The 2016 champion is one of several former drivers to turn to the world of finance.

When the Las Vegas race weekend gets under way, scores of fans will inevitably be lured in by the city’s bright lights to gamble their money away in its many casinos. Nico Rosberg, in contrast, will be looking to create wealth.

The 2016 Formula One champion will host around two dozen guests in the hospitality suite of Mercedes — his former team — to discuss their plans for investment.

The 39-year-old German, who shocked fans when he retired from the sport only days after winning the title ahead of teammate Sir Lewis Hamilton, has built a career outside the sport as an eco investor. Rosberg Ventures, a venture capital fund of funds the former champion launched this year, has raised more than $100mn from wealthy families and investors to deploy with investment firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Accel and Kleiner Perkins.

“In F1, I learnt to move fast, make fast decisions and occasionally break things,” Rosberg says. “In venture capital, that’s how you get from $0 to $100mn in such a short space of time.”

Speaking to the FT via a video link from his wood-panelled offices in Monaco, Rosberg talks enthusiastically about life after leaving the sport.

He is one of a number of former F1 drivers who, having either walked away from or lost their seat at the pinnacle of motorsport, have branched out into the world of financial services. He had built a reputation during his F1 career for using his technical nous to help boost his performance on the track. After leaving the sport, he switched this analytical drive to slowly get his head around the world of finance.

Early in his retirement, Rosberg was directed by Swiss Bank UBS to build a vanilla portfolio including equity, bonds and real estate before he branched out into angel investing and venture capital — becoming involved in funding rounds for Airbnb, Lyft, and SpaceX when they were start-ups.

Rosberg now has a small team of six people running his venture fund, which has turned into a full-time job for him as he manages part of the family wealth of some of Germany’s leading industrialists.

Louise Johnson, chief executive of sports marketing agency Fuse, says that, as F1 has grown rapidly over the past decade under the ownership of Liberty Media and began to capitalise on its global reach, drivers have broadened their horizons in terms of careers after leaving the sport.

“The traditional route for drivers in the past was to commentate, become a brand ambassador, race in another series, or even buy a team,” she explains. “But a new generation is seeking other opportunities.”

F1 is ruthless and drivers rarely have an opportunity to dictate the length of their career. In the past season alone, two drivers have been dropped with several races left to run due to poor performances, and several others will move on at the end of the year having not had their contracts renewed.

“As a young driver, you have to deliver straight away or you’re out — there’s 10 other drivers waiting in line,” Rosberg says. “Look at [Franco] Colapinto,” he adds, referring to the Argentine driver who replaced American Logan Sargeant at Williams in the middle of the season.

“This is his one opportunity [to deliver] and there’s probably never going to be another one.”

The pressure cooker of F1 and the sheer focus demanded of drivers during their career leaves many unprepared for what comes next. But it can also provide a moment of clarity.

Not long after being let go midseason by the then AlphaTauri team in 2023, former Red Bull junior driver Nyck De Vries says a chance meeting with Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff in a coffee shop in Monaco led him to Harvard, to take an executive leadership course, after the former banker advised him to plug some of the gaps in his CV.

“I was hurt and hoped it would work out differently,” the 29-year-old Dutchman says. “But, in our industry, there is no certainty and you can’t take anything for granted. You’re only as good as your last race. I tried to quickly regroup, reset, and look ahead.”

He is part of a generation of drivers who left mainstream education early to focus entirely on their motor racing career, leaving little scope for any kind of fallback plan.

De Vries’ says the Harvard course was instructive and helped him broaden his horizons even though he subsequently returned to motorsport as an endurance racing driver with five-time Le Man winners Toyota, and to Formula E with Mahindra Racing.

“Going up the ladder to F1, everything is centred around racing and maximising your career,” he points out. “When you’re doing 24 race weekends in a year, the time you have available to explore other things is non-existent. The time [out of the sport] allowed me to explore.”

