Vodafone has decided not to renew its sponsorship deal with McLaren after the 2013 Formula 1 motor racing season finishes. The mobile network is ‘title partner’ and official communications provider for what’s currently known as the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team. Its sponsorship began in 2007, with Vodafone having previously sponsored Ferrari.
This news follows a review of Vodafone’s global sponsorship strategy. The company notes that there’s now a 90%+ awareness of the Vodafone brand in all markets where it operates and says it’ll be transforming its sponsorship strategy this year.
Morten Lundal, Vodafone Group’s Chief Commercial Officer, said “We’ve achieved very high levels of recognition and awareness for the Vodafone brand, supported by our investments in sponsorship. We now want to focus on our own marketing engagement platform to showcase the key attributes of our brand directly to our customers, using digital interactions and live events in ways that are both locally relevant and globally consistent. We have been very happy with our engagement with McLaren. Our relationship has been a key ingredient in bringing the Vodafone brand to where it is today. However, our brand is evolving, and we’ve concluded we will have less of a need for this kind of exposure in future. We now look forward to further success and brand engagement with McLaren in 2013.”