Richard Berry, Head of Commercial at the Williams Martini Formula One Racing team, is the feature interview on this week's SB Weekly.
Richard is one the most experienced commercial brains in F1, having had - in addition to Williams - stints in the commercial departments at Honda, Brawn and Mercedes. He’s also turned his hand in the business of football, as Head of Partnership Sales at Manchester City and Chief Commercial Officer of Rangers.
He joined Williams in April 2015 after a short period at the Premier League assisting with the search for new commercial partnerships.
In this week's episode, hear Richard discuss:
- Why brands sponsor F1 teams, and how the sport is successfully opening up more to B2C sponsors
- Work Williams is doing to better understand its following, and how it's going about building its fanbase both online and offline
- How Abu Dhabi connections saw him move to Manchester City as Head of Partnership Sales, where he helped build the commercial plan for global football domination
- The new ideas he brought back into F1 following his stint working in football
- What football rights-holders can learn from the commercial approach in F1
- The challenge F1 faces keeping the sport's fanbase engaged as the media landscape continues to fracture.
