New Formula 1 commercial chief Sean Bratches has set out Liberty Media’s initial four-stage plan after the American company completed its acquisition of the sport earlier this week.
Liberty Media has taken over Formula 1, with Bratches installed as the managing director of the commercial arm, to work alongside CEO Chase Carey and Ross Brawn, who will focus on the sporting side.
Bratches arrives in Formula 1 after almost three decades worth of experience with ESPN, and reckons that there are four key tasks on which to concentrate.
“There’s four real things that I’m going to focus on,” he told CNN.
“One is the brand; the brand is the entry point for any company, any brand, any sport, we’re going to work to understand the brand, we’re going to polish it, we’re going to elevate it.
“It’s going to be really central to what we’re going to do, that’s going to allow us to enter new market places, take what we should take out of the market place on a commercial side from sponsors [and] from rights holders to promoters.
“The second is digital, there’s a huge opportunity in the digital space to reimagine the digital products that Formula 1 has today and to engage fans in very new ways and also to use for sponsors to activate in.
“The Third is creating a much more democratic approach in terms of how we approach our partners, from teams, sponsors, promoters, and rights holders, I think there’s a lot of opportunity to leverage the Formula 1 IP to integrate into their business.
“The last one is the race experience, creating a better race experience that engages fans, spectators that are there and on television, is a huge opportunity.”
