CMO Louise McEwen shares why McLaren Racing is turning Trafalgar Square papaya

Business Insider

Louise McEwen, McLaren Racing's CMO, talks about the brand's reinvention and how it is connecting with fans, new and old.

Transcript

00:00We had to go through a bit of a reinvention as the brand. At the time we

00:04were really defined by winning but we weren't winning so we didn't really show

00:08up in that many places and we had to go back to basics and really look at why we

00:13existed. In doing so we went through a whole reinvention. We also went back to

00:23our roots. We discovered a whole chest of amazing stories that we could

00:29tell around our brand heritage and our brand provenance. It's why we went back

00:33to being papaya. Papaya was the color that our founder Bruce McLaren chose back in

00:38the 1960s. It's a color that we resurrected. We needed something that gave fans that

00:44advocacy, something that they can wear to build pride and recognize the team in.

00:48The world of Formula One went through a huge transition itself. Liberty Media

00:53arrived and then this Netflix factor, Drive to Survive factor, which

00:57everyone's talking about and that brought a whole new audience and younger

01:01demographic into our sport. Because we were so focused on on those fans we knew

01:06that in order to reach those new audiences we needed to pride them with

01:09content in highly hyper personalized way. We had fans that have been with us for 60

01:15years who watched 90 minutes of linear TV on a Sunday through to new fans that were

01:2116 and actually they'd never watched a Grand Prix but they were really tuned in to

01:24what Lando or Oscar were wearing. Just last night Lando was on the red carpet in

01:29New York for the launch of the F1 movie and there are fans that will want to

01:33consume our brand through that sort of content as well but not watching

01:36traditional race content. I think as a team we recognize the importance of

01:40inclusivity and we always have done so but I think importantly seeing the new

01:45fans come into the sport we needed to show up in their worlds and be meaningful

01:48within their worlds. They wanted to engage with us in more ways than ever before and we

01:53recognize the importance of experiences and making meaningful connections with

01:57those people. That combined by the incredible stat that only one percent of

02:02fans ever get to go to track in their lifetime is extraordinary. So actually as

02:07we kind of look to the future we look at how we can be even more inclusive and

02:11take our brand to more and more people, new followers of the sport. We're really

02:15excited to announce that next month in July just before the British Grand Prix we are

02:21turning Trafalgar Square papaya with a full McLaren racing takeover. A free event in

02:27Trafalgar Square where hopefully more fans will come along and experience our

02:31brand than ever before. The journey that we've been on our team has been absolutely

02:35phenomenal and I've been lucky enough to be custodian of the brand during

02:39that era. It's just incredible. I think also just the transformation and

02:43culturally what that's meant to all of the team. The men and women back at the

02:47McLaren Technology Center in Woking has been phenomenal not to mention the huge

02:51growth that we've had within our partners and our partner ecosystem have

02:54come with us on that journey. We're lucky enough to have some amazing B2B and an

03:00influx of B2C consumers, B2B brands over the last couple of years who want to

03:06play their part in Formula One and show up. I was lucky enough to have the honor of

03:11accepting the Constructors Trophy at the Miami Grand Prix this year where I stood

03:16with Oscar Lando and George Russell and took the trophy. It was just an

03:21incredible honor. I was beyond nervous standing in front of that incredible

03:25huge crowd and media in Miami and actually it was only when I came off the

03:31podium social media had kind of gone a bit wild and I had no idea at the time I

03:37was actually only the 11th woman in the history of Formula One to accept the

03:42trophy and I think it's just testament to the fact that the journey the team have

03:45been on about the inclusivity within the team of the role that our fans and brand

03:51partners play that I was able to stand there and accept the trophy for everyone.

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