Why Formula 1 Is The First Sports Partnership For Amex In A Decade

Already boasting a sports and entertainment portfolio including the NBA, golf, tennis, music and theater, American Express
AXP
was poised to add to its partnerships in an effort to create more opportunities for existing and new cardholders.

Witnessing the skyrocketing popularity of Formula 1 from afar, the team sought to get an up-close perspective of the high-speed global open-wheel, single-seater racing series that has grown immensely in the United States thanks to the Netflix
NFLX
docuseries Drive to Survive.

“The team and I flew to Mexico City and it was just absolutely electric,” said Mary Ellen Jelenek, American Express senior vice president of global brand marketing and sponsorships. “I was blown away. We all came home and said, ‘We need to be a part of this.’

“That’s when we really started to negotiate with Formula 1 in earnest.”

American Express and Formula 1 announced a multi-year partnership in October where Amex will serve as the Official Payments Partner of F1 in the Americas, F1 Academy and Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The partnership, the first for American Express since renewing its long-standing partnership with the NBA in 2013, includes all six F1 races in the Americas—Miami Grand Prix, Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal), U.S. Grand Prix (Austin), Mexican Grand Prix (Mexico City), Brazilian Grand Prix (São Paulo) and Las Vegas Grand Prix—as well as the F1 Academy, F1’s all-female racing series committed to creating equal opportunities for women in the sport.

“It’s really an unprecedented deal for us in a number of ways,” Jelenek said. “We hadn’t entered a new sports vertical in quite some time, but it’s also a deal that spans multiple markets. When we think about what we want to bring to life, this partnership is actually with Formula 1 and all the branding you see onsite, but we also have deals with the promoters who activate a number of the races and ticket providers.

“We always want to make sure for our card members that we’re providing access for them to come to the event but when they get there, there are things onsite that are really special because you’re with Amex.”

At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the first F1 race in Sin City since 1982, American Express treated cardholders and their guests to a fan experience along the Koval Straight after Turn 4 on the 3.8-mile track, which included the ability to build avatars of themselves driving F1 cars, co-branded merchandise, food and beverage, a Therabody recovery station, and radios similarly to what Amex offers cardholders at the U.S. Open every summer in New York City.

Not only does Formula 1 boast a global audience of more than 1 billion—in 2021, F1 reported a global TV audience of 1.55 billion—but 70% of those fans are under the age of 35, which fits perfectly for American Express, whose fastest-growing segments are among Millenials and Gen Z, according to Jelenek.

To validate Amex’s new partnership, Jelenek said more than half of the tickets purchased for the Las Vegas Grand Prix via credit card were bought on an American Express.

“It’s the kind of thing that really proved we had the right hypothesis, and obviously we’re incredibly data-driven in how we pick things, so it’s nice when you see it on the other side,” she said. “It was the right pick. I think it’s good for Formula 1 and it’s good for Amex. We’re pretty excited.”

While the Las Vegas GP was the last race in the Americas this season and the penultimate race on the 2023 F1 calendar, American Express is excited for the opportunity to activate for an entire season in 2024 and beyond.

“We really use our card members as our guide and what their passions are, then work to add elements to our portfolio that will meet those needs, both so we can engender loyalty with our existing card members but also attract new card members to the franchise,” Jelenek said. “I think Formula 1 does both those things.”