Shortly after De Vries was dropped from F1, another chance encounter with Serge Savasta, chief executive of Omnes Capital, which manages €6bn in assets and specialises in green transition investments, piqued his interest in private equity.

De Vries, who developed an interest in green investments during his first successful spell in Formula E at that start of the decade, has worked with Omnes to develop an “accelerator programme” that can help other professional sportspeople learn about private equity.

“I want to race for as long as possible,” he says. “But, in order to stay relevant in the future, I’ve developed an interest in business.”

Rosberg still remembers feeling scared during his first few months after leaving F1: “I didn’t know what was coming next,” he says. “It wasn’t until five years ago, that I finally understood where I needed to be going . . . Now I know exactly.”

 

By Thomas Murphy

Digital Planning Manager

While third-party targeting no longer has one foot in the grave, advertisers comfortable with using a 20-year-old technology available to everyone in the market as their primary method of accurately targeting potential customers should take a long, hard look in the mirror. In the age of AI, insights, ever-increasing addressability and attribution – those savouring the crumbs of cookies stand to miss out on the feast of alternative targeting and measurement available.

While the world of digital media and cookie alternatives is advancing faster than most can keep up, two of the foundations of advertising are still as relevant as ever. Campaigns that prioritise contextually relevant advertising to engaged audiences are proving their value and, with two in three people in the UK claiming they are sports fans, the opportunity to engage fans across the sporting landscape is huge.

As well as access to engaged fans in sporting environments, brands that can tap into these properties through sponsorship are uniquely positioned to take even better advantage of alternative targeting through contracted rights, IP-access and the global reach of rights holders.

 

IP-Inclusivity and Contextual Relevance

 

Most ads are remarkably forgettable. Exclusive access to the IP offered by premium rights holders to sponsors can change this.

System1 and Fuse’s The Sports Dividend research explains that among sports fans, brand ads that feature sports in the creative are more likely to contribute to long-term brand health, drive short-term sales performance and viewers are more likely to feel emotions like happiness more strongly.

With creative that achieves stronger results and makes consumers feel happier, contextual alignment is the next step. Research shows that ads get twice as much attention when placed in top rated / the most relevant contexts.

This means when compared to a standard ad in a standard context, IP-inclusive ads in relevant contextual environments can be twice as effective at long term brand building among relevant sport loving audiences. For example, an ad starring Tom Daley aligned with Olympics content or one with Virgil van Dijk aligned to football news will double its effectiveness compared to ads without IP in irrelevant contexts.

While leaning on contextual placements in an age of data and tracking might seem counterintuitive, for sponsors who have IP-access, content amplified with a media partner, or with AI-powered contextual targeting, produces results that are clear.

All of this is done without using any audience targeting at all. Imagine what could be achieved when privacy compliant first-party audiences are overlayed.

 

Privacy compliant first-party data sharing

 

Gone are the days when sponsors are content with simply placing a logo on a shirt or LED board and calling it a day. As well as the key role that sponsorship plays in shifting brand metrics, the ability to identify current or potential customers and serve them IP-inclusive, contextually relevant creative can improve performance further.

The most accurate way to do this is using a data clean room, a tool used to match datasets from different parties in a secure and privacy compliant way. Using a data clean room, first-party data from the rights holder can be overlayed with first or second-party data from the sponsor, meaning brands can securely identify current or potential customers who are already engaged with a rights holder and therefore are more likely to engage with branded sponsorship content.

While many rights holders are still in the early stages of developing a project that requires significant investment and a mature data strategy, Manchester City is showing it is not just ahead on the pitch, but also when it comes to driving value for its sponsors.

Following the launch of the Nissan Ariya, Nissan released its ‘Be More Pep’ campaign, encouraging people to follow in the steps of City’s iconic manager, from fashion to haircuts and ultimately, to the electric Nissan he’s seen driving around Manchester.

