PwC’s Formula One-aided brand refresh hints at ‘safe harbor’ of live sports amid a potential economic crisis

At least, that’s likely how PwC sees it. The tax and consulting giant has picked a hell of a time to float a refreshed visual identity — its first in 15 years — during a moment when other marketers are parking or postponing big brand campaigns. For PwC, the rebrand and accompanying campaign was 18 months in the making.

Married to the rebrand campaign, however, is a fresh Formula One sponsorship slot that’ll see the B2B brand become part of the motorsport’s growing presence in the U.S., a key market for PwC. From this week, the brand will be F1’s Official Consulting Partner, a move that gets its name in front of motorsports fans and includes a raft of hospitality benefits over the course of the racing season.

There are emotional reasons for that alignment — PwC wants to borrow F1’s association with speed and technology, according to Kristin McHugh, CMO of the U.S. and Mexico.

“PwC is built to move fast, think ahead, [and] deliver quality results in a world that is constantly changing … [that’s] very connected to Formula One and what they are doing day in and day out,” she told Digiday. 

There are harder-nosed reasons, too. Formula One has expanded significantly in recent years, with TV viewerships averaging well over 1 million each race. Over 3 million viewers caught the 2024 Miami Grand Prix on ABC, a record for the sport in the U.S., and a milestone that marked the formerly niche sport’s rise to similar levels of viewership as NASCAR.

In support of the rebrand, PwC’s running paid media spend on digital out-of-home in the U.S., including airports, ride share companies and public transportation in key cities. It’s also running ads on CTV platforms, Netflix, Hulu and linear TV, including Formula One, NBA and NHL coverage — the idea being to reach PwC’s B2B target audience outside their working hours — over the next 18 months.

“We are focused on delivering where our clients are,” McHugh added. She declined to share the campaign’s budget, or the cost of the Formula One partnership.

The campaign’s timing highlights one of the biggest dilemmas currently facing marketers. Few want to commit to big brand activity during a time of economic uncertainty and waning consumer confidence. B2B marketers might not have to worry too much about the latter, but they’re not immune to a sense of caution influencing decision-making.

“We’re seeing clients pull back on larger, integrated work,” said Anne-Marie Rosser, CEO of VSA Partners, an agency that works with B2B clients like IBM and McAfee.

As during past times of economic uncertainty, there are opportunities for the brands that continue communicating to consumers. That’s doubly true for a firm like PwC that lives and dies on the expertise it supplies to corporate clients; few events sharpen the desire for business advice like a trade war. (The same pressure, it could be argued, raises the imperative to shore up a brand.)

McHugh said it was the “right time” to refresh the brand after 15 years. “It is our focus to help our clients unlock new value and maintain a competitive edge in this ever-changing business landscape,” she said.

In that context, Rosser noted that paid media running against live sports and sports sponsorships represent “a safe harbor.” For a brand like PwC, F1 is particularly so — the sport’s long had B2B partners like Cisco, Shell and Amazon Web Services under its umbrella, even as consumer brands have sought to join the grid.

PwC’s move teases a key media trend emerging ahead of the summer months and the upcoming TV upfronts season, during which sports are expected to draw an outsized focus. NBCU, for example, will be shopping the Super Bowl, the NBA All-Star Game and the Winter Olympics.

Sure, tariffs and other economic worries mean that decisions to unlock big budgets for linear TV will likely be more drawn-out than usual.

But live sports coverage can as good as guarantee audiences at a time when marketers are grasping for any assurances available. As such, spending on sports is expected to hold steady, even as advance investment on ads running against broadcasters’ other fare gets squeezed.

So, while PwC’s McHugh might be one of the few CMOs happily pushing ahead with a brand awareness campaign right now, the company’s unlikely to be the only one looking to the sporting world for an assist over coming months.