Exclusive Interview with Norman Howell, Communications Director of F1

If the change has been apparent since Liberty Media took the helm of F1, it is equally so behind the scenes, where the new shareholders are keen to establish a true structure, akin to a modern company.

In February of this year, it was announced that Norman Howell would take on a position that did not exist under Bernie Ecclestone’s era, namely a Director of Communications, reporting directly to Sean Bratches.

One of the major innovations in terms of communication is obviously the F1 Live London event, which brought together the entire current lineup, with one notable exception, in the streets of London. This first event, deemed successful by unanimous opinion of fans, drivers, and officials, calls for more, as he confirmed to us: « The London experience was very useful because it proved to us that Formula 1 has the potential to be very attractive. This type of event helps promote the sport to an audience that may not know it or only has a superficial knowledge of it. We are looking into how to organize new F1 Live events in other cities even better, but it won’t be before 2018. »

The avenues of reflection for new events of this kind involve the possibility of associating with other cultural events: In addition to music, as in London, we are looking for other cultural points of contact such as gastronomy or fashion to better interact with cities. We can thus consider cities like Milan or Paris, particularly to celebrate France’s return to the calendar after 10 years of absence. The organization could also rely on events already within the F1 sphere of influence, such as the famous galas organized by Amber Lounge, with whose founder, Sonia Irvine, we had an exclusive meeting in Monaco.

Norman Howell is a communications professional who has worked in diverse fields such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Red Bull, and the FIA. He brings his expertise, particularly in social media, which has been underdeveloped in the discipline for a long time. This resulted in an agreement with Snapchat, which will be activated during several Grand Prix events, before an extension next year: « We have identified a few races that we believe are the best for collaboration with Snapchat in 2018. The goal is very simple: we want to expand our sport’s fan base, especially among a younger audience. Agreements with different social media platforms are therefore essential,” he commented.

The idea is therefore to significantly rejuvenate the audience of the discipline, currently dominated by nostalgic fans of the so-called golden age of Prost-Senna battles, due to a lack of investments targeted at younger generations, like Nascar does with films like Cars. To meet the wishes of this highly targeted demographic group, the format of the Grand Prix itself could be revised, as was the case at Silverstone or will be in Austin: « We need to analyze each Grand Prix on a case-by-case basis, depending on the schedule of promotional races and the Grand Prix itself. However, it is clear that we are no longer confined to an unchanging schedule. We can therefore thank all the stakeholders for that. If we work together, we can make changes for the better. »

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr