The months-long cancellation of live sporting events forced leagues and organizations to accelerate their digital businesses in a race to remain relevant.

Adding new fans, retaining existing ones
With the challenge of gaining new fans while retaining existing ones, Formula and the Olympic group Team GB (Great Britain) shifted their focus to content development, executives from both organizations said Wednesday during a Festival of Licensing panel discussion.

For example, Formula One, which has been expanding its trackside licensing program since being acquired by Liberty Media three years ago, shifted to emphasize eSports with a “Real Racers Never Quit” series that featured many of its 40 drivers, including stars Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, in a 20-minute racing format. And it launched a fund-raising effort in June for British charities that sold 56 of each virtual race’s checkered flag’s 80 boxes to consumers. The remaining boxes were sold as sponsorships.

Keeping relevant
“It  kept the brand relevant as a way of getting in front of consumers when there was no racing and showing the human part of the drivers,” said Joan Carrera Lopez, Senior Manager for Retail and Consumer Products Licensing at Formula One, which resumed a 17-race season on July 5. “And it gave us the ability to engage those who were new to the sport and further expand our digital initiative.”

Team GB featured many of its Olympic athletes in TikTok #IsolationGames videos designed to support the British Red Cross.

With the Tokyo Olympics that had been slated for this past summer postponed to 2021 (July 23-Aug. 8), Team GB “tried to be as nimble as possible” with promotions on TikTok while also trying to build “more of an evergreen and longer-term strategy for our licensing program” given that the Winter Olympics in Beijing occurs a little more than six months later (Feb. 4-20, 2022), said Tim Ellerton, Commercial Director for Team GB.

“We are looking at ways we can use the Tokyo games to shine a light on the Winter Games, because winter sports are fast growing, and the demographic is of interest because it is much younger and brings in a much different audience,” Ellerton said.  “This gives us an opportunity to unite in licensing.”

The postponement of the 2020 Olympics also enabled Team GB to make sure its print-on-demand program was “as efficient as possible;” the organization is launching a new merchandise store in October along with a new style guide, Ellerton said.

“Those things wouldn’t have happened in such a quick period without the postponement,” Ellerton said. “We are working as hard as ever getting these things in place, so we are ready for that activity

Both organizations extended contracts for licensees and revised payment schedules. Formula One also worked with licensees to “re-purpose” licensed products due this year to launch them in 2021, Carrera Lopez said. It also signed a deal with Topps in July for driver trading cards, with the first of them coming to market starting in December.