Content is the New Black...and has always been.

The first time the term "Grand Prix" came up in the motor race context was in 1901, during the legendary Le Mans circuit. Nearly 50 years later, the first Formula 1 Grand Prix took place at the Silverstone circuit in May 1950. Right there and then, it was the set-off to one of the most relevant marketing cases in history and the beginning of one of the most popular and profitable sports on Earth.

?From 1974 to 2017, the Formula One business was managed by the British Bernie Ecclestone, who, after a successful run in the sport as a team manager, founded the Formula One Constructions Association (FOCA). It was certainly quite a turning point for the sport and the communication business: Ecclestone was a pioneer in F1 television transmission rights negotiations, and he innovated the format for activating race circuits, cars, and pilots' jumpsuits.

?However, Ecclestone missed out on some concerning signs like a massive loss in global public and the lack of interest from new event (race) promoters in bringing the GP to their countries. He also never bothered refreshing the audience. In one of his controversial statements, he said in 2014 that he'd rather have an old but rich target audience as the young have no money, therefore, no value to F1.

At 89 years of age, with countless proposals, and an ill-fated gamble with an investment fund, Ecclestone decided to sell the F1 to USA-based group Liberty Media. That was when an incredible content marketing case began.

?First and foremost, back in 2016, the Liberty group had to deal with the US audience's low interest in Formula 1 races. Their action plan was to position F1 as a content company. Two years later, Liberty announced the contract with Netflix for the Drive to Survive docuseries. At first, it had little repercussion and strong resistance from pilots and squads to accept participating in it. Ferrari and Mercedes opted out.

That was a real-life plot twist. Who doesn’t recall James Cameron’s dilemma when producing Terminator 2? He had to deal with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to quit playing the villain, which forced Cameron to create the entire young John Connor plot. We all know the result: one of the best movies of all time.

?Back to Drive to Survive: Red Bull was the only tier 1 squad that promptly accepted participating in the show, which forced the writers to focus on a battle for the title from the middle grid (medium teams) to the end grid (small teams). A playground for the writers as storytelling is about maximizing tension and conflicts.

?A sport like F1 is perfect to work on dynamics such as this as each pilot has only ONE other pilot competing equally – their own teammate. Anyone else who beats them could blame it on car differences. However, if your teammate outperforms you, it simply means he is the better one.?

Drive to Survive explores this conflict brilliantly. Two championships come up for the public, the world championship and another one within the squads. It brought up a fascinating dynamic among teammates. Verstappen and Ricciardo, from Red Bull; Hamilton and Bottas, from Mercedes; and Leclerc and Vettel, from Ferrari. For the audience, the screen result was outstanding.

?Following the teammate dynamics, they explore the dynamic inside the squads. Afterall, with 10 teams competing for milliseconds, finishing in an unplanned position could mean millions of dollars more (or less) on their budgets. Come into play the team leaders and their tensions: Christian Horner (Red Bull), Toto Wolff (Mercedes), Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari), and Zak Brown (Mclaren).

Current F1 world champion Max Verstappen is a vocal critic of "Drive to Survive," and recently accused the program of over-dramatizing F1. He is not wrong. But that is exactly the idea behind the entire thing. And the same strategies that the UFC used a few years ago:

·?????Identifying storylines that are likely to last the entire season

·?????Overvaluing drama

?It is worth noting that only about 20% of the Drive to Survive content consists of races. How come? In a sport where racers wear helmets and jumpsuits, letting the audience see their faces, get to know their personalities makes a world of difference. So much that Formula One estimates that Drive to Survive has brought 74 million new fans into the sport, and the 2021 season was the most-watched and profitable in the history of the competition.?

The results are impressive! Since the release of "Drive to Survive" in 2019, F1 has seen a 45% audience growth in the United States, 7 of the 10 most-watched GPs in history are US audiences, and the GP with the largest paying audience in the grandstands was Austin in 2019, with 400,000 attendees. Now, F1 is increasing the North American wager, and, by 2022, there will be another circuit in the country: the Miami GP. And, by 2023, there will be 3: Las Vegas is coming!

?The success translated into revenue. F1's valuation rose from US$ 8 billion to US$ 13 billion in three years (an increase of 63%). Furthermore, advertising revenue grew exponentially with American players: Oracle, Salesforce, and Qualcomm are some companies that injected a great deal of capital into the sport.

Interestingly enough, Netflix currently pays licensing royalties from Drive to Survive to Formula One. Basically, F1 receives dividends for one of the best commercials in communications history! How brilliant is that? So, it is worth it to repeat it: content is the new black! If you have not yet discovered the power of storytelling for your brand, you better move as fast as someone racing for the pole position!

by Kleber Wedemann

Marketing Director, Latin America, US SMB and TMT at SAS