Brief:

Ford Performance was seeking information on the future of motorsports fandoms to inform their merchandising strategy for the 2026 F1 season. 2026 marks the first time Ford Motor Company will participate in the circuit since their exit in 2004.

Process:

Our team executed this project in 2 phases, first with a landscape audit of Ford competitors in the racing space and their merchandising strategy for fan gear.

This was followed by a fandom forecast where we used qualitative desk research to deep dive fan archetypes and cluster them into distinct fandom archetypes. We the provided the Ford Performance team with bespoke strategies to engage with each fandom along with key items to focus on as merch offerings.