It was a noteworthy week for the emergence of drone racing as a mainstream sport. First, ADWEEK, the publication of and for the advertising community published a story on drone racing, Millennial Males’ Love For Drone Racing Might Help it Become the Next Nascar. The piece documented the rapid growth with DRL’s first event attracting forty million viewers and called out Mountain Dew’s sponsorship of drone racing.
In May, Mountain Dew announced it would be the title sponsor of the two-day DR1 Invitational, which was livestreamed on Twitch this past weekend (June 25-26) from Los Angeles and will run as a one-hour special on the Discovery and Science networks Aug. 6. “Mountain Dew is most comfortable when we are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, whether it be technology, style or just having a damn good time,” said Michael Craig, senior marketing manager, Mountain Dew. “With drone racing emerging onto the scene, we saw an opportunity to make an impact on the sport by becoming the first brand to sign a drone racing pilot [Tommy “UmmaGawd” Tibajia], and teaming up with DR1 Racing on a global partnership for the … DR1 Invitational and DR1 Drone Racing Series.”
Second, General Electric stepped to the plate to sponsor The Liberty Cup Drone Race (July 30th and 31st in Jersey City, New Jersey). Randy Scott Slavin, Race Producer announced this afternoon, “We are proud to welcome GE as a presenting sponsor for the Liberty Cup Drone Race! GE will power our racetrack with their amazing LED technology and make history as we the world’s first fpv drone race set against the NYC skyline.” More on the Liberty Cup Race here.
The fact that ADWEEK highlighted drone racing is a wake up call to the advertising community. Couple that with GE’s sponsorship announcement today, and drone racing had a darn good week!