Using a data clean room, Manchester City’s first-party data segments were matched with second-party signals, creating an audience of “Man City fans who are environmentally conscious and interested in electric vehicles”. The segment was then tested against the “Ad Platform ‘EV Intender’ Audience” with the matched dataset resulting in significantly higher engagement for Nissan, recording 52% higher VCR and 43% longer average watch time.

While engagement metrics in a nondescript ad buying platform are not necessarily an indicator of bottom-line success, they do suggest that this relatively new strategy in the sponsorship industry has massive potential.

The next challenge for the world of sponsorship will be to reach data sharing standards expected by the rest of the industry. These are twofold – on the one hand, rights holders need to highlight the value their data can bring to sponsors, building clear audience segments and data sharing projects that sponsors can confidently buy into and activate. On the other, sponsors need to ensure their internal data-strategy includes an acknowledgement of the possibility of activating the sponsors’ data.

As these products evolve, there will be more pressure on rights holders to define and identify signals more accurately. This will help sponsors use their rights for more middle and lower-funnel tactics, highlighting sponsorship as a truly through-the-line channel able to drive more than just impressions and 30 second equivalents.

 

The case for better metrics

 

Across digital media, the success of sponsorship properties has largely sat with vanity media metrics like impressions, engagement or clicks, often driving to irrelevant landing pages too focused on the sponsor and not linked to the sponsorship. But, with opportunities to analyse more signals than ever with AI, using legacy digital metrics like impressions or viewability cannot show the real value of sponsorship.

Playground xyz’s Attention Time is a human-led, AI scaled metric measuring the length of time that an ad is looked at – it is 7.5x more important in determining awareness, and 5.9x more important in determining recall than viewability. While clicks can be sparse and conversions even more so, Attention Time is proving to be one of the most reliable metrics that we have to measure the effectiveness of sponsorship ads.

While Playground xyz is only one example of an ever-growing list of companies measuring attention and similar metrics (all with varying methodologies), exploring and testing new metrics is going to be vital in accurately optimising properties over the course of a campaign, season or cycle.

While the sunset of the third-party cookie is further away than ever, privacy savvy consumers and increasingly unreliable targeting suggest that reliance on this outdated technology is leading to less efficient advertising and losses for brands.

However, brands that have invested in sponsorship are increasingly finding value goes beyond impressions and time on screen. Access to IP inclusive assets, when served in relevant contexts, can result in significant boosts to long- and short-term brand metrics, and access to first-party rights holder data can then further help to reach efficiencies in campaigns. When complemented by more advanced performance metrics, the strength of alternative targeting solutions speak for themselves.

All without the crumb of a cookie in sight.

By James English

Managing Partner
An article by James English, managing partner at the Fuse international sports and entertainment marketing agency

When Bet365 announced its sponsorship of pan-European soccer’s UEFA Champions League for the 2024-27 cycle, was it a surprise? Not really. The sports betting sector is dominating the global sporting scene, with recent research revealing 26 out of 100 competitions around the world are sponsored by companies in the industry.

Sponsorship of England’s top soccer clubs by betting companies has grown over 1,000% in two decades, with at least 42 different betting companies sponsoring English Premier League teams over the years. And still, nearly half of clubs in the league have front-of-shirt sponsorships from gambling brands, despite a very public ban on those deals coming into effect in 2026-27.

While many other industries are pivoting their business and partnership strategies away from sectors like betting, soccer is still scoring big. With a need to drive bottom-line revenue and rights holders looking to sell increased commercial inventory resulting from new competition formats and additional matches, it’s hard to ignore the millions in revenue these companies generate every year.

But as regulatory changes loom, it is time for brands and rights holders to “hedge their bets” when it comes to how and with whom they do business, as they pave the way for a new era of football sponsorship.

 

What’s changing in sport sponsorship

 

Change is already underway, having impacted the esports/gaming field, where digital and online safety regulations are coming to the fore. There is a greater emphasis on and regulations around targeting younger people. For example, if more than 70% of an audience is under 18, betting brands can’t use social media influencers or footballers as ambassadors.

