there are still plenty of opportunities, Le Nel believes.
"What F1 does is quite remarkable in the sense that there's a strong legacy, and I think they've done really well in building on that, sometimes leaning a little bit to the past, but bringing a lot of innovation to keep the sport fresh."
'Formula 1 is at the start of an incredible journey'
According to Le Nel, the new technical regulations are a good example of this.
"It's a revolution, but at the same time, they are still keeping the essence of what Formula 1 is, which means putting more and more into the driver's hands, making it real.
"It's not just self-driving cars, because we already have those. You can put an AI in the car and then it can drive the car probably better than any driver could. But I think really keeping that human essence is definitely the right direction to for F1 and for the entire sport. I think the sport is just at the beginning of an incredible journey."
Le Nel notes that there’s a hardcore group of fans who know Formula 1 down to the technical level. "Around it you have different layers of fans. The audience is very big, but I think the concentration in the center is actually still quite small.
"So I think there is a great opportunity to actually convert that huge audience that is still very casual in the sense that they just want to watch a little bit here or there or read in the paper about the drivers, their lifestyle, and bring them closer to the sport and deepen their engagement. I think this is where the opportunity lies for F1.
"You can see the hundreds of million people that have seen the F1 movie or the hundreds of millions of people that are watching Drive to Survive or buying the Lego cars. So there are a lot of great platforms. It's really amazing. But now it's like how do you bring all those people that are aware of the sport into making them deeply invested in the sport?"
Revolut sees a major role for itself in F1
The Frenchman immediately answers that question himself. "Revolut will bring 100 million customers next year. So that means that we will bring F1 to those 100 million people and it will be again part of their experience, part of their life," says Le Nel.
"Because what we want is for Revolut to inspire people, and F1 is one of the most inspirational things that you can get. How you push yourself, how you live on the edge, how you innovate, how you stretch everything, how you think global, we want to bring that feeling as close as possible to our customers.
"I think Revolut has the potential to make the sport even bigger like no other."
Chasing Red Bull Racing?
Anyone hearing Le Nel speak might think of Red Bull. That company also set out, over twenty years ago, to achieve success in Formula 1 in its own way. "We have a lot in common with Red Bull and I appreciate the comparison. And I think what Red Bull has achieved in the last few decades is nothing short from impressive. Not just Formula 1. It's a whole world that they've created in a very successful way,” says Le Nel.
Red Bull ultimately chose to run its own F1 team, a path Revolut does not see happening for now.
"Never say never. But right now, that's not our focus. I think ultimately we are not a sports company, and our ambition is not to become one.
"We see sports as a great platform for us to expand and thrive. But we're still a long way from becoming someone like Red Bull or INEOS and so on, who really decided to take a very clear direction in terms of sports investment. We are looking at how the future will look for Revolut in terms of engagement, but right now, it's not on the agenda."
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