At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, Formula 1 was the clear commercial focus, with multiple teams gathering at a prominent bar opposite the main hub. Mercedes even displayed a Monaco‑spec yacht, while drivers such as Lando Norris and George Russell attended alongside senior marketing staff.
Williams board advisor Peter Kenyon, a former commercial chief at Manchester United and Chelsea, sat down with The Race to discuss the sport’s transformation. He likened Williams’ historic brand to an under‑used asset now being rebuilt, and noted that F1, once looking to football for ideas, is now exporting its own strategies. The Netflix series on the sport has drawn a younger, more gender‑balanced audience, expanding the commercial appeal.
Kenyon says the goal is to rank among the top commercial marketing teams in sport, benchmarking against the world’s leading fifty clubs rather than just F1 rivals. He stresses that modern sponsorship is about authentic integration, not merely a car sticker, a point reinforced by the festival’s praise of F1’s creative commercial work.
