{"id":70279,"date":"2025-05-03T04:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T04:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/70279\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T04:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T04:56:09","slug":"beauty-brands-rev-up-their-formula-1-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/70279\/","title":{"rendered":"Beauty Brands Rev Up Their Formula 1 Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPARIS \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>Rochas<\/a>\u2019 sleek, golden Formula 1<\/a> car gets rolled onto a track by glamorous women in body-con uniforms and heels. The all-female team\u2019s lead driver spritzes on Audace, the brand\u2019s new fragrance.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe race is on, both in the campaign clip where the Rochas car revs into pole position to win the gold, and for beauty<\/a> brands as they accelerate their partnerships with the sport.<\/p>\n

\n\tF1, now in its 75th season, has a big role to play, ranking as the most popular yearly sport series, with an audience of 750 million, according to Nielsen Sports. Of that, women account for 41 percent of the fan base, allowing F1 to shed its traditionally male image, while the 16-to-24 set is its fastest-growing age group.<\/p>\n

\n\tF1\u2019s sponsorship is up 10 percent on-year and has reached in 2025 already more than $2.9 billion, according to Ampere. Meantime, the sport is broadening its reach, now boasting 65 million followers across its social media platforms, for instance.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSince 2020, the fan base for F1 has grown 38 percent; their broadcast coverage in the U.S. has doubled since 2018,\u201d said Stacey Andrade-Wells, chief marketing officer at Liquid I.V., the electrolyte drink mix. \u201cThis is a really growing space for attention and for brands to be able to reach their consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"F1<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tF1 Academy is pioneering for women in Formula 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFormula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tBeauty<\/a> brands, also including Charlotte Tilbury<\/a> and Elemis<\/a>, have taken note and turned F1 into a new runway.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sport, once elite, burst onto the world stage in part thanks to the Netflix series \u201cDrive to Survive,\u201d which helped draw a younger and more diverse audience. Social media and gaming have helped, as well.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSports is a way to hit those audiences more effectively than traditional advertising,\u201d said Louise Johnson, global chief executive officer at Fuse, a sport and entertainment marketing agency.<\/p>\n

\n\tBeauty plays a big role in sports. Personal care is essential to athletes; hair and makeup are powerful tools for self-expression while athletes wear a uniform, and sports and beauty both stand at the intersection of physical and mental well-being, she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tSport is at the junction of adjacent passions, too, such as fashion, music and wellness. \u201cEverything is crossing and bleeding over at the moment,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat is why you are starting to see a lot of beauty brands coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe unique thing about Formula 1 is it has this opportunity to stretch across sports, but also entertainment [and] hospitality. And [since] it has such broad shoulders, that allows it to permeate culture,\u201d Andrade-Wells continued. \u201cBeauty and well-being consumers are always on the leading edge of trends and culture. What becomes important to them also becomes important to the brands that they are trying to reach and connect with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLike F1, beauty brands have their sights trained on China and the Middle East as two main growth markets, pointed out\u00a0Olivier Tjon, a neuromarketing pioneer and cofounder of Beyond Reason consultancy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFormula 1, just as a platform, is really interesting to reach those audiences,\u201d he said, underlining the new races being added to the calendar are located in those markets, where there are cultural differences driving beauty product sales.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn China, the purchase of Western luxury cosmetics brands is often motivated by the need for assertiveness by Chinese women,\u201d Tjon said. \u201cFormula 1 is something also that you strongly associate with [being] daring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe said a dominant purchase motive in cosmetics for women in the Middle East is to please others, primarily their partners. So it is possible they\u2019d buy into products associated with the sport to do that.<\/p>\n

\n\tForget Penelope Pitstop of the 1960s cartoon \u201cWacky Races.\u201d That\u2019s ancient history. Beauty brands are taking newfangled creative approaches to women and race-car driving \u2014 particularly F1.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its campaign, Rochas shows the female car driver after winning the race \u2014 and out-driving a man \u2014 proudly holding\u00a0aloft an oversize Audace fragrance bottle as a trophy. The flacon is shaped like a women\u2019s body swathed in Rochas couture, with hands on hips, girl-boss style.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Rochas'<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRochas\u2019 campaign for its new Audace fragrance features Formula 1.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Rochas<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhy would it be only for men?\u201d said Philippe Benacin, chairman and chief executive officer of Interparfums SA, which owns Rochas, speaking of F1. He explained the idea of the sport tie-in is to empower women.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat strategy has already paid dividends. Audace was launched in France in February, and in the first quarter of this year, Rochas fragrance sales rose 13 percent to 10.3 million euros.\u00a0\u201cAudace is driving the growth,\u201d Benacin said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFormula 1 can be a catalyst for change,\u201d said S\u00e9an Harrington, Elemis\u2019 cofounder and CEO.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe British skin care brand in February became the Aston Martin Aramco F1 team\u2019s first official skin care partner. The three-year tie-in began on March 14 at the Australian Grand Prix, where Elemis hosted an activation at the hospitality suite for it and Aston Martin Aramco\u2019s VIP guests.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe partnership includes product collaborations, such as travel-size collections. The Elemis brand name is printed onto the Aston Martin Aramco race cars, alongside the likes of Boss and Oakley.<\/p>\n

