24/07/2023
NEWS STORY
Alfa Romeo is to run a special livery at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix in celebration of its partnership with streaming giant KICK.
The team describes the livery as "striking", which is perhaps not the best possible choice of adjective considering the manner in which Guanyu Zhou struck Daniel Ricciardo yesterday, thereby leading to the elimination of both Alpines.
That aside, the team's C43s of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will sport neon green accents and additional branding, making the car an immediately recognisable sight on the Spa grid.
The team's partnership with KICK, was announced at the beginning of the year, and according to the press release has been one of the success stories of 2023.
"Based on a creator-first model, KICK skyrocketed, accruing more than 14 million registered users in its first seven months of life," we are told. "KICK also expanded its commitment to the team by becoming the title partner of the Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK Esports squad, which will take part in the F1 Esports Pro Championship later this year."
A platform devoted to its content creators, KICK pledged its special livery to them, with the names of the most prominent personalities operating on the site featured on the C43's halo.
Highlighting KICK's distinctive brand elements such as the neon green face locks, emoticons and its 95-5 revenue split on the livery, KICK and Alfa Romeo have created a unique head-turner for one of the most iconic races in the calendar.
The KICK Streaming-liveried C43 will also be made available to all players of the new F1 23 videogame, who will have the chance to download the car in-game during the month of August.
"KICK has been disrupting its market sector since its inception," said Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative, "and the livery they created for us for Spa fits into this philosophy: it is different, it is striking, it is something designed to be different and create attention.
"Their focus on creators, which is very clearly exemplified on the car livery itself, is not dissimilar to how we operate as a team: our strength, and the strenght of the platform, is only as sizeable as that of those who contribute to it - in our case, our team members trackside and at home.
"KICK has redefined streaming in its world and is bringing its innovation to our Esports team as well, with an ambitious programme for this year's F1 Esports Pro Championship: we're happy to celebrate their work with an equally disruptive livery for this weekend."
"In just seven months, Kick.com has 14 million registered users and has generated $15 million for its Creators," added Akhil Sarin, Director of Acquisition, Kick.com, "making it one of the fastest growing social platforms, in terms of acquisition. We could not be prouder of having KICK inspire the livery for the upcoming GP weekend at Spa.
"At KICK, we put our Creators first by spotlighting the names of our ambassadors on the halo of our F1 car. We pride ourselves in bringing fairness with style to the live-streaming game. Our 95-5 business split to our Creators is what allows KICK to excel compared to its competitors; highlighted on the livery. The KICK-inspired livery is striking with stylish simplicity. We dedicate the KICK Streaming special livery to our community as they have in many ways and in their own ways contributed to the success of KICK. They are the entertainers of the next generation."
Anyone else long for the more simple ‘we make ‘em, you smoke ‘em, here's our fag packet livery' days of Gold Leaf, John Player Special, Marlboro, Rothmans and Gauloises?