In 2022, Google Chrome became an official partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team (F1). The partnership provides McLaren with a 5G-enabled, seamless technology experience across Chrome browsers and Android devices in McLaren's racing operations, with the goal of improving on-track performance, reducing lag time in communications to improve overall race speed.
For Chrome, Google was able to correlate McLaren and F1's incredible speeds and its fast-paced browser with the goal of driving preference for Chrome amongst iOS users. To do so, the company sought to celebrate the speed of Google Chrome in a culturally relevant way, connecting the world's fastest browser to the fastest sport with a social-driven stunt that leveraged the McLaren partnership.
F1 has gone from a motorsport for the hardcore racing fan to a global obsession as seen with the success of shows like the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive. Viewership doubled from 2018 to 2023 in the U.S. alone, with fans consuming more content than ever before, during, and even after each race.
With this new energy and younger fanbase, F1 conversation has gone from niche motorsport forums to the main pages of social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X. The hashtag #Formula1 has 61.5 billion views on TikTok alone, along with 84 million tweets.
This dramatic shift in the way F1 is consumed and talked about in the U.S. made it the perfect affinity to tap into. Chrome recognized early the cultural shift around F1, and created a huge, multi-year sponsorship deal with McLaren F1 to create the brand association of Chrome's fast browser speeds with that of the McLaren team's incredible race speeds. Noting the crossover of F1 with not just sport, but with fashion, music, and celebrities, Google set out to show how Chrome can be associated with speed in a culturally relevant way.
The category of browsers is filled with apathetic users who really don't care which browser they use. However, Google found the number one reason its audience (iOS users aged 18 to 44) decides to switch browsers is speed. Therefore, Google set out to connect Chrome to speed through culture.
To leverage the McLaren partnership and connect Chrome to speed in culture, Google needed to identify where F1 fan communities were connecting, and that platform was TikTok. For instance, 38 percent of iOS users aged 18 to 44 F1 fans watch content on TikTok, and are 2.6 times more likely to make their own content for TikTok (31 percent). Google also found that hip-hop and rap was the number one music genre used on TikTok in 2021 and the top song on TikTok in 2022 was a rap song (Yung Lean's "Ginseng Strip 2002"). This led to the insight that TikTok is a digital paddock where F1 fans are seen and celebrated.
When talking about a mobile web browser, standing out in culture required an idea that would not only get F1 fans to stop and watch, but to participate as well. Google homed in on TikTok consumer behaviors and discovered that Open Verse Challenges accounted for 2.2 billion views on the platform alone. Google's epiphany: Chrome, F1, and TikTok's top music category of rap all had a common denominator: speed.
To celebrate the new Chrome x McLaren F1 partnership and jolt users out of their browser apathy, Google brought together a growing fanbase, sports cars and one of the fastest rappers in the game, Busta Rhymes. In the first-ever Chrome Speed Challenge, Google challenged rap legends, TikTok rappers, and the broader F1 and rap communities to rap as fast as Lando Norris drives, to create unexpected pairings that culturally tied speed with Chrome's browser.
To highlight Chrome's speed, Google challenged rappers Lil Yachty and Busta Rhymes to rap as fast as Lando Norris drove, converting Lando's fastest lap ever at 220 MPH to 220 beats-per-minute. In the two-minute "Chrome Speed Challenge," driver Lando Norris calls on Lil Yachty to see if he can come up with a rap that matches the speed of the browser and the McLaren racing car. With Busta Rhymes also on board, the duo moved at a breakneck pace to find the perfect verse and flow to complement the speed of the car, the browser and each other, warming up and rapping, while a split-screen visual shows Norris driving. Yachty then sets up the call to action, challenging the audience to take the next verse.
From there, producer Earl on the Beat created a variable BPM base track that perfectly synchronized with the intimidatingly fast speeds of Lando's McLaren driving. The rappers were tasked with writing original lyrics about speed and Google Chrome, which came to life as an original track and video. Google then tapped into the trend of open verse challenges on TikTok and invited globally-famous rappers to add their own verses as part of the #ChromeSpeedChallenge.
TikTok creators Harry Mack and Baby Tate joined the challenge, posting their fastest bars on TikTok, and invited the community to join. This all kicked off during the weekend of McLaren's home race, the British Grand Prix, aligning to a major F1 moment.
The competitive landscape in mobile browsers was saturated with apathy, with speed emerging as the primary reason for potential users to switch. The partnership with McLaren F1 provided a strategic opportunity to leverage F1's cultural resonance and TikTok's influence to reposition Chrome as synonymous with speed and engage a younger, more culturally attuned audience.
Chrome Speed Challenge racked up over 59.6 million views; that's 60 times greater than the average linear viewership. The campaign resonated with fans, achieving a 72 percent positive sentiment among all social conversation, which is 13 percent higher than the benchmark, along with 1.5 million engagements. The challenge also generated organic fan participation, with user-generated videos receiving an additional 1.4 million organic views, demonstrating how Chrome helped drive the cultural conversation of F1, Chrome, and McLaren.
The campaign significantly elevated Chrome's visibility and engagement metrics. It garnered over 59.6 million views, a stark contrast to average viewership, and achieved a 72 percent positive sentiment among social conversations, exceeding benchmarks. Innovatively blending F1, rap culture, and TikTok challenges, it redefined Chrome's image as synonymous with speed, resonating well with its target demographic of iOS users aged 18 to 44. Consumer response was robust, evidenced by 1.5 million engagements and widespread organic participation, demonstrating its successful integration into cultural conversations.
