The Formula One season starts this weekend in Melbourne, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton now driving for Ferrari after 12 years with Mercedes.
Sponsors are preparing to capitalise on their investment and this film for Peroni by McCann Erickson has 27 year-old Charles Leclerc – a Ferrari driver since 2019 – welcoming Hamilton to the team with 44 cases of Peroni Nastro Azzuri 0.0% beer. The 44 is a reference to Hamilton’s racing number.
There’s also a competition which rewards the writers of the best 60 fan messages with Ferrari merchandise and plenty of Peroni.
Netflix F1 sports reality show Drive to Survive is also back to mark the new season; it’s effectively an ad which has successfully brought women, younger viewers and a US audience flocking to F1. Apple is moving in on the sport too with a $300m F1 movie that stars Brad Pitt, features cars provided by Mercedes, and is working with Lewis Hamilton as a hands-on producer.
The glamour and allure that brings so many fans and so much funding into the F1 space are all plain to see in McCann’s ad.
MAA creative scale: 7