\n\tHarrington considered the F1 tie-in an easy decision and natural fit. \u201cI wanted to try and find an opportunity for the next five, 10 years to inject another layer and another level to the brand \u2014 to give it a new energy, a new drive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe executive has long admired Lawrence Stroll, part owner and executive chairman of Aston Martin, as well as owner of its F1 team.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHere is an iconic British brand with amazing heritage, great legacy,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cIt represents performance, luxury, comfort \u2014 so many aspects of similar aspirations we have for Elemis that I felt there\u2019s a real opportunity here for two brands to come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was struck by how at the Aston Martin factory every executive Harrington met was striving to win. \u201cI thought: This is perfect for our business,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cIt is an opportunity I didn\u2019t want to lose. I was more interested in it from a cultural aspect and what it could change within my organization. That positivity, energy, that need to drive to survive is not just a few words. It\u2019s a real meaning in their world. They\u2019re driving to survive \u2014 but also to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLike Elemis, the car brand also has a keen focus on CSR. Harrington thought a partnership would make for a winning formula. \u201cI\u2019ve been proven right,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has really changed the game for us. It isn\u2019t just about motor racing \u2014 this was about culture, people and brand partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe executive believes it goes beyond traditional branding. \u201cIt\u2019s finding a way to bring that partnership to life with our clients, consumers and also relationships in business all over the world. That\u2019s what\u2019s so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt recent races in Melbourne, Australia, and Shanghai, Elemis invited wholesalers and distributors, hotel and spa partners, and brand ambassadors.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy guests get to experience being part of [Aston Martin\u2019s] team \u2014 not just a glass of Champagne in a hospitality suite,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cYou\u2019re meeting the drivers and are up close and personal to the team members.\u00a0You\u2019re in the garage, timing the pitstops with them \u2014 you\u2019re in it. It\u2019s unique. We\u2019re looking at this over a longer term.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA rendering of the Elemis Aston Martin pitstop for treatments.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Elemis<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year the Elemis Aston Martin pitstop has grown into a full-blown \u201cpitstop spa\u201d for Miami. At other races, an Airstream will be involved in the experience, which Harrington described as another level of luxury on the road for all of Elemis\u2019 customers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe brand, meanwhile, is developing relationships with drivers \u2014 both male and female \u2014 and following new drivers\u2019 journeys in professional sport. \u201cI see no other athlete in the world that goes through what they go through,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cFrom a pressure valve, to a constantly always-on perspective, from a physical, nutritional and mental-health perspective, it\u2019s got all the ingredients to be so special to so many.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tProduct-wise developments can expand to nutrition, health, wellness, beauty and rehydration. \u201cWe\u2019re at the start,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cThen, of course, there\u2019s the Brad Pitt movie [\u2018F1\u2019] to come, which will obviously help with the popularity all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe believes the potential audience for the sport is vast. \u201cIt\u2019s just the beginning,\u201d said Harrington, adding Elemis\u2019 tie-in with the Aston Martin Aramco team has already brought a higher level of new people to both brands than they\u2019ve ever experienced with a partnership before.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast year, when Charlotte Tilbury became the first beauty company and female-founded brand to be an official sponsor of F1 Academy, the female-only racing championship founded by Formula 1 that supports women drivers, it \u201csent a shockwave through the industry,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Chloe<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tChloe Chong and the Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips car.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Charlotte Tilbury<\/p>\n

\n\tTilbury does not find it shocking, however. \u201cBoth beauty and motorsport thrive on innovation and breakthroughs in technology, and we are both fueled by our passionate, devoted global communities,\u201d she said. \u201cWomen have been so underrepresented in this sport.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I found out that 40 percent of F1 fans are female, yet more women have orbited the earth than driven an F1 car, I wanted to change that,\u201d Tilbury said. \u201cI realized there was an opportunity to make waves and champion diversity, inclusion and representation beyond the beauty industry.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThrough this partnership, I want young women and girls around the world to be inspired to pursue their dreams and feel their most confident,\u201d continued Tilbury, who was introduced as a girl to F1 by her father, a friend of the late, legendary race-car driver Niki Lauda. \u201cIt is the perfect example of what I set out to do with my brand, which is empowering everyone, everywhere to feel and look like the most beautiful version of themselves through the transformative power of makeup, skin care and fragrance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTilbury explained the impact so far has been huge. \u201cIn 2024, we gathered a showstopping global reach of over 14.3 billion, bringing widespread awareness and engagement with this program,\u201d she said. Her brand itself counts more than 12 million social media fans.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2025, F1 Academy has grown to include a sixth team, which resulted in a 20 percent increase of participation in the sport with 18 female drivers.<\/p>\n