And, most significantly for the EPL, there is the forthcoming voluntary ban on front-of-shirt sponsors from the 2026-27 season.

Not surprisingly, rights holders are pushing to maximize revenue ahead of major changes to gambling regulations in the UK and across Europe. And why wouldn’t they?

Major football tournaments attract huge global audiences which means significant global brand exposure and media value – a reason why Bet365 has signed as the global partner for the UEFA Champions League and Betano for the UEFA Europa League, and this summer’s Euros.

While the front-of-shirt sponsorship ban for Premier League clubs is a definite blow, there are still many lucrative options on the table. Betting brands are rushing to sign deals now to capitalize on the opportunity in the last couple of seasons of being a front-of-shirt sponsor.

However, the ban only applies to front-of-shirt sponsorships so other premium sponsorships such as sleeve and training wear will still be available. This is a good time to lock in a sleeve or other primary partnership packages before they start to rise in price as betting brands look to spend their sponsorship budgets on alternative assets once the ban comes into place. It’s also worth noting that the ban only applies to the Premier League clubs, not those in the second-tier Championship, which is still home to teams with loyal fanbases and a storied history.

 

How the industry is responding to change: The role of tech and data

 

It’s not just IRL shirts and merchandise where gambling brands and rights holders are responding to change. Increasingly, the role of tech will ensure that rights holders can maximize their assets while still staying on the right side of regulations. There will be more pitch-side virtual advertising to address pan-European or global betting regulations.

Currently, Bet365 perimeter boards still appear on TV in the UK, even when the match is being played in a market where gambling advertising is banned. This tech advancement is benefiting other sponsors too who are looking to geo-target the promotion of distinct products or services in specific markets.

Rights holders who continue to invest in better targeting capabilities to ensure they are compliant with regulations can be sure of their assets selling.

 

Tapping into other advertising inventory

 

With greater regulation and scrutiny of the industry, we will see a continuing increase in spending for other advertising inventory around football.

Where the promotion of a betting brand is prohibited, surrogate brands and advertising will continue to flourish. These can either retarget fans with betting messages in line with regulation, such as Bet365scores in Italy, or Entain Foundation when BWIN was the official sponsor of the UEFA Europa League can be used to reinforce brand messages without explicitly saying ‘buy me’ or ‘bet now.’

Likely as a result of regulatory changes, there is still significant investment being put behind responsible gambling messaging, with the likes of Sky Bet using playoff inventory to promote grassroots activation and responsible gambling.

For rights holders concerned about the sponsorship tap being turned off around betting, there are emerging and growing new categories to plug any gaps in their sponsorship portfolio.

One of those sectors is crypto, with the likes of Kraken sponsoring Spurs among others, and fan token platform Socios signing a $20 million deal with Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi to be their brand ambassador and offering token holders matchday tickets and merchandise. Deals, such as that with Messi, open up new opportunities with older talent and are becoming more prevalent in the legends’ space.

There will also be a continuing upsurge of interest in brands from the Middle East (Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup) and China as we saw with the 2024 Euros where five of the 13 global sponsors were Chinese companies.

So, while brands and rights holders need to get match fit for regulatory changes, they can be confident that for any gaps in their sponsorship line-up, there is a squad of super subs on the bench warming up and ready to score lucrative and imaginative deals.

By Louise Johnson

Our CEO Louise Johnson shares her thoughts with WARC, looking back at a watershed year for women across culture, sport, and business – but recognises how much more needs to be done. 

Last year was a year of incredible successes for female empowerment, and I’m not just talking in the boardroom. We all marvelled at Barbie reaching new heights at the box office, as she ushered in a new wave of girl power and made it onto the Forbes 2023 most powerful list.

