Formula 1’s newly appointed commercial boss Sean Bratches has laid out key areas that have been prioritised by the Liberty Media to bolster Formula 1, as they entrench themselves at the helm of the sport they have just purchased.
Bratches, a former ESPN executive, told CNN, “There are four real things I am going to focus on. One is the brand. The brand is the entry-point for any company, any brand, any sport. And we are going to work to understand the brand.”
“We are going to polish it, we are going to elevate it. It is going to be really central to what we do. That will allow us to enter new market places. It will allow us to take out of the market place what we should on the commercial side from sponsors, from rights holders, to promoters.”
“The second is digital. I think there is a huge opportunity in the digital space to re-imagine the digital products that F1 has today, and to engage fans in very new ways and also to use sponsors to activate it.”
“The third is creating a much more democratic approach in terms of how we approach our partners, from teams/ sponsors/ promoters and rights holders. There is a lot of opportunity to leverage the F1 IP to integrate it to their businesses.
“And the last one, is the race experience. Creating a better race experience that engages fans, spectators there and on television is a huge opportunity.”
CEO Chase Carey wants to make each grand prix a mega-event, citing the Superbowl as an example. Predicting that Formula 1 races can amount to 21 Superbowl style events in one season. The consensus within Liberty is that up until now the sport has under-delivered is terms of potential.
Bratechs agrees, “Unquestionably it is a Super Bowl every other week and I think that is going to be an emphasis of ours. I think where the opportunity lies is on the commercial front, which I am going to be spend most of my time on. I think that generally speaking, it has under punched its weight class to date.”
Asked how badly F1 has under-achieved, Bratches was pragmatic in his answer, “I have a point of view on that but I am not going to share that with you. We are going to pivot this from a very deal orientated platform to one with a long-term vision that is focused on a very cadence business strategic approach to running the business.
“There is a huge opportunity with the global brand, and where we are on the commercial side,” added Bratches who had a stellar 27 year career with ESPN as reported here>>>