- 3M signs on as Cadillac’s official material science partner
- Budget cap was considered but not “the driver of the deal”
- Epp: ‘Focus is on American heritage brand over pursuing title partner’
The Cadillac Formula One team have signed a multi-year partnership with US-based industrial technology company 3M.
The company, whose portfolio of brands includes Scotch tape and Post-It notes, signs on as Cadillac’s official material science partner. The initial collaboration will centre on lightweight materials, bonding and surface preparation, manufacturing optimisation, laboratory testing, and trackside support.
This is 3M’s first partnership in Formula One, although it has been closely associated with Nascar for the past two decades as an official partner of the series. More pertinently, 3M has a long-standing engineering and manufacturing partnership with General Motors – Cadillac’s parent company – stretching back decades.
As Formula One’s newest team, much of Cadillac’s sponsorship focus is on companies that can help them progress technically and operationally. 3M joins other partners like Tenneco, IFS and Core Scientific as brands focused on prioritising technical collaboration rather than sponsorship inventory.
Having the right technical partners in modern day Formula One is crucial due to the budget cap regulations laid out by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) as teams look to maximise efficiency across their business.
“Our technical team, and specifically Nick Chester [chief technical officer], has been heavily involved in this discussion for a matter of three or four months,” Tyler Epp, Cadillac’s global head of commercial strategy, told BlackBook Motorsport.
“I wouldn’t say [the budget cap] was the driver of the deal, but I would say that it was contemplated from the very beginning and we do think there’s opportunities for us to utilise 3M’s expertise to help us make the race car go faster.”
This deal also underlines Cadillac’s sponsorship strategy to focus on American brands as they seek to establish themselves as the first truly US-based Formula One team.
While major consumer-facing brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Jim Beam committed to the nascent project early, initial progress has stalled. But BlackBook Motorsport understands this deal with 3M is the first of at least four partnership announcements over the course of the summer.
This is also the first deal that Cadillac have agreed since Excel Sports Management was appointed as their exclusive agency for sales and strategy.
Despite the apparent lull in commercial activity, Cadillac is not struggling. In fact, the team have focused on being selective with new partners as the fit with the team’s culture is crucial in the early phase of its existence.
“One thing that we’ve really tried to do is making sure that we find a value match somewhere, and it needs to be authentic,” said Epp.
“That value match for 3M has really been around performance. This is a company that’s built on performance products and materials, and the way that they have built their business really speaks to what we’re trying to do as a race team in terms of building a culture of performance.
“Making sure that we understand how to respect and understand the essence of the Cadillac brand, while also building a fan-facing brand in the Formula One team, and creating partners that share that value system… that’s been the magic for us so far.”
Beyond that initial alignment of cultures, Epp said that his commercial team must focus on driving value for the team’s partners irrespective of what’s happening on track.
“We’ve already got programmes and platforms built in to make sure we’re properly telling the story of these partners’ investments, despite any kind of performance dips that we may have along the way,” he continued.
The wider strategy was settled long before Cadillac turned a wheel in anger this season. Willem Dinger, Cadillac’s chief partnerships officer, told BlackBook Motorsport at last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix that the team was focused on building a “fewer, bigger, better partnership ecosystem”.
This extended to the team opting against a title partner agreement and Epp confirmed that the team has now sunk further into this sponsorship stance, something which conflicts with every rival team’s current strategy.
“We are not pursuing a title partner because it is so important that we’ve got this fantastic brand, this American heritage brand that we should be proud of, and we should build around,” he revealed. “So, in some ways we have that title partner brand without actually having a title partner.”
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