COCA-COLA is evaluating Formula One as a sponsorship platform, a top marketer for the soft drinks giant has confirmed. Scott McCune, VP, global partnerships and experiential marketing for The Coca-Cola Company, says there is genuine interest from the Atlanta-based company in the F1 opportunity. And, if given the green light, it will be a Coca-Cola sub-brand that leads the charge into new sponsorship territory.
“Our role is to look at all areas of consumer passion,” McCune told Sports Marketing Frontiers' sister publication, SportBusiness International. “Both I, personally, and the company have great respect for Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One and what they have done. They have built a phenomenal platform and you can see its popularity. We look at that and see if there is a brand fit for us. We are evaluating that right now.”
McCune further revealed that the world-famous Coca-Cola masterbrand would take a backseat on any such deal. “I think it’s fair to say that when you look at the Coca-Cola brand, which is about bringing people together, happiness and very focused on youth, and you look at what F1 delivers, which is technology and cutting-edge innovation and skews older, there is not a natural fit for brand Coca-Cola,” he said. “But we have other brands we are looking at where potentially there could be.”
Industry experts have been quick to place two Coca-Cola sub-brands in the F1 frame: the calorie-free Coke Zero, aimed primarily at 16-24 males, and the sports drink, Powerade, which targets sporting 13-40 year olds. F1 could increase Coke Zero’s market share among a weight-conscious, older demographic, while Powerade’s hydration qualities can be marketed as a concentration aid for F1 drivers.
But Sports Marketing Frontiers understands that the energy drink sector is Coca-Cola’s main focus, as it strives to peg back the market leader Red Bull, using one of its three main energy drink brands: Full Throttle, Relentless or NOS. Of the three, Full Throttle, launched in 2004 and currently the Official Energy Drink of the National Hot Rod Association, is the prime candidate. Full Throttle would join Red Bull, Monster Energy – the subject of buy-out interest from Coca-Cola earlier this year – Lucozade and EQ8 among F1’s energy drink sector sponsor brands.
There have been many false starts in Coca-Cola’s engagement with F1 but McCure’s declaration of interest is a new step for the company. Speculation has focused on Coca-Cola replacing Vodafone as the main partner at McLaren Mercedes when the mobile network operator’s contract expires in 2013. But one reliable industry source told Sports Marketing Frontiers that Coca-Cola’s primary goal is likely to be a global partnership with Bernie Ecclestone, who has been keen to open up the FMCG sector for some time.
“If you judge it by the typical scale Coca-Cola activates at then a global partnership would seem to be most applicable,” says the industry insider. “It’s hard to see how it could work with McLaren, as the obvious problem is GSK and [McLaren Mercedes partner] Lucozade. Although there is a large strategic element to the sponsorship for corporate GSK, Lucozade is still one of their brands and just dumping it may not be that easy. That said, nothing is impossible in Formula One and I wouldn’t entirely rule that out.”
By Matthew Glendinning
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @mattglen