Title	ABB - LET’S WRITE THE FUTURE.
Brand	ABB
Product/Service	ABB
Category	D04. Excellence in Brand Integration & Sponsorship / Partnership
Entrant	SERVICEPLAN SUISSE Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Idea Creation	SERVICEPLAN SUISSE Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Media Placement	ABB Zürich, SWITZERLAND
PR	ABB Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Production	SERVICEPLAN SUISSE Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Production 2	GARRIGOSA STUDIOS Barcelona, SPAIN
Production 3	NEVEREST München, GERMANY
Production 4	PLAN.NET Zürich, SWITZERLAND

Name	Company	Position
Raul Serrat	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Executive Creative Director
Michael Kathe	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Creative Director
Nicolas Vontobel	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Creative Direction
Jan Krohn	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Copywriter
Henry Clarke	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Copywriter
Denis Schwarz	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Art Director
Tizian Lienhard	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Graphic Designer
Christian Baertschi	Serviceplan Suisse AG	CEO
Muriel Laporta Asté	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Group Account Director
Nicolas Gspan	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Account Director
Aline Litchenhaus	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Account Director
Nadine Stüssi	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Account Director
Laura Besselaar	Serviceplan Suisse AG	Account Manager

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

This work used the title sponsorship of a major motorsports event to raise international awareness and engagement with a brand to make its normally invisible products tangible to a global audience. It drew on the excitement of electric-powered street racing to showcase the innovation that’s making mobility sustainable and get audiences inspired about the potential of the future. Ultimately, the sponsorship helped close the gap in audiences’ imaginations between high-performance race technologies and the mobility of our future lives and cities.

Background

ABB has a 130-year history of pioneering technology leadership. Electrification Products is one of its biggest divisions. In today’s highly competitive field, ABB has an even greater stake in being at the forefront of innovation and providing a lower-carbon, sustainable, smart future. In 2015 ABB was being overshadowed and outspent on media and advertising by its two largest competitors: Siemens (with triple the manpower and revenue of ABB) and General Electric (double ABB’s manpower and nearly five times its revenue). So in 2016, ABB announced a 10-year partnership with Formula E to quickly grow its Electrification Products division and shift from an industrial giant to an agile, sustainable, and future-proof challenger brand. The racing series offered a platform to revitalize ABB, position it as a leader in electrification, and make its products tangible and exciting to all target groups. Now, our brief was to continue activating the partnership.

Describe the creative idea

The driving idea behind the partnership of ABB and the FIA Formula E Championship was to showcase the power and excitement of electrification in a new and compelling way, and place ABB exactly where its products are most relevant and needed: in the middle of the world’s biggest cities. Created to “demonstrate the potential of sustainable mobility to help create a better, cleaner world”, the FIA Formula E Championship offered a perfect match for ABB’s brand and purpose. The partnership could be shaped as a long-term platform to tell ABB’s story of innovating sustainable technologies and solutions to help preserve the environment, fight climate change and eliminate city pollution. This was a partnership that could go beyond a normal sports or event sponsorship, offering a narrative whose importance to its audience would grow with people’s increasing desire to protect the global ecology.

Describe the strategy

Our approach was to circumvent the costs of traditional advertising or broadcast sponsorship and make the partnership a business platform to entertain our target groups and visualize ABB’s electrification expertise. ABB’s external target group was composed of current and potential customers who would need ABB products to create an electric, sustainable future: 1) public officials and infrastructure providers in cities 2) manufacturers of mobility solutions 3) the general public A globe-trotting race series offered access to a broad target and the opportunity to tailor our message and the experience to each different sub-group. Formula E races are held in the middle of major cities, enabling ABB to offer citizens a fresh perspective on the electric future in their own urban landscape. Peripheral content such as web series produced by ABB would help localize the theme of e-mobility and sustainability in the races’ host cities.

Describe the execution

Both during the season and throughout the rest of the year, the partnership was activated with a long list of touchpoints and content. Key visuals and animations promoting each race highlighted the urban, international aspect of the championship and presented the brand’s vision for the cities of the future. Exclusive explanatory content on ABB’s online channels featuring ABB ambassador drivers offered a window into the technologies behind the racing. The online video series “The Pioneers” introduced the local sustainability pioneers in the races’ host cities who are making an impact through technological innovation. At race weekends, ABB’s guests had a front-row experience of the action, and access to exclusive pit-lane tours and panel discussions on the theme of electric mobility. Meanwhile, exhibition spaces brought fans face to face with the ABB technologies working “behind the scenes” to drive a new era of mobility.

Describe the outcome

Formula E reported more than 400,000 spectators throughout the 2018-19 season, and a cumulative global TV audience of 411m across 13 races. ABB’s business results for the period are still pending. Given Formula E’s growing popularity, these can be expected to rise on the following results measured over the 2017-18 season: • 21.1% increase in ABB’s brand value (30.5% and 26% when measured against GE and Siemens respectively) • ABB gained 28 places in the Brand Finance 2018 Global 500 report. • ABB’s brand reputation increased 4% in the 2018 Ipsos Brand Reputation & Activation Study (placing it second in the overall ranking) and 9% in the category “Digital Competence”. • More than 6,600 articles generated in target-group relevant media • + 104,000 external social media mentions. • 17% order volume increase for ABB electrification products. • 7.7% increase in operating EBITA • ABB’s electrification business accounted for 41% of ABB’s yearly revenue, up by 3% on 2017.