Q: Gianluca, Heineken has been a Formula One partner for around 100 days now. What have those 100 days taught you? Gianluca Di Tonto: The first thing that jumps to my mind is excitement - an amazing level of new energy. We are learning, and trying to learn as fast as possible - but there is a lot to learn! (Laughs) We have already been able to do something nice: we have delivered two campaigns, including our message ‘When you drive, never drink’; and our partnership with Monza saw some nice initiatives like the football match between the F1 drivers and soccer legends. So if is fair to say that our whole organisation is buying into Formula One - at every level. The more they are exposed, the more they are excited, and the more they want to be part of it. That is fantastic to see.

We want to be visible and try to bring new energy Gianluca Di Tonto

Q: Heineken is involved in many major sports, but two stand out: football with the UEFA Champions League and now motor racing with Formula One. While the Champions League is European, Formula One is global. Was that what you were looking for: a global, high-scale platform? GDT: Yes, because we understood that Formula One and the UEFA Champions League are highly complementary. Champions League is very strong in Europe and we have been able to make it quite strong in Africa and in Asia Pacific. But Formula One is, of course, much stronger in Asia Pacific - and in North America. So this is what we really like about these two different platforms: they are targeting different consumers. That is also why we believe that Formula One can give us a global level: 300 million new potential Heineken consumers! (Laughs)



Q: How long did you ponder over Formula One as your prime global platform - and what alternatives did you look at? GDT: Of course, you are always looking for alternatives - especially as we are re-negotiating the contract with UEFA every three years, so every two years you start to think, ‘What, if…’. But on the other hand, you also want to understand what is going on in the world. So we had been planning to add another global partnership into that roster since about four years ago and looked at everything that was available. And then the ‘flirting’ period with F1 and Bernie (Ecclestone) started - before getting to the ‘altar’. (Laughs)



Q: How long did you ‘flirt’? GDT: Well, it started to be a real ‘flirtation’ two years ago. Two years ago we seriously started to think that we should do this. But, of course, first we wanted to make sure that we share the same objectives, because we are a bit of an unusual partner in that we are not in the habit of staying quiet in a corporate suite behind closed doors. We want to be visible and try to bring new energy. And the beauty of all this was to see the same desire on the other side.



Q: Heineken has said it wants 60 percent of F1 fans who drink beer to be aware of their sponsorship within three years. What are the cornerstones of that plan? GDT: First of all, leveraging our assets. We have two pillars to our F1 commitment: our point of view that F1 is bigger than the race - it is a three-day event - and we need the people out there to know what is happening, and that is why we take it to the streets. There is a big gap between the paddock, the Paddock Club and the rest. We think that our role as a beer - and as a sponsor of F1 - is to create bridges between these worlds. We will leverage a lot of social media and I think that our main platform to get to these 60 percent of people is what we call ‘always-on’ platforms. We want continuous content on Formula One and also to be sneaking a bit behind the scenes and bringing more people into the world of Formula One. We have an idea on that which we would like to try and pilot in Brazil - we will discuss this with Bernie very soon. Our stance right now is that 2016 is a warm-up, the learning phase - and we are already collecting some good ideas on where we want to go.



Q: Your UEFA involvement was quite challenging and it took some years to get it right - what have you learned from it for your F1 involvement? GDT: We have learned a lot, as our involvement with UEFA goes back 15 years. That is a long partnership. What we have learned and what we have implemented somewhat in our F1 partnership is to not think two to three years, but to think long-term. It is really like a wedding: you need to know each other. And yes, you will sometimes go through some difficult moments, but they make it stronger afterwards. And point two is that you need to sit down and discuss things openly with the people who govern Formula One - and we have a very good relationship with Bernie - to be sure that we have a common line and to share our projects.

F1 is bigger than the race - it is a three-day event - and we need the people out there to know what is happening Gianluca Di Tondo