For every cheer from the grandstands, there are millions more from fans around the world watching on screens. While only 1% of Formula 1 fans will likely ever attend a race, the other 99% live and breathe the sport digitally. The challenge? How to make every one of them feel like they’re in the driver’s seat.
A new home for the Papaya Family
Enter the McLaren Racing Club, a new digital hub where the team’s global Papaya Family can get closer to the action than ever before. The new platform offers fans customized content, special offers, and early access to events.
“At McLaren Racing, fans are at the center of everything we do,” says Louise McEwen, Chief Marketing Officer at McLaren Racing. “Whether you've been following us for 60 years or for six months, we wanted to be able to provide those fans with highly personalized, real-time content and connect with them in better ways than ever before.”
Building brand trust at login
To achieve this vision, McLaren Racing needed to solve a critical technical challenge: providing a frictionless yet highly secure login experience that could scale to millions of users, especially during the intense traffic spikes of a race weekend. It was essential that the first interaction a fan has with the new platform — the login — be perfect.
“Identity is no longer just a security checkbox. It's the front door to your brand experience,” explains Shannon Duffy, Chief Marketing Officer at Okta. “The McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team understood this early on. We partnered with them to help ensure that the very first interaction a fan has with the app builds just as much trust as the brand itself.”
A foundation for innovation
Using Auth0 features like Universal Login and Actions, McLaren Racing developed a secure and scalable identity solution that works seamlessly across its fan-facing digital properties. Fans can now use a single set of credentials to move between the new mobile app, the website, and McLaren’s online store.
This foundation also prepares McLaren Racing for future innovation. With Auth0’s progressive profiling capabilities, McLaren can learn more about its fans over time to offer tailored experiences, like early access to exclusive content and merchandise.
“Our mission with McLaren Racing Club is to deliver a sport-leading fan engagement platform that delivers new fan experiences ... all underpinned by best-in-class technology and intelligent data,” says Leesa Haydock, Director of Digital Marketing and Products at McLaren Racing. “It's really important to us that we can keep our fan identity secure so that they can log in with confidence.”
With their fans’ identity security handled, McLaren Racing can dedicate its resources to creating unforgettable experiences and pushing the limits on the track. As Duffy explains, “Okta handles identity so that McLaren Racing can focus on connecting with their amazing Papaya Family and winning races.”
Learn more about how the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team and Okta are driving the future of fan engagement.
