With Christmas around the corner, I’m still swooning over Amazon’s Fourth Annual Holiday Soirée — a festive blend of exclusive product drops, live entertainment, and holiday vibes with top influencers and media. I loved the personalized gifts, but these events remind me that it’s really important to celebrate yourself and your work every year. I hope everyone is taking the time to do that!
A peek into today’s edition:
- Inside Mastercard‘s new partnership with McLaren
- Tech Byte: Apple reveals finalists for best apps
- The NFL‘s AI-generated cleats
From Paddock to Priceless: Exploring Mastercard’s F1 Revival with McLaren Racing
Mastercard marked its return to Formula 1 at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, celebrating the launch of its partnership with McLaren Racing. This latest collaboration with McLaren marks Mastercard’s return to F1 after over two decades, aiming to leverage the sport’s global appeal to engage fans and create unique experiences.
I joined Mastercard at the LVGP to go behind the scenes of its newest collab and witness McLaren’s “Team Papaya” fan base in action. I went into the weekend with one burning question on my mind: Why McLaren Racing?
Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, told me that the payments technology company looked at two aspects when considering an F1 partnership: Which brand has the emotional connection to people, and which has momentum behind it? He said partnership discussions began when McLaren was gaining momentum back, and coming out of Vegas, they’re leading the Constructors’ Championship.
“McLaren is by far the most loved brand,” Rajamannar said. “It’s the perfect time for this partnership.”
Furthermore, Mastercard has a strong presence across various sports, including UEFA Champions League, Copa América, MLB, tennis, cricket, ice hockey, skiing, and more. Motorsport presented a prime opportunity to add another notch to its sports sponsorship strategy.
“Motorsport was a gap in our portfolio, and we’ve seen success in the UK with the Goodwood Festival of Speed,” Rajamannar said. “Now, with McLaren, we’re taking our motorsport presence global.”
The Mastercard x McLaren Synergy
Mastercard’s involvement in F1 has been brief and intermittent. Before announcing its July partnership with McLaren, it sponsored the short-lived Lola F1 team in 1997 and supported Jordan Grand Prix (now Aston Martin) from 1998 to 2001. The McLaren partnership will focus on co-branded activations and exclusive fan experiences. The Las Vegas Grand Prix marked the first race where Mastercard’s brand appeared alongside McLaren’s, notably on the cars and drivers’ apparel.
McLaren’s reputation for innovation in motorsport aligns with McLaren CEO Zak Brown‘s expertise in marketing and fan engagement, as noted by Rajamannar. Brown said he’s always admired Mastercard’s presence in Major League Baseball, so he’s already thinking about how this partnership can expand to new heights.
“When we set out to compete for the World Championship, a key ingredient was having the right partners,” Brown said during a media roundtable. “Bringing Mastercard on board is a big win for us. Their sponsorship portfolio is second to none, and it was a very competitive process to secure this partnership.”
Matt Dennington, McLaren’s Chief Commercial Officer, has been with the brand for seven years and mainly came in to support the growth of the brand’s partnerships. He said McLaren and Mastercard have a shared commitment to innovation, passion, and community. With many fans joining the sport, Dennington said these partnerships become even more important to growing McLaren’s fan base.
“My job is to show our partners how they’re getting a good return on investment,” he said.
Netflix‘s Drive to Survive docuseries has been a huge success in expanding F1, posing both a good and challenging outlook for executives in roles like Dennington. He said the challenge will be continuing to innovate on the content and entertainment front of F1 as more fans tune in and support year after year. This is a challenge Brown thinks McLaren is primed to accept with the right partners in place.
“I’m passionate about the commercial side of racing. Since 2017, McLaren has transformed its partnership landscape,” Brown said. “We’ve won the championship in terms of sponsorships, and now we aim to do the same on the track.”
Priceless Moments
Mastercard is a technology company in the financial services and payments space, but it’s also a lifestyle-driven brand. The company’s global network connects over 3 billion consumers in 220+ countries.
“What sets us apart is our creativity and innovation. We’re recognized globally,” Rajamannar said.
As part of its new partnership with McLaren, Mastercard is leveraging its “Priceless Experiences” platform to offer cardholders unique opportunities, such as behind-the-scenes access to F1 events, the McLaren team, and other exclusive experiences. This includes a media roundtable with Rajamannar and Brown on the Cirque du Soleil stage, followed by an exclusive performance for customers and partners across Mastercard and McLaren’s global ecosystems. This is where the Mastercard logo was revealed on the McLaren cars for the first time.
Mastercard also offered 135 cardholders special grandstand tickets priced at $135 each for the race weekend, paying homage to McLaren driver Oscar Piastri‘s 1-minute, 35-second lap time at last year’s LVGP, which was the fastest lap of the race. The opportunity was presented via Mastercard’s priceless.com vertical, where Mastercard offers cardholders access to exclusive experiences and discounts.