Women’s sport hit record views during the FIFA World Cup in Australia and the Women’s NBAs, with 46.7m people in the UK watching women’s sport on linear TV in 2023. And finally, female artists took centre stage at both the Grammy’s and the Brits, with singer, songwriter Raye winning six out of the seven Brit prizes following years of rejection from her record label. Let’s not forget to mention the newly coined ‘Taylor Swift Effect’ which has generated nearly $5 billion in consumer spending.

Female leaders or icons are often compared directly with their male counterparts, expected to live up to terms more commonly used by men, such as ‘strong’ and ‘powerful’, to determine their ability and self-worth. But as we look at the actions of these global female icons, we see the embracement of more feminine traits in leadership. By displaying mental resilience, emotional intelligence and empathy, female icons are adopting a mindset of continuous learning and growth.

So, what can we learn from these female icons to be better leaders, colleagues and friends?

 

MENTAL RESILIENCE AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

 

While Chloe Kelly’s penalty in the game against Nigeria went down as the fastest shot in the World Cup, it was her admirable act of emotional intelligence when she comforted Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie that got the public, papers and presenters talking.

The journey of the Lionesses is one of remarkable resilience. They fostered a supportive and transparent culture, learned from their mistakes and bounced back from losses. All under the inspirational leadership of Sarina Weigman.

This show of sportsmanship demonstrates a softness that often isn’t seen in football. With almost one-third of UK workers saying they’ve quit a job because of negative management, a caring approach to adversity should be adopted in the workplace too. When you care about your work, colleagues and friends, you inspire and drive them to be their best self.

 

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

 

When Raye spoke out about the record company who let her go three weeks after preventing her from releasing an album and then went on to win six Brit awards, she set a precedent for women pursuing their dream careers no matter the hurdles. Her actions shone a light on how self-belief and remaining true to your values can help overcome adversity. She said: “The artist I was three years ago would not believe I’m in control – I’m my own boss.”

But she also showed businesses that the characteristics of your leadership has a big impact on growth, with research finding that CEO’s who score highly in traits such as compassion and integrity, can earn a 9.35% return on assets over two years.

While society and businesses are continuing to raise awareness of and improve female specific issues, such as the gender pay gap and support with the menopause (which are both important), there are subjects that still aren’t garnering the same attention, such as fertility. We’ve witnessed some sports stars bravely speaking out on their own personal journeys, but there is still a huge gap for business leaders in particular to address, given 1 in 7 people are affected by infertility and 176 million women globally have endometriosis.

We have much to celebrate as we look back over the last year, but the journey ahead is still a long and windy road. Society as a whole must learn from our female role models, take on board their leadership traits and then invest for the long term to drive real change.

 

Juli Ferre joins Omnicom Media Group as Head of FUSE Spain, and will be responsible for leading the launch of the brand in Spain.

FUSE is the OMG agency which specialises in sports & entertainment marketing, present in 12 international markets and headquartered in London. FUSE works with both brands and rightsholders; providing brands with end-to-end partnership solutions including strategic consulting services, partnership brokering and negotiation, activation and measurement, and supporting rightsholders with commercial product consultancy and go-to-market services.

Juli, who has 20 years’ experience in the sector, has worked with brands such as Cirque du Soleil, FIBA, FCBarcelona and AS Monaco FC among others.  His expertise will be a huge asset for OMG in Spain – a country which ranks fourth in Europe terms of sponsorship investment and which has a high growth trajectory due to its hosting of major sporting events such as the America’s Cup Sailing in Barcelona this year, the FIFA World Cup in 2030 and the considerable growth in e-sports and gaming in the market.

Regarding his new role, Juli Ferre commented “Leading the launch of FUSE Spain presents an exciting opportunity to capitalise on the growing sports sponsorship market here. Sport has become an increasingly important part of today’s culture – so for brands this offers a big opportunity to drive deeper connections with their target consumers.”

