F1 puts fans in wind tunnels for global 'Engineered insanity' campaign

With its new season kicking off next weekend in Melbourne, Formula 1 today unveiled its first-ever global marketing campaign, through Wieden+Kennedy London.

The 'Engineered insanity' campaign clearly acknowledges the need to appeal to a fan base outside of the sport's die-hard cohort, and indicates that F1 realises an emphasis on precision and technical aspects is not going to do the trick. Instead, the campaign literally exposes fans to some of the conditions drivers face, and even takes a step that surely caused long discussions: showing some crashes.

Ellie Norman, F1's director of marketing since June 2017:

We want to create a perceptible shift in how people perceive F1. This campaign switches the focus away from our own echo chamber, instead spotlighting why our fans love this sport. Our brief to Wieden+Kennedy London was to translate its raw, exhilarating thrill into something that will transcend its appeal across the entire spectrum of sports fans. Last season, we made a promise to our fans to bring them closer and to reshape the sport into something that resembles what they want to see, the gladiatorial conflict at its heart. Nothing we came up with creatively delivered this better than seeing it through the eyes of our most passionate fans.

Immediately below is the campaign centrepiece, a 60-second film. Ad Nut actually finds two 15-second clips that focus on individual fans (top and bottom) more compelling. 

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