McLaren Racing's Web3 Strategy - 2024 Edition

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McLaren’s Web3 Strategy to Date 🏁

McLaren Racing have been a pioneer in Web3, in the sports industry.

The breadth and depth of their activations is unprecedented and they have one of the most mature teams and strategies when it comes to Web3 in all of sports.

Formula 1 (F1) has exploded in popularity over the last 6 years, and teams have started to compete off the grid. That competition has spread to crypto partnerships and activations, with F1 being one of the sports where crypto marketing dollars are being spent. McLaren have so far put those marketing dollars to best use, for the most sustained period.

McLaren’s Web3 strategy spans back almost three years and continues on a far bigger stage to this day. For those unfamiliar, here is is a chronological breakdown of their activities in Web3 to date:

• October 2021: McLaren Racing Collective — a platform where McLaren fans could purchase NFTs. The first 5,000 fans who joined the collective platform got free digital assets. From there, fans were able to buy one or multiple car components, with the aim to collect all 22 to assemble the full digital MCL35M race car.

• December 2021: McLaren launched ‘driver cards’ on Sweet — cards.

• July 2022: Sweet NFTs at the British Grand Prix. This drop included three NFTs - a racing helmet, racing suit, and race boots - released throughout the British Grand Prix weekend. Fans who collected all three NFTs unlocked a "master NFT" and earned a spot on a virtual call with a McLaren F1 driver.

• July 2022: McLaren Shadow Livery MCL36 is launched — A virtual racing programme that shadows their real-world equivalent. This digital collectable marked both the McLaren Shadow esports team’s and the MCL36’s debut on the blockchain.

• October 2022: McLaren Racing partnered with Sweet once more to release a manga-inspired NFT series in celebration of two crucial Formula 1 racing events: the Singapore Grand Prix and the Japanese Grand Prix

• March 2023: For the 22/23 season, at every grand prix, fans were able to able to claim a free NFT. This campaign was called the 23/23.

• July 2023: Celebrating moments from the team’s history over the past 60 years. These were sold as moments in packs similar to NBA Top Shot.

The Success of 23/23 Digital Collectibles

The key pillar for McLaren’s Web3 success so far has undoubtedly been 23/23, their free digital collectible program launched at the start of the 2023 F1 season.

The concept was simple.

At every Grand Prix in 2023, fans were able to log into a portal and claim a digital collectible poster commemorating that respective race.

The results throughout the 2023 season were staggering.

As per our McLaren Racing 23/23 report, McLaren saw over 2.8 million digital collectibles claimed, over 850,000 wallets (accounts) created with over 620,000 unique wallets (accounts) holding collectibles.

Some of this success is attributed to the simple sign-up process, allowing fans to sign up with any social media account or their non-custodial wallet.

To date, it is one of the most successful Web3 activations by a brand ever — let alone in sports.

The success has been funnelled into various digital channels by McLaren.

A large volume of new McLaren Plus sign-ups throughout the 2023 season is attributed to free digital collectible holders. McLaren Plus is their free-to-join fan engagement programme.

In terms of communication, McLaren’s Discord is their primary means of reaching existing collectible holders. This Discord server has reached 70,000+ people in size and is predominantly dominated by fans who have claimed McLaren digital collectibles. This server has more engagement than their 13m+ Instagram page.

2024 Web3 Strategy 🏎️

McLaren have looked to build on their success in 2023 with another free collectible program in 2024, this time with crypto exchange and sponsor OKX.

Dubbed ‘Race Rewind’, fans can claim a digital collectible via a dashboard on a OKX dashboard.

Fans click on the relevant race and then click claim. They are then prompted to download the OKX/sign in via OKX, or connect via their wallet. Fans can claim the collectibles for 4 days, spanning from the day before race weekend, and the day after the race weekend finishes.

The proposition has been built on OKX’s blockchain, X Layer, and officially began during the Canadian Grand Prix on the 7th of June 2024, the 9th race of the 2024 season.

The Canada Grand Prix (GP) saw 112,209 free claims of the digital collectibles.