Joan Jordi Vallverdú, CEO of Omnicom Media Group Spain, added: “It is a pleasure to announce the addition of Juli Ferre to our team as head of FUSE Spain, our sports and entertainment agency. Juli’s extensive sports experience will undoubtedly strengthen our commitment to excellence and innovation in this exciting growth area. We are looking forward to seeing the positive impact that this will generate for our clients as well as sports rights holders.”

Louise Johnson, CEO of FUSE, also commented: “We are delighted to welcome Juli Ferre into the Fuse global family. Spain will be a key market for our sports partnerships division and Juli’s wealth of experience will provide a significant advantage to unlocking this business opportunity for the group.”

ABOUT OMNICOM MEDIA GROUP

 

Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), the leading global advertising, marketing and communications company serving more than 5,000 advertisers in more than 100 countries. OMG offers solid solutions that impact our clients’ business results, based on an end-to-end process, always keeping the client at the center. Omnicom Media Group exists to promote its agencies and specialized services (OMD, PHD, Hearts & Science, Annalect and Transact).

 

ABOUT FUSE

 

Fuse is a leading Sport & Entertainment marketing agency working with some of the world’s top brands and rights holders to drive brand and business growth through the power of people’s passions.

Services include partnership strategy, valuation & negotiation support, creative development & production, activation and digital planning, rights management, PR, major events and effectiveness.

With a London HQ of 120 employees and an international footprint across APAC, EMEA and the US, the integration within Omnicom Media Group allows the agency to be at the cutting edge of modern marketing, able to access the very latest tools and capabilities.

For more information, please visit https://fuseint.com/

For more information: Alejandra Iglesias [email protected] // Raquel Altelarrea [email protected]

Business leader speaks to Louise Johnson, CEO of Fuse, about accelerating gender equality, embracing authenticity, and challenge biases.

 

YOU ARE THE ONLY FEMALE CEO IN THE UK SPORTS MARKETING INDUSTRY. APPROACHING 2024, WHAT COULD BE DONE – GOVERNMENTAL, SOCIETAL, OR OTHERWISE, THAT COULD ACCELERATE GENDER EQUALITY?

 

While we have made progress, so much more needs to be done across all areas. Earlier this year, the UN Women’s report, stated it will take 286 years for the world to achieve gender equality. And the World Economic Forum said it will take another 132 years to close the global gender gap.

In each organisation, private and public, there should be a diagnostic of what the problem is and identify the barriers. A plan needs to be made which is aligned between the business or organisational goals and the gender equality approach. Communication is key and all employees need to be engaged with the plan. Most importantly we need to remove bias from the processes and practises, or nothing will change. And we need to accelerate and develop women in the business/organisation through training, sponsorship, and mentoring.

 

 

WHAT CAN BUSINESS LEADERS DO IN THEIR ORGANISATION TO REDRESS THE GENDER BALANCE IN MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES? 

 

In addition to the above, business leaders must advocate for female leadership. It’s important to challenge unconscious bias and stereotypes – in the boardroom, at recruitment meetings, during remuneration committee sessions, and with stakeholders.

Global Sport and Entertainment marketing agency Fuse has been appointed by British Gas as their agency for its partnership consultancy and activation. British Gas joins Fuse’s roster of clients that include PepsiCo, Vodafone, Nissan, Enterprise, FedEx and Just Eat.

Fuse has been working closely with British Gas for the past eight months to secure its return to the sports partnership industry, negotiating major deals with the Scottish Rugby Union, the Scottish Football Association as well as Team GB and ParalympicsGB – the latter two announced earlier this week.

Victoria Chew, Managing Partner at Fuse said: “The prospect of working with new clients is always exciting, but especially so with a brand like British Gas, re-entering the partnership world with big ambitions.

“We are proud of the work we have delivered so far and are delighted to now be able to bring to life the partnerships creatively. We look forward to working with British Gas to achieve its business goals internally and externally, by leveraging such an exciting portfolio of rights.”