Mercedes advertising value rockets to $4.5 billion

Mark Scott
Mercedes return to the track at Silverstone.

Mercedes return to the track at Silverstone.

Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff, has revealed how the success of the F1 team has led to the advertising value reaching up to $4.5 billion.

The Silver Arrows’ stranglehold on Formula 1 in the turbo hybrid era has, in Wolff’s assessment, turned Mercedes into a name now associated with a “sporty car” – a perception that was not widely held a decade ago.

Whilst Wolff and Mercedes have been racking up the titles, also racking up are the figures behind the success.

“I looked at some data and you could see the audience we were able to generate, the advertising value for Mercedes and all the partners on the car,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle in an interview alongside Lewis Hamilton.

“In 2012 we had an advertising value of, believe it or not, $60 or 70million, and today we are at $4.5billion, and that has unlocked so much potential.

“A Mercedes today is perceived as a sporty car. It wasn’t 10 years ago. Of course, the road cars you buy, the AMG cars, they have an edge. We have become a really cool brand.

“I think we [the F1 team] have played our part in helping the brand change its image by being in Formula 1, by being successful and triggering some emotion because fundamentally this is what you want to trigger, with all your marketing activities: an emotion. This is what we do.”

Wolff and Hamilton have also given an insight into how their relationship works and how it has helped contribute to so much success over the years.

Check out this brand new video from our friends at Racing Statistics. The top 50 F1 drivers based on the percentage of podium finishes from race starts:

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