McLaren Mercedes announce renewed partnership with Santander

Woking, (Surrey, UK), 23 Jan 2014: McLaren Mercedes today announced that Santander, the largest bank in the eurozone and one of the biggest banks in the world, has renewed its long term corporate partnership with the team.

Since 2007, Santander and McLaren Mercedes have formed one of the most successful partnerships in Formula 1.  McLaren has played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Santander brand in the UK and with ground breaking initiatives, such as the 2012 London Grand Prix campaign, the partnership has delivered a consistent, demonstrable impact. 

For the past four years Jenson Button has also been a key ambassador for the company, fronting major marketing campaigns, staff engagement initiatives and playing a central role in Santander’s global University’s Scholarship Programme. 

Jenson Button will continue to play a significant role in Santander campaigns as the partnership progresses.

Meanwhile, Norton Rose Fulbright has entered into an innovative corporate partnership with the McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team and has been appointed as the global legal advisor to the McLaren Group.

Keith Moor, Chief Marketing Officer, Santander said: “Santander and McLaren have formed a long term partnership and together we have set new standards in sports marketing.  Our decision to renew that relationship is not something that we have taken lightly, but it is based upon a proven track record of achievement and we are pleased to continue to be in partnership with one of the most iconic brands in global sport.”

Ekrem Sami, Managing Director of McLaren Marketing said: “Once again, a global blue chip brand has chosen to partner with McLaren Mercedes.  We are delighted to be able to continue our extremely productive relationship with Santander, a company that has supported us for a number of years and has committed to be part of our exciting future.  In such a competitive international sponsorship market, the fact that such a prestigious company has chosen to partner with McLaren Mercedes is a reflection of the strength of our brand, our proven track record of delivery and the power of Formula 1 to reach an avid, affluent and influential audience.”

McLaren Mercedes’ roster of sponsors remains the envy of Formula 1, with some of the longest and most established partnerships in sport. For example, Hugo Boss has been with the team for 33 years, Tag Heuer for 29 years, Mobil 1 for 20 years and SAP for 16 years. These have been joined by leading global corporations including GSK, Johnnie Walker, Hilton and AkzoNobel.

Note on Santander and McLaren:

Santander UK plc is a full-service retail and commercial bank providing services to some 15 million active customers, with almost 1,200 branches and 37 regional Corporate Business Centres.  It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander SA. Santander UK plc manages its affairs autonomously with its own local management team responsible for its performance. Santander UK is firmly focused on the UK with c. 98% of customer assets UK-related and c. 80% of customer loans consisting of prime residential mortgages to UK customers. The total balance sheet remains UK focused, with a minimal net exposure after collateral to eurozone periphery countries only amounting to c. 0.6% of total assets. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with a presence in 10 main markets. Santander is the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1.342 trillion in managed funds, 102 million customers, 14,680 branches – more than any other international bank – and 186,785 employees at the close of June 2013. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America. It also has significant positions in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Poland and the northeast United States. In the first half of 2013, Santander registered EUR 2,255 million in attributable profit, an increase of 29% from the same period of the previous year.

McLaren

McLaren Group is an organisation with one goal: to win.

McLaren Group is a dynamic group of high technology companies, whose rapid growth is built on the shared principles of innovation, creativity and commitment to excellence. It comprises McLaren Racing, McLaren Automotive and McLaren Applied Technologies.

McLaren Racing entered its first Formula 1 race in 1966 and won its first Grand Prix at the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium in 1968. More than 40 years and 182 Grand Prix victories later, McLaren is still renowned as one of the sport’s most successful competitors and as one of the world’s most illustrious high-technology brands.

McLaren Applied Technologies is one of McLaren Group’s most diverse and fast-moving businesses and has a mission to achieve breakthroughs in performance using advanced technology and design.  With expertise in modelling, simulation, design engineering and human high performance, their expertise covers markets including sport, energy, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

McLaren Group is committed to sustainability. Continuous innovation and careful environmental management has enabled McLaren Mercedes to be the first Formula 1 team to retain the Carbon Trust Standard and to be declared ‘carbon neutral’.

ends