However, the financial tech company’s priceless treatment didn’t stop there as Mastercard catered to B2B and B2C customers in Las Vegas.
I was granted a Paddock Club pass to watch F1 practice, qualifiers, and the big race from the Mastercard and McLaren suites. Beyond the endless food and drink options, I had the chance to mix and mingle with fellow guests, celebrities, Mastercard and McLaren executives, and key team members. The atmosphere was truly one-of-a-kind, featuring a special performance by John Legend and insightful commentary from McLaren drivers Piastri and Lando Norris ahead of the race. The room was thoughtfully curated, bringing together partners, customers, media professionals, and executives to foster meaningful connections and celebrate the thrill of F1 from the lens of this new partnership.
Aside from the Paddock experience, Mastercard organized an exclusive shopping experience at Abercrombie & Fitch and Culture Kings, both of which unveiled limited-edition McLaren collections. The Culture Kings collaboration with McLaren and Mitchell & Ness for the 2024 LVGP featured hoodies, jerseys, t-shirts, and jackets. Attendees with Mastercard toured the store, which showcased a projection of a McLaren car on its entry steps. There was also a McLaren F1 simulator on-site.
Being the tech girlie I am, I quickly found the tech activations. The suites featured multiple McLaren F1 simulators, letting fans hop into the driver’s seat. Additionally, the McLaren suite offered an AI photo generator that dressed attendees in McLaren F1 racing gear, adding a personalized touch to the experience.
Reaching New Heights and Audiences
Mastercard and McLaren are leveraging the digital media landscape to amplify their partnership, welcoming content creators like motorsports influencer Lindsay Marie Brewer and internet personality Rickey Thompson to LVGP. According to Rajamannar, the goal is to attract younger audiences and more women to F1, following a stat from F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who said that women account for approximately 40% of the global F1 fanbase.
Rajamannar stated that Mastercard will leverage its expertise in gaming, music, and social causes — areas that resonate most with younger audiences — to engage this demographic.
“When we look into partnerships, we want them to appeal to everyone, not just a specific stereotype or segment. McLaren ticks all the boxes—they’re widely recognized, have fantastic drivers, and, most importantly, their CEO, Zak Brown, is not just a CEO. He deeply understands marketing,” Rajamannar said. “I’d even say he’s more of a marketer than an executive. This natural chemistry made the partnership with McLaren a perfect fit.”
Mastercard will gauge the success of its partnership with McLaren through three metrics: strengthening brand affinity, driving business growth by fostering client relationships and creating memorable experiences, and gaining a competitive edge through innovative activations.
When asked about the potential for deeper collaboration, such as becoming McLaren’s title partner, Rajamannar and McLaren CEO Zak Brown didn’t rule it out. The idea of a special edition McLaren Mastercard is even on the table.
“We’re thrilled with the current partnership, but who knows what the future holds?” Brown added. “‘Mastercard McLaren’ does have a nice ring to it!”
Apple unveiled 45 app finalists for its 2024 App Store Awards. Top apps will be crowned across 12 categories, including overall best app, top game, top iPad app, top Vision Pro app, and more. TechCrunch pointed out that the list favors more traditional iOS apps and snubs many AI-powered apps once again. Apple didn’t share the methodology behind the list.
- The NFL harnessed Amazon Web Services‘ generative AI tech to design custom cleats for players to support off-the-field causes during Week 13 and 14 games. The My Cause My Cleats initiative launched in 2016, and this year, stars including Maxx Crosby, Josh Allen, and DK Metcalf designed their shoes. Fans can tap into the same tech to design their own cleats.
- Spotify launched a new platform for audiobook authors and publishers dubbed Spotify for Authors, a similar platform the company launched earlier this year for music artists and podcasters. The new platform provides users with data insights, promotional materials, and growth tools.
- MrBeast is attempting to clear the air on various rumors and legal allegations he was hit with this year in a recent podcast interview with Caleb “oompaville” Phelps. Following the interview, MrBeast shared a teaser of his upcoming show Beast Games, which he says premieres on Amazon Prime Video on December 19.
- Google announced its fifth annual Black-owned Friday campaign with the U.S. Black Chambers to encourage people to search, shop, and support Black-owned businesses. The campaign video features a unique shopping experience with Druski, GloRilla, and Jayda Cheaves as they buy from Black-owned brands.
- Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads is testing a feature that allows users to set either the For You, following, or a custom feed as their default one. Threads is experimenting with some user-requested changes as the platform continues to grow.
- Elsewhere in social network land, Platformer’s Casey Newton reported Bluesky‘s user base has more than doubled since last month. Bluesky is meeting the demand by quadrupling the size of its moderation team.
As of November, Bluesky has surpassed 22 million users, while Threads boasts over 275 million monthly active users. Although Bluesky’s user base is smaller, I’m going to bet that it will exceed 100 million by the end of Q1 2025 and potentially overtake Threads by the close of next year.
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