Sports Marketing Summit: ‘Pale, male, and stale’ – Australian Grand Prix transforms audience after popularity surge
The Australian Grand Prix has experienced a remarkable transformation in its fanbase since the launch of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series.
This shift has compelled the organisation to diversify fan experiences and set new benchmarks in fan engagement with the help of the creative agency, WongDoody.
Presenting at Mumbrella’s Sports Marketing Summit last Thursday, Australian Grand Prix’s digital manager, Joel Mackenzie and WongDoody’s chief experience officer, James Noble, explored how strategic off-track experiences and innovative digital solutions led to unprecedented achievements, such as selling out a non-race day Friday for the first time and achieving record-breaking ticket sales.
What a crock.
No one is going to challenge anyone who says “we had to change because we were male, pale and stale”, regardless of whether it is true or not. It’s an easy comment to hide behind. But chucking the very fans who helped drive F1 to the position it occupies itself with today under the bus is quite the modern move. How virtuous.
The FIA and F1 couldn’t care less; the only colour they care about is the colour of money, and you only have to look at the countries they are happy to stage races in to see that – Azerbaijan, Russia, Saudi Arabia – those hot beds of F1 interest I’m sure…
Also, direct question to Joel – why does your organisation refuse to publish actual attendance numbers? It is well documented that these are fudged every year. What are you hiding? Perhaps it’s YOUR pale and stale board driving this consistent narrative that the AUGP is actually of massive benefit to Melbourne when it has been debunked time and time again that it is in fact a significant resource drain on the state.