Title	FRANSES CELEBRITY ACTIVATION
Brand	ABB FIA FORMULA E
Product/Service	CELEBRITY ACTIVATION
Category	B08. Use of Celebrity, Influencers & Key Opinion Leaders
Entrant	FRANSES London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	FRANSES London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR	FRANSES London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Chloe Franses	Franses	Founder & CEO
Dylan Browne	Franses	Artist Manager

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Formula E – the most intense automotive racing series on the planet – is on a mission to promote zero emissions. Through the strategic deployment of mission-aligned ambassadors coupled with stand-out media coverage, Franses has supercharged its success – taking it from fledgling motorsport, to a brand reaching more than 8bn. Raising its profile through PR has also boosted the number of teams clamouring to be involved, which is in turn is fast-tracking electric car technology and ultimately creating cleaner air for our planet and its people. It's a legacy that proves the power of PR to change the world.

Background

The climate crisis remains at the top of the news agenda – from Greta Thunberg sailing across the Atlantic, to Extinction Rebellion shutting down the streets of London. Many companies claim to be making positive change, but our client Formula E genuinely is: pushing the boundaries of the automotive industry and motorsport, shutting down cities across the globe to promote zero emissions in an innovative, exciting and entertaining way. As Formula E’s purpose PR and lifestyle agency, our mission was to take it beyond the boundaries of motorsport and into the world of lifestyle and entertainment, hosting the world's most famous faces in some of the world’s most iconic cities to supercharge its profile. Our objectives were to: * Take this electrifying series to new audiences * Secure authentic high-profile ambassador attendance * Generate narratives beyond the races * Build the profile of Formula E * Drive wider-world positive changes.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The Formula E brand is energised, bold, positive, accessible and pioneering. So it was vital that we should help it should reach new audiences (defined as ‘progressives’ aged 20 to 40 years old) with its trademark excitement and innovation, also reflecting the progressive attitudes of these new fans. We knew we wouldn’t be able to do that by waiting for this new audience to come to us. We needed to go to them. And cultural connectors are the most powerful way to do this – inspiring our creative use of celebrity ambassadors from the worlds of music, film and fashion, who were also aligned to Formula E’s sustainability mission. By capitalising on culture in this way, through ambassadors and curated content that was shared across owned social and earned media channels, we knew we’d be able to push our boundaries to reach new audiences, building broader fame for Formula E.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

At the heart of our strategy was an in-depth analysis of the Formula E brand and the key messages that would not only reflect the brand, but also its values. This provided a detailed framework for how we would reach our vital new audience – and our insight showed that ambassadors would be key. By mapping our our audience in a Venn diagram – combining 3 key areas of motorsports / gaming enthusiasts, specific celebrity fan bases and passion for the environment – Franses was able to develop a bespoke overarching strategic ambassador programme for Formula E. This empowered our strategic alignment with celebrities including Rita Ora, Liam Payne, Naomi Campbell, Sienna Miller, Liv Tyler, Emily Ratajkowski, Orlando Bloom, Idris Elba, Kylie Minogue, Ewan McGregor and many more – all importantly also aligned to Formula E’s mission around zero emissions and redefining the future of motorsport.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

Managing all aspects of talent at each of the S5 races and surrounding activations ensured we could curate all narratives and creative content for media – through one-to-one and round table interviews with top lifestyle media outlets. Each race was also supported by a carefully crafted media relations campaign to maximise the impact of each of our ambassadors. Insight around our audience had underlined their passion for filmed content. So at each race film was captured for social media and shared by the celebrities on their own channels. Along with the key messaging in hashtags, handles and tags, this drove the Formula E and sustainability message to the broadest possible audience. Franses also supported Formula E at the launch of its 'And We Go Green’ documentary at Cannes. Despite the film being 'off-schedule', we delivered more coverage than most of the films debuted at Cannes – a phenomenal achievement.

List the results (30% of vote)

Our Season 5 campaign (December 2018 – July 2019) exceeded all expectations, to take this revolutionary motorsport into lifestyle media from The Sun, Daily Mirror & Daily Mailto Vogue, GQ, The Times and Hello! Gala & LADbible – engaging a new audience within their natural media. We reached more than 2.2 billion people. We secured talent from Rita Ora and Liam Payne to Idris Elba and Kylie Minogue – taking them to cities where the air pollution was particularly extreme to deliver the sustainability message. We generated more than 2,565+ pieces across 5 races, globally. Social media, meanwhile, reached more than 275m people, delivering growth of 136% against season 4. We supported audience uplift of 47%, and TV viewer growth of 24%. We helped boost awareness by 8%. Formula E is now considered one of the world's fastest growing sports with more than 634 million viewers over the last two seasons. An average of 27.1 million watched each individual race, a huge increase of 46% on the 18.6 million during the 2016-17 season. The success of Formula E, supercharged by its high-profile ambassadors, has both boosted the sport, and led to a surge in new electric car manufacturers in the sport – four over the past two seasons – HWA Racelab, BMW, Mercedes & Porsche. This in turn has fast-tracked the development of electric car technology, which is being translated into consumer vehicles – a vital boost for the sustainable automobile industry, and the future of our planet.