OKX-McLaren partnership bets pays off

OKX gambled on McLaren when both were struggling—crypto was crashing and McLaren was mediocre. Fast forward to 2024, McLaren wins its first constructors' championship in decades while OKX reaps massive brand exposure.

It's a case study in contrarian timing that turned two underdogs into market leaders. It also shows an investment in long-term brand building that I see far too infrequently in SME and mid-market companies.

So what?

• Timing contrarian partnerships can yield outsized returns. OKX spotted McLaren's potential when they were down, securing prime branding before prices skyrocketed with success.
• Sports marketing gave crypto what Google and Meta couldn't. Regulatory restrictions forced crypto brands to find alternative promotions channels. F1 delivered billions of brand impressions outside the default programmatic ad ecosystem.
• Brand identity transformation requires bold association choices. OKX's rebrand from OKEx gained traction through the emotional connection fans have with historic racing teams.
• Collaboration marketing trumps passive sponsorships. Extended brand integrations, such as the Senna tribute livery, delivered at least half a billion impressions by creating authentic content people actually cared about.
• Partnerships should align with strategic narrative arcs. OKX didn't just want eyeballs—they wanted to be seen as part of an underdog's comeback story.

What's next?

Many executives view sports sponsorships as expensive brand awareness plays, but OKX's approach was a neat hack for a regulated industry.

The crypto industry has been slammed for wasteful marketing spend, but OKX's strategy demonstrates discipline—they identified precise pain points (distribution channels, brand perception) and engineered a solution through McLaren.

Unlike most marketers, OKX CMO, Haider Rafique, looked for a distressed asset rather than overpaying for an already winning brand.

Counterpoint

Whether traditional advertising channels are off limits or not, marketers should have a contrarian point of view about promotion. Following the herd into a world of programmatic ad fraud or boring event marketing is simply negligent.

Source: Behind crypto exchange OKX’s winning bet on McLaren (Marketing Brew)