\n\tCharlotte Tilbury kickstarted this season in Shanghai, then will continue to race cities such as Montreal, Canada; Zandvoort, the Netherlands, and Las Vegas. The brand is championing Chloe Chong, the youngest driver in the 2023 field, who pilots the Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips Car.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ll have magical pop-ups on and off track, with confidence-boosting touch-up stations and much more,\u201d said Tilbury, who also gifts drivers products from the Pillow Talk collection.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor International Women\u2019s Day on March 8, the beauty brand donated the totality of online sales of the label\u2019s Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray to Motorsport UK\u2019s Girls Karting Academy. Proceeds funded, as well, the Charlotte Tilbury Scholarship at the academy in support of one girl\u2019s participation in a Club 100 Karting Championship season next year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWomen around the world are invested in seeing other women thrive and pursue their dreams,\u201d said Tilbury. \u201cAs a female founder, it is so important to me that we support the next generation of women to become rulebreakers and changemakers. I am incredibly passionate about women pursuing their dreams, feeling their most confident and thinking limitlessly. We are empowering these remarkable young women to break barriers within the sport and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLiquid I.V. in 2024 partnered with the Miami Grand Prix on a multiyear collaboration as the race\u2019s first functional hydration partner. It also marked the company\u2019s foray into the worlds of F1 and motorsport.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Miami, Liquid I.V. had a Race House and also carried out a full-city takeover with billboards, gave out samples (that the brand dubs \u201csticks in hand\u201d) inside and outside the Paddock Club and general admissions areas, and teamed with Hope Hydration to create stations allowing customers to refill water. Liquid I.V. also did its first in-field marketing with branded cyber trucks that drove around Miami proffering samples. Altogether, 190,000 were given out.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Liquid I.V. Race House.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Liquid I.V.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor its second season at the Miami race, Liquid I.V. will be on the grounds on Sunday with an even more immersive fan experience in the Liquid I.V. Race House.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s truly a sensory experience, where fans will be able to indulge in our brand\u2019s flavor and function experience,\u201d Andrade-Wells said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be an opportunity to really feel the transformation from being dehydrated to hydrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRacegoers will be able to taste for the first time the brand\u2019s limited-edition mystery flavor, which comes in custom F1 packaging. \u201cThey\u2019ll be able to have a lot of fun, get some branded prizes and merchandising that\u2019s up for grabs,\u201d said Andrade-Wells.<\/p>\n

\n\tBranded hydration stations will be throughout the entire campus. To make the experience more accessible to all F1 fans, Liquid I.V. is generating behind-the-scenes content for social media<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re doubling down on our partnership and expanding to the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix later this year,\u201d Andrade-Wells said. \u201cIn an effort to really lean into that element of accessibility, we\u2019re going to be doing a national giveaway in retail, where you can enter for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to the Las Vegas Grand Prix.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThere is also a racing game on the Liquid I.V. website, where people can customize a car and vie with others. Online, its first cobranded product will be available, too.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo help fuel Liquid I.V.\u2019s full 360-degree experience, the brand will put in place out-of-home advertising, and its field-marketing team is giving out samples in Miami. Some 250,000 are expected to be handed out.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe did see a really significant increase in our brand awareness following last year\u2019s activation,\u201d said Andrade-Wells, adding Liquid I.V. is constantly looking for opportunities to connect with its consumers during peak hydration periods.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWith our consumers, we focus on four different usage occasions: heat, exercise, travel and nightlife,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Formula 1 Miami event is at the intersection of all four of those. Our big priority is to go bigger and better \u2013 to show up even in a more dramatic way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOther beauty brands, such as Givenchy, Ralph Lauren and L\u2019Or\u00e9al Paris, have signed F1 racers as ambassadors. And an increasing number are getting in on the general car-racing action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tE.l.f. sponsors professional race car driver Katherine Legge in the Indy 500, for instance. That partnership was the first time a beauty brand had been affiliated with the event.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKatherine Legge is proof of our mission in motion: standing with every eye, lip, and face that dares to dream,\u201d said Patrick O\u2019Keefe, chief integrated marketing officer at E.l.f. Beauty. \u201cFrom day one, we recognized a force of nature in her \u2013 bold, relentless and unapologetically unstoppable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tExpect many more beauty brands racing into F1.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of \u2018should we,\u2019 it\u2019s more a question of \u2018how soon can we join the grid?\u2019\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014\u00a0Rochas\u2019 sleek, golden Formula 1 car gets rolled onto a track by glamorous women in body-con uniforms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[952,4199,707,4200,79,16,15,35219],"class_list":{"0":"post-70279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-beauty","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wwdbeautyinc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114442127610629554","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}