LIC Qatar Grand Prix

How do you engage fans pre-, during, and post-race day and attract new audiences online?

The Lusail International Circuit (LIC) has hosted the FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS QATAR GRAND PRIX since 2021. This prestigious event draws tens of thousands of visitors each year, and has an even larger online fanbase. The challenge? How do you reach this group and turn unknown fans into known fans?

With this in mind, we partnered with LIC to develop an effective and scalable communication strategy and a gamification campaign to activate new fans.

The challenge

Preparing for a Formula 1 race is a complex operation. The LIC team was already working full steam on ticket sales, social media, and event planning. At the same time, a strong digital infrastructure was missing. One that could capture valuable fan data and enable targeted marketing emails.

We identified three key challenges:

Develop a marketing concept that could reach and engage a broad audience, international and domestic.
Implement a new marketing automation system to effectively utilise fan information.
Engage fans pre-, during, and post-race week through various marketing channels.

All within a tight deadline: four weeks to go live, requiring speed and efficiency at every step.

The Solution: Paddock Playground

To support LIC, we developed and implemented a comprehensive communication and gamification strategy, taking full ownership of the email platform implementation and data migration.

We also introduced an interactive fan engagement solution: Paddock Playground.

A digital environment where fans could participate in a series of games leading up to the Grand Prix in Doha. By taking part, they had the chance to win exclusive prizes and got excited about the race weekend in a fun and accessible way.

The Paddock Playground not only boosted fan engagement but also encouraged fans to share their data, giving LIC valuable insights into their audience and creating opportunities for targeted marketing campaigns.

Results

Thanks to close collaboration and a clear focus, the campaign was launched within four weeks, driving strong results.

Developed a solid digital infrastructure and fan engagement strategy to build a strong foundation for digital activation.
Full implementation of ActiveCampaign as the new marketing automation tool
Multiple targeted email campaigns tailored to different fan segments
Four interactive games within the Paddock Playground

And the numbers speak for themselves: