They had momentum: 15.8% year-on-year growth in awareness and a 16.6% increase in fanbase. But they were an electric sport with no household names, limited general awareness, and a social media strategy that relied heavily on paid promotion to generate any meaningful impact.

Their mission was ambitious: become “the fastest accelerating sport on the planet” by “creating the loudest noise in the most efficient way.” To do that, they needed to become the fastest-growing motorsport in the UK, positioning themselves as the most valuable property for partnerships and shareholders.

The Strategy

We committed to delivering 1.1 billion impressions, 6 million followers, and 198 million engagements.

But before we built a single piece of content, we needed to understand who Formula E fans actually were, and who they could be.

Through research, we identified four core audience segments:

All-In Fan Families: Tech-savvy, eco-conscious families looking for ways to entertain themselves sustainably.

Sports Mad Majorities: Young, classic sports fans who enjoy the social aspect of sport and live for the atmosphere.

Optimistic Early Adopters: Tech-forward individuals with a deep passion for sports and e-sports, and a keenness to be ahead of the trend.

Change Champions: Thoughtful, socially conscious fans who are selectively passionate about big sports events and deeply engaged with athletes who champion social equality causes.

These weren’t casual motorsport fans drifting over from F1. These were people who needed a reason to care, a team to support, and a community to belong to.

We built the strategy around five key principles:

Human: Most sports fans need a team and a driver to feel engaged. Most future Formula E fans had neither. We needed to introduce them to the personalities behind the helmets.

Access All Areas: As the rightsholder, we could take people closer to the sport than anyone else. We needed to use that advantage.

Bold: The excitement of Formula E needed to be unmissable. We had to amplify it so everyone could feel it.

Well-Connected: In a growth phase, we needed to borrow and activate the audiences of partners and influencers to expose new people to Formula E.

“ON!”: Formula E couldn’t just be a race weekend. The best sports don’t sleep.

The Content

We created a content ecosystem designed to meet fans wherever they were, whether they’d been following Formula E for years or had never heard of it.

Getting to know the drivers:

• Long-form interviews in meaningful locations (like interviewing a driver at Villa Park)
• Teammates taking on fun, irreverent challenges: quizzes, mental games, physical challenges, trending formats. Giving them something else to compete for beyond the track
• Hot-seat questions, asked anonymously and answered during live broadcasts
• “Unplugged” docuseries showing behind-the-scenes moments from the previous season

Making Formula E accessible:

• “Introducing FE” – a vertical-first format explaining everything from the basics to the more complex questions fans and non-fans have about the sport
• Mini Mic interviews around the track, featuring fan predictions, outfits, and perspectives

Bringing the world to Formula E:

• “24 Hours In…” each race location with a driver as tour guide. Sunrise at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, a walk down Paseo de Reforma, the Frida Kahlo museum, dinner at Pujol. These weren’t just race previews; they were travel content that could reach people who’d never watched motorsport
• Drivers taking on cultural challenges: baseball in Mexico, cricket in India
• Partnerships with local content creators in each city – photographers, filmmakers, cultural commentators – giving each race a distinct sense of place and community
• Behind-the-scenes access to fan villages, paddocks, and tracks

Activating influencers and partners:

• An influencer network with creators taking over Formula E’s stories on set days
• Content designed with partnership and sponsorship opportunities built in (cultural challenges, city tours, and events provided natural integration points)

And we kicked off the new season with Usain Bolt driving a Formula E car in Mexico.

Because if you’re going to be bold, be bold.

The Results

We didn’t just hit our targets. We exceeded them.

1.1 billion impressions. 6 million followers. 198 million engagements.

But the real victory was this: Formula E overtook MotoGP and became the fastest-growing motorsport globally, achieving a 23% increase in fanbase.

Video views grew by 147%. Broadcast viewership increased by 35%, despite Formula E moving behind a paywall.

Formula E wasn’t just growing. It was accelerating faster than any other motorsport on the planet.

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Project duration: Season 10, leading strategy for the first half of the season with ongoing support in the second half
Role: Head Strategist and Client Lead, managing internal team collaboration, community managers, and video producers
Scope: Audience research and segmentation, content strategy, influencer partnerships, cultural activations, driver-led content, broadcast and digital integration