British Grand Prix Drive-In For NHS Workers – Heineken & F1

For the behind-closed-doors 2020 British Grand Prix, F1 global beer partner Heineken promoted its 0.0% no alcohol brand via an immersive, in-person activation for local NHS workers on the Covid-19 front line built around a drive-in, giant screen race viewing and hot lap experience.

Territory: UK

Agency: Edelman

Objectives

Heineken has been the official global beer partner of Formula One (F!) since 2016 and in 2020 the brewer focused on promoting its Heineken 0.0% no alcohol product through the race series.

During the 2020 season, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 2 August celebrated its 70th anniversary, but due to the pandemic large gatherings of people attending live sporting events was impossible so Heineken had to rework its engagement strategy around the race and tasked agency Edelman to reach out to and engage UK F1 fans with uplifting stories showcasing and supporting those who’ve been through particularly tough times due to Covid-19.

The agency’s challenge was to activate the brand’s race rights within UK government guidelines despite no fans being allowed at the circuit and yet still provide F1 lovers with ‘an extraordinary experience celebrating the sporting anniversary milestone’.

Activation

The agency’s idea was to create an F1 immersive drive-in event for NHS workers who were also motor racing fans to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Grand Prix and provide those who most needed it ‘a full-throttle experience to remember’.

Over a period of just two weeks, an Edelman team co-ordinated the attendance of NHS front line workers and key members of the British media to deliver a special race screening. NHS guests from local Northampton hospitals were invited to attend an exclusive Heineken F1 immersive event as a thank-you for all their work during the pandemic.

The drive-in screening also aligned with Heineken 0.0’s ‘socialise responsibly’ marketing platform which is focused on the importance of creating memorable, yet safe and socially distanced experiences.

The immersive race screening experience began with what the agency described as ‘a high-speed car check’ at entrance by a ‘pit stop team’ which prepared each guest vehicle for the experience. Guests were then guided to their pre-allocated car viewing slot and given a ‘hot laps’ experience: a ride around a racing track in a Mercedes AMG with a professional driver.

Following the track experience, the NHS guests were provided with an in-car food and drink service (including Heineken 0.0 service), whilst they watched the live Grand Prix action on a giant screen.

To amplify the event, a hero film was created and shared socially across Heineken’s online platforms and with members of the mainstream, sports and marketing media via the PA newswire from 12 August.

Plus, a group of six influencers were also invited to the event to capture BTS content and speak to Heineken team members about the event and then share their slef-created content across their own channels.

Outcome

The immersive grand prix experience reached more than 60m people and generated more than 52 pieces of editorial and earned social media coverage.

According to the agency, 82% of the coverage included Heineken branded assets and the overall campaign generated an 88% positive sentiment.