While drivers on the Formula One grid conducted exploratory laps during the first practice session of the British Grand Prix weekend, Aston Martin was busy hosting its inaugural Technology Forum.
The event was the largest gathering of a single team’s technology partners in Formula One to date, providing CoreWeave, Zscaler, Cohere, ServiceNow, Cognizant, Cognition, NetApp, Xerox, Arm and EightSleep with the ability to showcase their wares to the media and to one another.
The idea of Formula One team partners collaborating is nothing new. Williams, for example, offers unified networking and hospitality opportunities to its sponsors.
But Aston Martin hopes that by adding more structure and focus, it can establish itself as a commercial platform that goes beyond traditional sponsorship.
“Formula One has always been at the forefront of technological innovation, but the pace of change we are seeing through artificial intelligence and advanced computing is unlike anything the sport has experienced before,” says Jefferson Slack, managing director of commercial for Aston Martin.
“These organisations represent an extraordinary collection of expertise across AI, data, cloud computing, enterprise technology, security and human performance.”
What is the AMR Network?
The Forum means that partners don’t just get the opportunity to reach viewers and fans around the world, they can connect with one another, unlocking new business and technological opportunities.
Modern IT is built upon openness and interoperability, making such collaborations hugely valuable.
For Aston Martin, this means more value for existing partners and potentially more lucrative tie-ups with technology partners further down the line by offering more than just visibility and activation opportunities.
For a company like Xerox, who only joined Aston Martin’s portfolio at the beginning of last season, the Technology Forum will catalyse initial efforts to drive conversations with the team’s existing partners.
“We’re relatively new to the party compared to some of the guys who’ve been here since the start, but even in the last six to 12 months our leadership team have been meeting with some of the other sponsors’ leadership teams… just to try and drive that collaboration,” Rachel Wickes, European marketing lead at Xerox, tells BlackBook Motorsport at the Aston Martin Technology Forum.
Xerox is synonymous with photocopying, becoming a genericised trademark for the technology in the US, but has expanded into other areas of IT in recent decades. The technologically advanced environment of Formula One was therefore an ideal marketing fit for a company that has added more strings to its bow in recent decades.
What’s more, Xerox sees parallels with its work with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
“We do a lot of work with the government in public sector, and we’re part of the forum that Defra set up that’s part of sustainability, and it’s all of the vendors that serve public sector working together,” adds Wickes.
“So, you leave your badge at the door, and you just come in and go, right, Xerox working with HP, working with Dell, working with IBM, and it’s just, what can we do collectively to drive better outcomes for everybody? And I see this being exactly the same.”
Jefferson Slack, managing director of commercial for Aston Martin, addressed partners and select media during Friday practice of the British Grand Prix weekend (Image credit: Aston Martin)
Why Aston Martin?
Since the idea of partner collaboration is not new, there needs to be more to gain for partners beyond the creation of the AMR Network if it is to differentiate itself from rival initiatives. The power of Aston Martin’s brand is crucial in this regard.
“The name behind Aston is such a powerful legacy brand that is super desirable, and that’s something we can build our brand on top of… that also helps me de-risk the investment, because I don’t necessarily need to rely on track performance for the partnership to succeed,” says Rafael Oliveira, vice president of international marketing and partnerships at EightSleep.
“Even if the track performance is not there for one reason or another, it’s still a very valuable partnership for us.”
The point around on-track performance is key. Aston Martin are not where they want to be on the track, of course, but any partnership built around where the team finishes is not built to last.
“We want to work with the best teams out there, and by best, I don’t necessarily mean on a snapshot, like right now, but the best teams putting the right inputs [in] to succeed in the long term,” adds Oliveira.
“Adrian Newey, the investments [in] this place where we’re sitting — it does seem like all of the inputs they’re putting [in] are heading towards the right direction.
“Obviously, I think it’s fair to say everyone in this room expected a different year, but when we look at the long term, we think [Aston Martin] will be up there with all of the big ones fighting for the title.”
“Some of the best innovation is created [when things aren’t going well],” says Danny Cook, group marketing director of Go Inspire, a print business owned by Xerox.
“When things are going well, you sort of carry on doing the things you’re doing — and when things aren’t going so well, I think the innovation… needs to kick in to help whatever business you’re in to push on and improve and move forward.”
How will the AMR Network help existing partners?
The concept is still in its early stages and the true value of the initiative is yet to be realised for its participants. But partners are confident that it will be effective.
“I’m sure there’s lots that we’re still exploring, and that’s part of the benefit of forums like this – that we can find out how some of the other partners are working. Are there different things that maybe we’ve overlooked?” asks Wickes.
The benefits aren’t just limited to B2B-focused infrastructure and software providers. EightSleep, a consumer-facing sleep system, says it hoped to learn from Aston Martin’s more B2B-focused partners. Information sharing can be just as valuable as formal tie-ups.
“I meant to say this on stage but didn’t have the opportunity yet – this year the person I messaged the most was [Devin], which is a product from Cognition that revolutionised the way we interpret and use data at [EightSleep],” says Oliveira.
“Being exposed to panels like this, to people like this that are around us, basically forces us to stay on the edge of competition and what’s out there.
“So just being able to connect with these people… allows us to select what’s the next partner we want to deploy, not only in the product but within the company, to gain that edge as a company.”
Are Xerox and EightSleep achieving their sponsorship goals?
None of this to suggest that pure marketing elements are taking a back seat. As a more consumer brand, visibility and hospitality are crucial for EightSleep’s commercial goals.
“Not only [are] we in the car, but we are in places where we’re a little bit more endemic – such as the cooling of the brakes… or the cooling vests, the balaclavas [worn by] the drivers,” explains Oliveira.
“So that visibility gets immediate value, which helps with awareness. And finally, just being able to be in the paddock, take our clients, journalists, influencers, to help us tell that story [and] develop our network — that’s always key for our partnerships.”
It’s also important for Xerox, which is using its partnership to visualise its diversification away from the print business that many people associate it with.
“[We’re] looking to work and appeal with a slightly different audience base – that 22-to-40 [demographic] that is now growing at a very rapid rate in terms of [the F1] fan base … [This] is an audience that we wouldn’t necessarily connect with naturally,” says Wickes.
“So [F1] is giving us a window into that audience, and from an [IT] perspective, they are the future influencers, decision makers for hundreds and thousands of businesses across the world.”
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