Last week in Davos, Switzerland, US-based business and financial news network CNBC and British automotive brand McLaren announced a new multiyear corporate partnership, effective from 2018. Building on each of their impressive reputations and global audiences, executives see the relationship as having the potential to stir investment and interest across both companies.

CNBC was founded as the Satellite Programme Network in 1980, only launching as the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) in 1989 following a string of unsuccessful brand positioning. McLaren, while founded in 1963 as Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, became McLaren Cars in 1980 and finally McLaren Automotive in 2010. Since July 2017, McLaren has been owned by parent company McLaren Technology Company.

While at first glance not the most obvious associates, the CNBC and McLaren brands are unique in both their longevity and in the widespread commercial respect each has garnered. Indeed, through the multiyear partnership, the global reach of both brands opens the door to audience expansion. CNBC’s 30 million-strong audience and the 20 championship wins enjoyed by McLaren’s Formula 1 team cement them as innovation leaders in their respective fields. “CNBC is a world-class, industry-leading brand and a superb fit for McLaren,” says Zak Brown, executive director of McLaren Technology Group. “This partnership will greatly enhance our ability to reach a global business target audience while enabling both CNBC and McLaren to highlight shared attributes and values.”

Brown continues, “Formula 1 is a sport undergoing exciting change at multiple levels and bringing that story to a global business will help raise the profile not only of McLaren and CNBC but the sport of Formula 1 too.”

For KC Sullivan, president and managing director at CNBC International, the historic sporting ties of both CNBC and McLaren ensure the multiyear partnership has the potential to promote business acumen and entrepreneurship across both brands. “With a shared passion for sporting excellence, CNBC is looking forward to working with the McLaren family of brands to tell the story of cutting edge innovation,” says Sullivan.

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