How Salesforce Helped McLaren Racing Shift the Fan Experience into High Gear

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Earlier today, Salesforce announced a new, multi-year partnership with McLaren Racing to help the Formula 1 team deepen its relationship with its global fan base and connect with audiences in new markets.

Formula 1 has exploded in popularity and now counts over 500 million fans globally. But with fewer than 1% actually attending a Grand Prix in a year, racing teams must complement exceptional real-world performance with exceptional digital fan experiences.

Ed Green, Head of Commercial Technology for McLaren Racing, explains how the partnership is empowering McLaren to get a 360-degree view of fans to personalize both digital and in-person experiences. 

A new kind of fan requires a new kind of fan marketing

• Formula 1 viewership nearly tripled in recent years, with huge growth in the United States thanks in large part to the Netflix series, “Drive to Survive.” 
• Green said the global nature of F1, “often means our U.S. fans are receiving updates and push notifications from us in the early hours of the morning, but they want to take time to watch the race back over breakfast.”
• “We didn’t really have the tools to do that before, but Marketing Cloud means we can do things like target groups of users based on the country they live in, and we can do delay sends and make sure we send that communication to them at the right time based on their local market.”

Marketing Cloud means we can do things like target groups of users… and make sure we send that communication to them at the right time based on their local market.

Ed Green, McLaren Racing

Rapid digital transformation means a lot of data — and a lot of silos

• The explosion of F1 and McLaren Racing’s fanbase happened at pace, and during the pandemic. Technology was adapted quickly, sometimes without the intervention of traditional digital or IT functions. That led to a huge volume of siloed data that was difficult to access.
• “Sometimes you’d sit there and think, I wish I could just grab this data from there! If I could only get the data that’s coming from this system that somebody bought in isolation, if only I could merge that with data that’s living in this system that’s 15, 20 years old,” said Green.
• “MuleSoft for us has been a bit of a game changer. It’s allowed us to put a common access layer across some of those slightly older systems, but it’s also helped us tap into some of the new systems through a lot of pre-built integrations.”

MuleSoft for us has been a bit of a game changer.

Ed Green, McLaren Racing

As new technology rolls out, employees seek support

• There can be a major learning curve for teams when new systems get introduced. Proper training and team development can ease the transition. 
• “Truthfully, I think we have been a little bit challenged by some of the tech we’ve had in the past. There’s a steep learning curve when you’ve had some antiquated systems. We’re a really lean function at McLaren. We are not a huge digital function. We don’t have a huge CRM team,” said Green.
• That’s why Trailhead, Salesforce’s training tool, has been so helpful to McLaren’s employees. “We’re getting more and more people rolling into Trailhead and following the trail mix that the Salesforce team has put together for us, that gives us a tailored set of trails that people follow. That’s awesome. I love seeing the team getting empowered.”

I love seeing the team getting empowered.

Ed Green, McLaren Racing

Go deeper:

• See the McLaren Racing press release announcing the new partnership
• Read how F1 uses Salesforce for fan engagement here
• Check out Salesforce+ for more on the Formula 1 story