Standing rigidly in the Force India pit garage, beads of sweat forming on his brow from both the heat and tension, BWT’s CEO (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) Lutz Huebner looked on, filled with anticipation. The global water technology company were about to make their debut in F1 and they weren’t entering quietly. Throughout the pristine space focus and concentration was plastered on every team members face as they prepped the car for the first race of the season, the 2017 Australian Grand Prix.
As the garage covers parted, the VJM10-02 rumbled out of its den to an audience of almost 100 photographers. They were eager to catch a glimpse of F1’s first ‘pink panther’, which BWT had helped create.
“Everybody was nervous. After 14 years of marketing I was nervous. That was a very special moment,” Lutz recalls, his voice filled with emotion. “If you see the car it’s iconic from my point of view. One of the most interesting moments in my marketing career was putting the car on the track in Melbourne. When it came out it was unbelievable. It was like George Clooney (arriving). Until the victory of Sebastian Vettel in that race we were topic number one in Formula 1 worldwide. Still today we have one of the most photographed cars on the grid.”
As Esteban and Checo sped past the Albert Park grandstand at 200-300km an hour, hunting down the Ferraris the bright blue BWT logo against the pink background was as clear as, well, water. A very well thought out colour scheme for racing right there.
In what Lutz describes as “a positive shock for the race track” the Austrian-based company initiated their pink campaign in motorsport by transforming the Mercedes AMG DTM cars in 2015. The distinct branding of their Magnesium Mineralised Water product was used to create the eye-catching livery.
For a company that prides itself on being Europe’s market leader in water treatment, desalination plants, filter jugs and pharmaceutical water, motorsport sponsorship proved to be a huge success. Their customers increased and brand exposure heightened.
F1 soon became BWT’s next challenge. They began the search for a willing partner, speaking with a number of teams and Force India were the ones to raise their hand, welcoming BWT as their new sponsor.
“For us the only solution was to bring a big bang into F1 with this pink colour code,” Lutz explained. “We had a couple of discussions with Force India (and other teams), very interesting team. They said at the end, we will do it. We will make the car pink.”
But it wasn’t just that the Silverstone-based team were interested in “feeling the pink force”, their repore also helped seal the deal.
“With all the emotions and all these iconic moments that motorsport has for you we need a cool brain and very professional work. It’s the same in the team. If you see the Force India team they are low budget and they are extremely hard working, extremely professional and extremely cool, this fits perfectly together with us.”
Standing out against their competitors on the supermarket shelves, BWT was now doing the same on the world’s top race circuits. The aim of entering F1 was to get the brand noticed worldwide, and that they did at lightning speed. The bold, simple yet extremely effective statement certainly had people from far and wide asking ‘who is BWT?’.
The brightly-coloured machine somehow even sparked a homosexual debate which was quickly shut down by the social media reaction alone Lutz explained. “I don’t see that this is a very women-oriented colour. It’s visible and it’s very, very much different.” And if you’ve seen Lewis Hamilton’s new hot pink sneakers you would have to agree.
With Force India fighting Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull in almost every race, Lutz believes the partnership is in a ‘dream position’. “We are in the position of the challenger and the mass is always identifying with the challenger not the establishment.”
With a 3-5 year plan in place for the Force India ‘pink panthers’ BWT expect to see the changes hit their bottom line in the longer term. For now, they’re chuffed with having been a pioneer in bringing something new to F1. And who knows, we could well find a VJM10-02 tickling a museum pink one day.
