How ‘F1 The Movie’ took a page from the ‘Barbie’ marketing playbook
- Jennimai Nguyen
- Jul 17
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 25
The Apple-produced blockbuster got major marketing through OOH advertising, buzzy cast appearances—and push notifications straight to iPhones.
These days, did a movie even come out if there wasn’t a several-month period when the film was embedded in just about every aspect of culture possible?
The folks behind F1 The Movie would probably say no.
As Formula 1 fans geared up for the Brad Pitt-led blockbuster to hit theaters this summer, Apple made sure to remind them and newcomers alike of the film through OOH advertising, surprise Pitt-attended events, and—in a manner that only Apple could actually do—directly on their iPhones.
It’s a marketing blitz similar to what 2023’s Barbie phenomenon created, but with its own Formula 1–specific advantages that got a big movie audience interested, said Lucy Markowitz, the general manager of US marketplace at Vistar Media, a T-Mobile-owned digital OOH company. The movie, which has already outpaced Napoleon as Apple’s top-grossing film, is projected to clear $400 million in box-office revenues this weekend, per Box Office Mojo.
“Everyone wants to be a part of something that’s no longer just a movie, [and] part of something that is bigger than just a two-hour film,” she said. “That is partially created by all the buzz that goes around a film. You need social media and paid media in order to fuel that fire. It’s not just gonna happen on its own.”
Off to the races
It was lights off and away we go for the F1 marketing team much earlier than a typical movie campaign. The film’s first teaser trailer dropped during the British Grand Prix in July 2024, almost a year before opening weekend, and a significantly longer lead time than the average four to six months before a regular movie premiere.
“The idea was to have something where you have a global audience already tuning in, but then you’re also playing up the mark of that calendar, [and]...being really prescriptive,” Markowitz said. “In a way, it was almost like [creating awareness] for another race that was coming up, almost organic in a lot of ways, versus it being [for] a movie about an industry.”
