Formula 1 Launches Five Lights Campaign

Formula 1 has released Five Lights, its new global marketing campaign, ahead of the season restart. 

The campaign features all 22 drivers alongside the voice of Colin Farrell, who has been a noted F1 fan since the late 90s.

“Five Lights captures one of the most powerful moments in Formula 1, when anticipation, excitement and pressure all come together just before the race begins,” says Emily Prazer, Chief Commercial Officer for Formula 1.

“As we return for the second half of what has already been an incredible season, we wanted to create something that reflects the emotion of our sport and the connection our fans feel with the teams and drivers every race weekend.” 

The ‘Five Lights’ campaign

The Five Lights campaign will run from mid August to the 13 September, and centres on a 90-second film supported by marketing across social media and digital platforms.

According to Formula 1, it has been created to build anticipation for the second half of the season, which starts up again on the 21st of August. 

Over the course of the campaign, the company has planned six takeover locations for OOH displays in locations such as Piccadilly Circus, The Outernet, Times Square, Caesars Palace Sunset Boulevard and the Moxy and the Music District, in order to bring the campaign to some of the most visible entertainment and cultural destinations across the US and UK.

A rapidly growing audience 

Formula 1 has launched this campaign at the halfway point of a record-breaking year in terms of fan viewership. 

According to the company, the sport now boasts more than 830 million fans globally, with the first half of the season delivering 11 consecutive sell-out Grands Prix and six new circuit attendance records. 

Brazil in particular has seen significant viewership growth, with race weekends delivering audiences up to five times larger year-over-year.

In fact, the British Grand Prix reached 18 million viewers across Brazil’s TV Globo and SportTV3 – making it the highest audience for the event in 8 years. 

The industry is also seeing a highly engaged younger audience – with the number of female fans growing rapidly. 

An F1 fan survey of 100,000 self-identified highly engaged fans conducted by motorsport network has found that 25% of highly engaged fans are women, more than doubling since 2017.

When looking at younger generations, that number rises even higher, with women making up half of Gen Z respondents.

Speaking of younger generations, more than a quarter (27%) of highly engaged fans are Gen Z, with 70% of Gen Z fans in the US engaging with F1 content daily. 

But F1 is continuing to grow. 

“We have to keep innovating and pushing the boundaries, but we all have leaders above us and amazing teams below us to help us get there,” Emily said in an interview with the James Allen on F1 podcast at Silverstone. “So I'm very excited about what's to come.”