Williams F1

Client
Williams F1 has a rich heritage in British motor racing and is recognised as one of the world’s most successful Formula 1 teams. As a business, it is reliant on corporate sponsorship to generate the investment required to run a competitive team.

Business focus
Williams F1 competes for sponsorship revenues with ten other Formula 1 teams, other types of sport events, and sponsorship opportunities outside sport. With a target audience of global corporate sponsors such as The Royal Bank of Scotland, Allianz, Hamleys, ORIS and Reuters, Williams F1 wanted to reinvigorate its image, improve its appeal and ultimately ‘look, feel and behave like a world class team’ that major corporate sponsors would proudly associate with long-term.

Our solution
In the fast moving world of Formula 1, time was
of a premium. We quickly gained insight into the business to identify Williams' point of difference compared to other F1 teams. It is unique as a racing business, one of only three ‘evergreens’ in Formula 1. It is the only team that exists purely to race, unlike its competitors who are either manufacturing teams (Ferrari, Renault and McLaren Mercedes) or owned by product marketers (Red Bull Racing).

This single-minded agenda, combined with its reputation and independent status make Williams F1 the ideal corporate sponsorship partner. The team provides a distinctively accessible F1 experience and a unique opportunity to partner with the only pure racing team. Williams F1 is all about doing business and racing with integrity, determination and ambition.

Our work for Williams included:

• insight into business, understanding the Williams experience
• interviewing internal and external stakeholders
• developing the brand positioning
• creating new Williams F1 Group and race team identities
• developing a creative platform that presents Williams as a world-class team
• applying the new identity across all race environments, including car graphics, uniforms, garage and pit graphics and transporters
• developing brand guidelines for sponsors and agencies
• briefing agencies on the new brand, providing brand guardianship to oversee their application across all areas such as online, editorial and interiors.
  

Results

• Williams won new sponsorship contracts from title sponsor AT&T and Lenovo, and significantly upgraded two other sponsorship contracts.
• Williams repositioned as a world-class F1 team.
• A new iconic Williams identity that draws on the engineering heritage of the team, its pure racing agenda and the Williams name.
• Comprehensive identity creation and rollout programme carried out to the end of 2006 for the worldwide launch in February 2007.
• Brand guardianship for Williams ensuring that all agencies working with the new brand use it cohesively across all channels.