Formula 1 will take over six of the world’s best-known advertising locations, including Piccadilly Circus, Times Square and Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, as part of a new global campaign launched ahead of the sport’s return.
The campaign, called Five Lights, centres on a 90-second film narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor and self-described F1 fan Colin Farrell, set to the track Reign by UNKLE featuring Ian Brown.
It features all 22 drivers and runs from 16 August to 13 September, spanning F1’s return from the summer break at the Heineken Dutch Grand Prix weekend and beyond.
Beyond Piccadilly Circus and Times Square, the takeover extends to The Outernet in London, Sunset Boulevard, The Moxy and the Music District in Los Angeles, and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
”Five Lights captures one of the most powerful moments in Formula 1, when anticipation, excitement and pressure all come together just before the race begins,” said Emily Prazer, Chief Commercial Officer at F1/
“As we return for the second half of what has already been an incredible season, we wanted to create something that reflects the emotion of our sport and the connection our fans feel with the teams and drivers every race weekend.”
We wanted to create something that reflects the emotion of our sport and the connection our fans feel with the teams and drivers every race weekend.
Emily Prazer
The film itself focuses on the pre-race countdown, using the five-light sequence to build tension before lights out.
It is F1’s latest attempt to translate one of the sport’s most recognisable moments into a piece of standalone marketing content beyond race weekends themselves.
The campaign lands at the midpoint of what F1 is calling a record-breaking year. The sport says it has more than 830 million fans worldwide, with 11 consecutive sell-out Grands Prix and six new circuit attendance records so far this season.
