Smartsheet and McLaren Racing shine a light on nonprofits with ‘Sponsor X’ campaign

The campaign won in the Social Purpose category at The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas 2023.

Smartsheet and McLaren Racing leveraged the enormous popularity of Formula 1 to promote organizations aimed at empowering historically disenfranchised demographics.

The Brief
Smartsheet wanted to place clear differentiation between itself and emerging competitors. It was time to boldly define what it stands for – beyond a simple brand impression and on an international scale.
Smartsheet runs on the belief that it can empower anyone to drive meaningful change, and its business is only successful if it is helping create a world where anyone can thrive. Its ultimate goal with this new campaign was to walk the talk of its brand’s mission in a new, creative way that would create more positive change for more people.
Smartsheet and its new partner, McLaren Racing, have shared values of “we before me” and “performing with integrity,” so decided to highlight some worthy causes – instead of themselves.