The News: The Formula 1 crypto partnership recently announced between McLaren Racing and OKX is the first of its kind. OKX is now the Official Primary Partner of McLaren Racing and their collaboration brings new and exciting opportunities to both global brands. Read the Press Release from McLaren here.
Formula 1 Crypto Partnership Between McLaren Racing and OKX Unites Global Brands
Analyst Take: McLaren Racing and OKX announced their Formula 1 crypto partnership in conjunction with the 2022 Miami Grand Prix, being held this weekend. OKX, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is now the Official Primary Partner of McLaren Formula 1 Team and McLaren Shadow esports Team. This major multi-year Formula 1 crypto partnership deal between global brands comes at a time when attention from mainstream audiences is growing exponentially for both.
The Formula 1 crypto deal will see OKX branding prominently featured on McLaren’s MCL36 F1 cars, the race suits and helmets of McLaren F1 drivers, and on the McLaren F1 Team kit and McLaren Shadow esports Team kit. McLaren, a prestigious British racing brand with one of the most successful F1 teams, will lend significant new visibility to OKX, a rapidly expanding crypto exchange from Asia with more than 20 million users across 180 markets worldwide. The Formula 1 crypto partnership promises to test the limits of tech innovation and audience engagement, especially in the esports space.
Formula 1 Crypto Collaboration – What Can Audiences Expect?
In addition to cross-branding opportunities, this Formula 1 crypto partnership creates “new and exciting opportunities to bring fans closer to the culture of speed, performance, and high ambitions” that Formula 1 and crypto trading share in common. McLaren and OKX are both invested in collaborating on new product innovations that cut across investing, trading, and racing. Both brands are on the cusp of anniversaries — 60 years for McLaren Racing and 6 for OKX (significant in the newly-established cryptocurrency market) — and looking forward to announcing celebrations that will provide an opportunity to publicize the results of their Formula 1 crypto partnership.
This is an exciting and timely collaboration between global Formula 1 and crypto brands with high potential to create intriguing innovations as a result of the synchronicity in their values and pursuits. For both McLaren and OKX, the partnership offers increased visibility among audience segments that may not have previously seen a significant overlap. McLaren’s growth in the esports space is perhaps the most likely benefactor of the partnership and the arena in which innovation will occur. I am interested to watch this unfold, and see what the fruits of this crossover collaboration will be and how they will impact the Formula 1 racing, esports, and crypto exchange communities.
Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.
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Image Credit: McLaren Racing
Author Information
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years' experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging development, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly's coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
