Johnnie Walker partners with F1

Johnnie Walker is not the only Diageo brand present in F1, as Smirnoff joined Sahara Force India during the season.

Last year, during the Singapore Grand Prix, the brand launched its Join the Pact initiative, which aimed to get more than a million people to pledge not to drink and drive. To kick off this campaign on social media, the brand offered a ride home from a night out with a double world champion as the driver, as Mika Hakkinen is one of its ambassadors and its responsible driving manager.

He thus declared: Since 2006, I have traveled to more than 40 countries to speak to the media, consumers, governments, and other stakeholders about the importance of our call to action. Through Join the Pact, over one million people have pledged never to drive under the influence. This is one million people who, without this program, would never have made this commitment on their own. The new partnership that the brand has formed with the Formula One Group gives a huge boost to our campaign and will significantly expand the reach of this great initiative, impacting millions more people around the world.

With this new partnership, the brand is significantly raising the bar as it now aims for the threshold of five million commitments. But, of course, the brand’s goal is not only to promote this campaign but also its own brand, as explained by Nick Blazquez, its director for Asia and Africa: « Becoming the official whisky of Formula 1 will allow Johnnie Walker to greatly extend its reach to racing fans. Following our new agreement, we will have access to a global audience of over 450 million TV viewers and an on-track audience of about 1.5 million people each year. »

The whisky brand will therefore make its appearance on the trackside billboards, certainly near the signs indicating: « Bernie says: Think before your drive… »

With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr