A Hero's Journey for Rally Sport

Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Siebel, since 2013 your company has been responsible for the global marketing of the FIA World Rally Championship, the second largest motorsport series in the four-wheel category. What distinguishes this sport?

Jona Siebel: I have spoken with several Formula 1 drivers who have frankly admitted to me that the best drivers in the world compete in the WRC – simply because the technical and driving challenges under the concrete conditions of our event are incredibly complex. I myself was able to experience this indescribable feeling once as a co-driver with Elfyn Evans, one of the big stars of our sport, as we zoomed through the Alsatian forests at nearly 200 km/h – in that moment I could hardly believe that what I was experiencing was real. It was a high art.

Wirtschaftsforum: With this level of emotionality, the marketing of the WRC should be self-propelling.

Jona Siebel: Not quite – because the dramaturgy in our rallies is less stringent than in other motorsports. Unlike circuit races such as Formula 1, where drivers compete against each other, our athletes drive with their co-drivers against the clock and the uncertainties of the natural track environment – 'Man and Machine against Time and the Elements' is our motto. However, this does not happen at a central location, but is spread over several tracks, called Stages, where the individual scoring tests take place – only the service park, the central starting point and repair hub of the vehicles, acts as an important link, which is why we will make this spot even more emotionally engaging in the future. We are increasingly relying on important technological innovations both live on-site and in the broadcasting area – this year, for the first time, we have deployed a high-speed drone that enabled us to show the moving car from a completely new perspective. Together with our production service provider NEP, we have also succeeded, with the help of an airplane circling 10 km above the ground, in establishing a system that allows us to live cover each individual Stage – an absolute game-changer in our broadcasts.

Wirtschaftsforum: How do you plan to make the emotional aspect of this sport comprehensible as a whole?

Jona Siebel: Let's consider the German sports market as an example: There's football, football, and more football, and then maybe the NFL, which was discovered particularly by the younger audience a few years ago. Individual sports almost only work through well-known names associated with particularly outstanding performances – think of superstars like Boris Becker, Steffi Graf, or Jan Ulrich. Without clear emotionality and a compelling story about an athlete and his world-class skills, it will be difficult to achieve significant broad impact – this is an important lesson we draw from this observation, not just for the German market, but globally. Therefore, we want to focus even more on our drivers and present them on an emotionally engaging level to a wide audience.

Wirtschaftsforum: Younger viewers prefer to consume their content in a snackable manner - can this be meaningfully integrated with major sports events?

Jona Siebel: Of course, different target groups prefer different presentation forms, and the media landscape is already undergoing a profound transformation process due to the enormous fragmentation of viewing habits - we are naturally adapting to this, not least with our own OTT platform on which we consistently live out our emotional appeal. Especially with well-told hero stories, however, you can also reach a young audience - just think of the phenomenon Taylor Swift, who electrifies a gigantic global fan base because she is authentic and approachable, conveys a way of life, an attitude, and has enormous talent. To be able to narrate such an exciting hero journey, we naturally need the right personalities in our cars and will also like to seat other celebrities such as well-known YouTubers as co-drivers in the passenger seat, letting them share their impressive experiences afterwards. We want to consistently leverage these synergies with other entertainment segments to transform the motorsport brand WRC more into an entertainment brand. This will of course only work with a broad and correspondingly complex marketing strategy - but we are happy to take on this challenge.