Champagne and the Art of Celebration

Here’s a trivia question for all you F1 race fans…..which F1 sponsor has been on every podium since 2020? The answer may surprise you…it’s Ferrari. However, it’s not the Red Scuderia Ferrari you might all be thinking of but rather Ferrari Champagne who are the sponsors of the Podium celebration. But how did champagne become associated with winning in sports? Where and when did it start? Why is it sprayed on everyone? ….And why is this important to you?

The story of champagne and motor sports goes back to the 1950’s when, after winning the French Grand Prix, race car driver Juan Manuel Fangio received a bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne.   The practice of gifting a bottle of champagne to the winner replaced the tradition of flowers. Today it has become the norm as has finding unique ways of consuming it including pouring it into sweaty shoes!

Spraying champagne came about, as these things often do, by happenstance. After winning the 24 hour Le Mans race in 1966 Swiss driver, Jo Siffert, popped the cork on his bottle of Moet & Chandon accidently spraying a few unwary spectators. However, the next year Ford driver, Dan Gurney, won the same 24 hour Le Mans race. He vigorously shook his winning bottle of champagne and sprayed everyone including Henry Ford’s wife. Ford mechanic, Phil Henny told Wine Enthusiast publication that Henry Ford did not look too happy seeing his elegantly dressed wife covered in Champagne. But the tradition of spraying everyone soon caught on.

Today most sports celebrate winning by spraying champagne.  However, it’s F1 that is still the coveted sport of champagne celebrations. F1 is one of the few sports with a “true” worldwide audience.   While other sporting events celebrate a winner every year, F1 racing celebrates a race winner more than 20 times per year. The regular spectacle of spraying fans with champagne makes F1 very attractive to a sponsor who garners a worldwide audience. This is especially true now that F1 has cracked the US market and will hold three races in the USA in 2023. 

Ferrari Trento—which has sponsored Formula 1’s podium celebrations since 2020—has experienced rapid growth in the USA with sales rising more than 50% in 2021. Last season, approximately 60,000 bottles of Ferrari Trento Champagne were served to guests at races, with the Miami Grand Prix setting the record for most consumed. As one author noted, Formula 1’s recent success—and the pronounced growth of Ferrari Trento—could be instructive for other businesses. Ishveen Jolly, the founder and CEO of OpenSponsorship, a company that brokers deals between brands and athletes, suggests that companies consider how to work their brands into the sport producing memorable moments. “The virality of those clips on social (media) is key,” says Jolly. “A younger viewer may not sit down to watch a three-hour sporting event, but they’ll consume certain moments and fun things. Sports really lends itself to this very well.”

Linking memorable moments to a brand can have long term impacts on a business – that’s why you see Rolex and Heineken sponsoring championship golf and similar companies sponsoring tennis and the Olympics etc. These events need not always be major events for your company to get involved with, but they must connect with your target customers. What’s so unique about Ferrari Champagne is that regardless of who the F1 winner that weekend is – they’re part of the celebration.

What can we learn from Ferrari Champagne about sponsorships:

1. Make sure your target audience is also the same target audience for the event you’re sponsoring.

2. Link your sponsorships with the winning celebration rather than sponsoring individual performers.

3. Leverage moments on social and other media to extend your reach to satellite segments who may not know you yet.

The next F1 race is coming up in Miami where I’m sure plenty of Ferrari Champagne will be consumed. Cheers everyone!