By Alan Baldwin
(Reuters) -Kentucky bourbon brand Jim Beam and Formula One newcomers Cadillac announced a partnership on Wednesday highlighting their historic ties and adding to the team's American spirit.
The multi-year deal makes Jim Beam the official spirits partner of the General Motors-backed outfit, who will debut as Formula One's 11th team next season. No financial details were provided.
"This partnership represents two American originals driving forward together on a mission to usher in a new
era by welcoming even more people into Formula One," they said in a joint statement.
The whiskey, part of Japanese-owned Suntory Global Spirits, is the U.S.-owned team's second F1 partner after New York fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger was announced in June as apparel provider and lifestyle sponsor.
JIM BEAM ALSO PARTNERS LA DODGERS
Jim Beam also partners the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, whose billionaire owner Mark Walter is chief executive of holding company TWG Global which in turn controls the Cadillac F1 team.
Rashidi Hodari, managing director of the James B. Beam Distilling Company, told Reuters the two brands had a shared history.
He recalled how the company founder owned a Cadillac in the 1930s, placing a mason jar of his prized yeast on the front seat before driving home every evening.
"Our seventh generation master distiller drives a Cadillac. When you show up in Clermont for a visitor's tour at our distillery, the first stop when we explain the process of bourbon, we have a replica 1939 Cadillac.
"When we found out that the Cadillac F1 team was getting a chance to join the grid in 2026, it felt serendipitous," he added.
While Cadillac will compete with Ferrari engines initially, and will have Finland's Valtteri Bottas and Mexican Sergio Perez as drivers, they have American Colton Herta in a test role and intend to race with GM units from 2029.
The team are the first new outfit in Formula One since Haas, also U.S.-owned, in 2016.
Hodari said Formula One's global growth, and soaring popularity in the United States where many fans are new to the sport, was key for a brand seeking mass appeal rather than exclusivity.
"To be already the world's number one bourbon and thinking about opportunities to grow our brand, we do have to look beyond our home market," he explained.
"F1 -- it's access to culture whether it's 'Drive to Survive' and streaming on Netflix or the recent success of the F1 box office movie -- has shown the power that F1 as a brand has to connect across demographics, to connect across communities.
"And that was immensely attractive, especially when we know we're about connecting to the everyday person.
"Having a partner like Cadillac, where it's an authentic part of who we've always been, keeps us excited about what's to come."
Hodari said North America, with three U.S. races as well as others in Canada and Mexico, was a dominant region for the brand but Brazil was also a major growth market.
There were existing partnerships in Australia but "China, Southeast Asia and Singapore are all markets where we have tremendous upside potential and continue to want to endeavour to win over consumers".
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
