Fuel the Magic: Disney Consumer Products Meets Formula 1 | S3E10
ON THIS EPISODE OF LIFE AT DISNEY
This episode of Life at Disney is all about speed, scale, and storytelling. We’re taking an inside look at how Disney Consumer Products and the Mickey & Friends teams are collaborating with Formula 1, one of the fastest growing sports and lifestyle brands in the world. Explore what it takes to bring two iconic brands together in ways that feel authentic, innovative and unmistakably Disney.
MEET OUR GUESTS
Shovan, Senior Manager, Global Brand Commercialization, Disney Consumer Products
With a background in global retail and product strategy, Shovan works cross-functionally to bring brand storytelling to life through product and commercial innovation. In the last year, he’s joined the project team supporting the Mickey & Friends franchise and the Formula 1 collaboration.
“While I am still learning as I go, Mickey & Friends obviously has a wealth of heritage as we approach Mickey’s 100th birthday. As Mickey has become an icon globally, it’s all about striking the right balance between leaning into Mickey’s heritage while reimagining Mickey to drive cultural relevance across different thematics from music to sports, especially Formula 1. Fan and consumer expectations continue to evolve, and each consumer segment consumes content and purchases product differently. So, you really need to be innovative in the ways you are approaching consumers where and how they consume.”
Susan, Senior Project Manager, Creative Operations, Disney Consumer Products
In her role, Susan oversees the development and execution of creative assets across global collaborations like Formula 1. With more than three decades at Disney, her career spans roles in guest relations, licensing and creative development across iconic franchises.
“I grew up watching all the Disney animated films and the Wonderful World of Disney on television and fell in love with how the characters and their stories made me feel. My family visited Walt Disney World once when I was growing up, but that was enough to get me hooked on the dream of working for the company one day. After college, I headed to Walt Disney World to get a job and have been here ever since.”
Lara, Global Brand Marketing Manager, Disney Consumer Products
Lara leads global campaigns for the Mickey & Friends franchise, including the collaboration with Formula 1. Since starting as an intern in the UK, she has built a career across EMEA and global teams, focusing on reaching young adult audiences through cultural partnerships, events and digital storytelling.
“I have been fortunate enough to follow my director and vice president throughout my career to date and they’ve hugely championed and supported me through the years. Over the past few years, I’ve had a focus on Mickey & Friends, marketing to a young adult audience with a particular focus on events and have truly found my passion.”
BEHIND THE COLLABORATION WITH FORMULA 1
At Disney Consumer Products, the teams have been building strategies placing Disney at the center of pop culture through unexpected partnerships and demonstrating that even after almost 100 years, Mickey & Friends can still resonate with all audiences.
“Our aim is to build brand affinity and campaign engagement with our young adult audience, to build our commercial business,” said Lara. “After a lot of research, we knew we needed to be showing up in spaces that Gen-Z live their lives – we need to go to them. We’ve been operating in lifestyle pillars that resonate with this audience – music, sports, fashion and had a particular focus on influencers and social media, truly driving consumer decision making.”
Formula 1 is a global sport with 24 races across 21 markets. “They’re a digital powerhouse,” said Lara. “F1 is one of the most engaged sports online.”
“At the heart of it, it's really placing Mickey at the intersection of sport and entertainment to really drive cultural relevancy,” said Shovan. “It was just such a great opportunity to further maintain our relevancy with our core consumers, but then also step outside of that and engage new ones to really grow the business.”
TRANSLATING MICKEY & FRIENDS INTO THE WORLD OF F1
“Figuring out how to create compelling and cohesive graphics and products without breaking either of the brands’ core guidelines has definitely been an interesting challenge,” said Susan. “Trying not to have all the F1 visuals on one part and the Disney ones on the other, really bringing them together in ways that both sides will approve has been our biggest focus.”
Susan worked diligently with all stakeholder teams to establish guardrails on how the two brands could or could not be shown together.
“We had to rework a few of the blue-sky ideas based on both Disney's and Formula 1's core brand guidelines,” said Susan. “There are a lot of eyes on the creative that we’re pushing out and it’s trying to make sure everybody is on board.”
On the Global Brand Marketing side, Lara and her team wanted to leverage the power of Mickey & Friends as community makers, turning every race into a celebration that can be shared and uniting every kind of fan.
“We came up with the tagline Fuel the Magic, which really specifies what we’re trying to do – add a hint of magic for fans around the world, to enhance their F1 and Disney experiences,” said Lara. “We positioned the characters as uber-fans of the sport, adding magic and bringing fans together. We felt this narrative suited all audience types and gave us more opportunity for different types of activations, stunts and content.”
GLOBAL IMPACT, CULTURAL RELEVANCE & WHAT COMES NEXT
With a campaign of this scale, there are teams across the globe and company working to bring each activation to life and create something unforgettable. Lara’s team focuses in on each unique market to make sure the end result will resonate with local audiences and the global fan community surrounding both brands.
“I think Las Vegas was certainly a key milestone – the collaboration, teamwork and effort put into that launch was incredible and like nothing I have experienced before,” said Lara. “Working with so many different stakeholders, companies and different time zones was certainly challenging, but everyone truly knew the size of the opportunity and the innovative and large-scale moment that we were creating and so with this combined ‘one Disney’ effort – we were able to pull off such an amazing moment in less than 12 weeks.”
So what’s next? Looking ahead, the team at Disney Consumer Products hope to continue to broaden their impact, inviting even more new fans to feel part of the magic at the intersection of motorsports and Mickey & Friends.
“We’re really challenging ourselves to think bigger next year,” said Shovan. “How do we provide the ‘Fuel the Magic’ feeling to everyone everywhere and not just those that are going to the races.”
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