How Deloitte went from behind the scenes to front and center with McLaren

McLaren has been on a hot streak in Formula 1, winning back-to-back Constructor’ Championships and a Drivers’ Championship this year. Through it all, brand partner Deloitte has had a seat in the car.

The consultancy’s yearslong relationship with McLaren dates back to 2017, when McLaren was a Deloitte client and the companies collaborated on tech like race simulators. Over the years, the Deloitte team also worked on McLaren’s HR systems. The relationship formally expanded to McLaren Racing in 2020, eventually developing into a sponsorship—a common progression for Deloitte, according to US CMO Scott Mager.

Earlier this month, the organizations announced another multiyear expansion of their relationship that makes Deloitte the official transformation partner of the entire McLaren Racing portfolio, including the F1 team, Arrow McLaren in IndyCar, and the forthcoming McLaren team in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027.

Given McLaren’s success in F1 and aspirations in the other series, growing interest in motorsports in the US, and the returns Deloitte has seen during its time sponsoring the F1 team, the expansion is only natural, Mager told Marketing Brew.

“We’ve got a great history with them,” he said. “Why not double down on it?”

Up the ante

The deal represents a bigger push into US races for Deloitte, Mager said. In prior years, the relationship was primarily centered around the UK, where McLaren is headquartered. But with the rapid growth of F1 stateside, Mager said his team wanted “a much larger presence at the US F1 races.”

In addition to Deloitte branding on the McLaren car and in the pit, Deloitte is also planning to run out-of-home ads around some of the US F1 venues. The consultancy also bought media with Apple, which holds the US media rights for F1 starting with the 2026 season.

Hospitality, a key aspect of many sports sponsorships, will continue to be at the forefront for Deloitte, likely in an even larger capacity, Mager said. Typically, he said, race invites have been reserved for the most senior client executives, but with the addition of IndyCar this year, he’s hoping more clients and Deloitte employees will be able to experience motorsports in person, though the experience might vary depending on the sport.

“IndyCar, because of the volume of races, gives us an opportunity to do something a little bit different,” Mager said. “The way that we do sporting-event hospitality is not just bringing them to our suite to watch the event. It’s usually a multi-day, behind-the-scenes, pretty intimate experience with the team, and a deep dive on the work that we did for the team.”

Reap what you sow

Global sports sponsorships tend to come with hefty price tags, but Mager said the value of Deloitte’s deals “often outstrip the cost pretty significantly for us.” One of those benefits is the brand boost that comes from being associated with a sports property, something Deloitte has seen with other properties like the WNBA.

“In our target audience of potential clients or potential employees, what are they passionate about, and…how do you have the Deloitte brand meet them at a moment that they’re experiencing their passion?” Mager said. “If we could show up in their moment of passion, the brand halo is phenomenal.”

There’s also the direct and attributed revenue that Deloitte brings in from the properties it sponsors, Mager said, like LA28, with which Deloitte has a seven-year agreement. Direct revenue comes from the backend work that sports clients pay Deloitte to do, he said, while attributed revenue usually comes in the form of new business generated through hospitality events.

At CES this year, Deloitte had a booth near the main entrance of the convention center with the McLaren F1 car on display. “The amount of people that we met because of that, and the amount of new-business conversations that we’re having as a result of things like that, is huge,” Mager told us. Sports events also help the consultancy maintain its existing relationships, while also providing storytelling opportunities.

Deloitte has opted to tout its simulator work for McLaren, and since the team has now been at the top of the F1 standings for two years in a row, Mager said that longstanding relationship lends credibility with potential clients.

“There’s so much mileage to get from that story,” he said. “Nobody buys multiyear transformation services out of an e-commerce cart.”

By expanding into other motorsports, Mager said he’s hoping to get even more miles out of the McLaren partnership, ideally in the form of helping Brown and the McLaren team toward their goal of winning the triple crown of motorsport—the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.

“They asked us to be a sponsor, and we decided that we were in it with them,” Mager said. “At that point in time, we had built the platform, we were committed to reducing lap time and helping them get to the top of the grid, and so we made that commitment, and that’s what we’ve done over the past years. Of course, now that they won [in F1], why not expand?”