Lubricants manufacturer Liqui Moly has agreed a deal to sponsor a group of Formula One races as it furthers its efforts to expand in markets outside of home nation Germany.
During the 2019 season of the motor-racing championship, Liqui Moly said it will advertise at 11 circuits on the calendar, commencing with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 28-31.
The identity of the other races was not disclosed, but Liqui Moly said the campaign will cost it “several millions”. Chief executive Ernst Prost added: “We hope that out of the more than one billion viewers who follow this spectacle on television all over the world every year, it may occur to some of them to take a closer look at Liqui Moly and purchase our products.
“If you want to reach that many people all over the world, you can’t be a penny pincher. You have to think globally and make huge investments.”
Liqui Moly already has a strong presence in the sports sponsorship market, including current agreements with the MotoGP motorcycling championship and the TCR touring car series. The company has prior experience in F1 having sponsored the Jordan team in the 2000s.
Prost said: “The aim of advertising in Formula One is to raise our brand profile. Oils and additives do their job invisibly, hidden in the depths of the engine. They’re not products that drivers see and get thrilled about on a day-to-day basis. This is why brand visibility is all the more important for Liqui Moly. Top-class quality alone is not much help if nobody knows about the benefits.”
Liqui Moly again set a new sales record in 2018 of €545m ($616.3m). This represented a two per cent rise year-on-year, but the firm is targeting an increase of at least 10 per cent for 2019. Prost added: “We’re really going to make splash in 2019. Part of this will be our appearance in Formula One.”