Who reveals their livery in January? Well, Mclaren did, and it was a marketing masterclass.
Uncovering the 6 steps that made the Papaya strategy win the marketing championship already this year.
Mclaren Livery for 2024 / @mclaren
Some may perceive it as just a new livery on what happened on January 16th, but there is so much to unpack regarding what McLaren did with this surprising and perfectly tailored launch strategy. Let’s delve into it.
1. Timed to perfection:
If you want to capture an audience's attention, you have to choose the perfect moment, and that is when they are desperate for some real pre-season content - especially from their favourite team. Not only were McLaren's followers searching for news about the new car, reposting memes and re-watching races, but the entire F1 community is in a period where even the tiniest bit of news, especially if it hints at what's to come in 2024, grabs all the attention. McLaren recognised this opportunity and, in a strategy that resembles what we in e-commerce call a "Break the Internet" moment, created chaos in the middle of calm and immediately engaged its 22.2 million followers across channels (with 70% coming from Instagram and TikTok), already marking it as a winner. They outperform all their competitors in terms of Google search volumes, with a very visible and dramatic spike that shows how they got into the spotlight.
Search volumes in the last 7 days for the Formula 1 teams McLaren, Red Bull, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Mercedes. As there are some brands that have different businesses and licenses (e.g.: Ferrari or Mercedes), to keep the keyword in topic, I've added the tail "F1" to each brand.
Source: Google Trends
2. The Social Conversation:
The most remarkable aspect of this livery launch is how McLaren chose to execute it—100% digital and 100% social, breaking away from conventional patterns of launching an F1 car, usually done all at once (car + livery) and in February when all teams will reveal their 2024 single-seaters, including the new MCL38 (remember we did not see the “actual cake”, just the icing) Instead, they directed all their attention to social media, fostering a conversation. It's easy to drop something and let the algorithm take over, but McLaren understood the task. Before dropping the big news, they created speculation, grabbed attention with social conversation and hype. By turning off all content and posts on their profile and then dropping hints in the form of reels, they allowed audiences to speculate, share and get the entire social media landscape talking about McLaren before and ready for the actual reveal - an approach they successfully used in 2023 with their According to Social race reports, which they are now replicating for the 2024 livery reveal.
3. The perfect tone of voice:
A few days ago I talked about the importance of fangirls and the female community, especially in F1, and this is exactly what I meant. McLaren entering their Reputation Era was one of the most trending topics on social channels by fans. The whole vibe was reminiscent of a Taylor Swift Reputation announcement (which Swifties are still waiting for her to release, so perfect timing again as it's being talked about in the music panorama), with a storytelling focus on the harsh media coverage of their bad start in 2023, the desperate faces of the drivers, and then the team's comeback after what seemed like their worst season ever. In this way, they targeted a large and very similar female audience, both existing and new.
Remember, fangirls spread the word and anticipate trends, and McLaren had already tried this during the Austin GP with their Swift karaoke challenge between Lando and Oscar. Far from focusing too much on this target and being rejected by another type of audience, the content was clean and neutral, so for a more masculine or mature audience, what might have caught their eye was the new wind tunnel frames or overall performance aesthetics, without distracting from the key message behind it.
4. A fan's choice of design:
Firstly, and related to the last point, the livery design intersects perfectly with what the fanbase wanted to see more of. At the end of the season, McLaren held a poll to vote for the special livery to be shown in 2023, and the Stealth mode was chosen. The colour choice is far from random. They've put a car on track that the Papaya Army wants to see, that fits perfectly with one of their main sponsors, that implies more anthracite, which means less overall weight for the car, and once again that it's very technical and digital. Why is that? I bet there is a good chance that you are reading this article with your phone in dark mode. Today, more than 80% of the population chooses dark mode over light mode, so the colours, contrast and all the assets delivered by this campaign fit perfectly with the aesthetics of your phone. Brilliant, right?
My favourite part, and something not everyone noticed, is that something (or everything) in McLaren's identity is about to change (time will tell how big of a change they are planning). The current branding consists of two fonts, the main one, Space Grotesk (headlines) and the secondary one (body text), Noto Sans. They decided to switch in the last post, keeping Noto for smaller text and drawing attention to the headlines with something bolder, giving a pop culture vibe and moving away from racing vibes.The first one could be Grand in the bold version, by North Type Foundry, and the second one present on the video title seems to be a custom one, very disruptive but remaining clean and yours, following the new era and values of the brand (young, dynamic, different and not afraid). We confirm this with their slogan: “Whatever It Takes”.
Mclaren’s Livery for 2024 / @mclaren
5. Budget and effortless media coverage:
Getting media focus when and where you want it, especially when it comes to traditional publications, is not an easy task. During the off-season, the headlines are full of speculation about teams and drivers (what we call the Winter Silly Season), making the paddock seem awake when it is sleeping. It is difficult to keep the focus where you want it. Again, in a very Reputation-Era-Way, they gave the media what they wanted: facts, reality, something to write about. With that being the only real news from a verified source... boom. All the news, from Sky to your local sports paper, had "McLaren" in the headline with the information McLaren wanted to share, giving a huge boost to brand awareness with minimal investment (apart from the overall cost of the campaign).
6. Sponsor Spotlight:
Money is the engine of the teams in F1 (and everywhere else), so they could not forget to draw attention to it. The overall livery reveal also focuses on the sponsors, as we are looking at aesthetics and not performance. But they went even further. They created what is usually called an "Easter Egg" game for the public to see the hidden details that you might miss when looking at the overall design. This got people zooming in on some of the smaller sponsors, identifying details like the chrome numbers, and also appreciating good close-ups that highlighted their partners' logos.
In conclusion, it's clear from this first touchpoint of the year that McLaren are going all in for the 2024 season. They know what they can do and they are ready to show it, as they did with this almost fault-free masterclass in marketing. And I say that because, let's face it, the full Papaya car that appeared at the start of the video would have been a blast.
Video Source: @mclaren
