I ghostwrite Educational Email Courses for motorsport brands so they can turn fans into fanatics | Creative Director & photographer

I am the founder of The Commercial Table, where I talk about the commercial world of sports and entertainment. 

We also help commercial executives turn partnerships into revenue through the newsletter and consulting practice.
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My career is far from traditional, almost paying catch-up at times - I spent 10 years as a photographer before transitioning to writing, lived across three countries (with more airport mishaps than I care to count), and somehow found my way into the niche world of motorsport marketing without ever fully stepping into the corporate world.
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My approach to LinkedIn mirrors largely my personality - more listening than speaking, trying to be more authentic than polished. My theory is If you treat LinkedIn like Twitter in 2021, you'll win. I am obsessed with how comedians and TV shows write, have dreams of working on a screenplay someday, and can talk your ear off about tennis.

I have coached 30+ clients globally, earned LinkedIn Top Voice recognition, and built my business by following curiosity and scratching my own itches - and putting ideas into action.

Nirupam Singh

Liberty Media shared its Q4 2025 earnings with one number standing out (at least for me)

Sponsorship now makes up 21.7% of F1's total revenue.

That might not sound dramatic, but there is more in the details.

F1 revenue hit $3.9 billion for the year, up 14%. Sponsorship grew faster than race promotion or media rights. And Liberty specifically called out "growth in digital advertising revenue" as a driver.

This shift reveals a new type of partner coming to the table.

This is the sponsor roster they highlighted: Disney, LEGO, Pepsi, Apple, Standard Chartered.

Consumers' brands have shifted their perception of this sport.

Here are a few reasons why:

1/ Activation expectations are changing
Consumer brands at this are doing more integrated campaigns (or they should be). The partnership teams servicing these deals need to operate more like agencies and as sales teams, perhaps why people are catching up.

2/ Digital becomes a core revenue stream
When Liberty calls out digital advertising growth in an earnings report, it signals that F1's owned channels are becoming monetizable assets. F1 TV, social platforms, the app. The core fans will naturally be upset that this is no longer a sport, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

3/ The bar for new sponsors is higher than ever
If you're a brand trying to enter F1 now, you're competing against companies with massive creative budgets and global reach. The question isn't just "can you afford it?" but "can you activate at the level the sport now expects?"

Kim Hobson wrote a great piece on this exact gap — how most F1 partnerships default to one-off assets rather than a season-long campaign architecture. 

The teams that help partners build that structure will win the next wave of deals, but they will also need strong teams to supply that work.

Helping people master the commercial playbooks in motorsport | Founder @ The Commercial Table

Most of the motorsport industry operates out of the UK.

I'm based in Toronto.

For a while, I assumed that was a problem. The events, the teams, the decision-makers — they're all an ocean away. 

I didn't have the budget to fly over regularly, and I wasn't sure how to build relationships with people I might never meet in person.

So I started writing The Commercial Table.

Every Tuesday, I'd send out something about the commercial side of motorsport — how partnership teams actually get structured, what sponsors are thinking that doesn't make it into the press release, and the operational stuff that shapes right-holders behind the scenes.

I was just trying to stay close to an industry I cared about from a distance. 

What I didn't expect was who would start reading:
→ Commercial directors
→ Heads of partnerships
→ People working inside F1 teams and series.

The kind of people I would've spent years trying to get in front of through traditional networking.

And then consulting work started coming in.

From people who had been reading for months and already knew how I approached problems. By the time we got on a call, the trust was already there.

That's the thing about writing consistently in public. You're letting people see how you think over time, and for the right readers, that builds more credibility than any intro meeting could.

I still go to London when I can because the in-person stuff matters (honestly, I will still move there) but the newsletter has become a way to stay present in an industry even when I'm not physically there.

If you're trying to build credibility in a space where you're geographically on the outside, writing might be worth considering. You don't need to be in the room if you're already in their inbox every week.

Still early, still figuring it out — but the doors that have opened so far have made every Tuesday worth it.

P.S. Random run-in with Scott Keeney in London during my time in London

The F1 Movie wins an Oscar for Best Sound! To quote Ruth Buscombe after the Chinese Grand Prix.

"I reckon Lewis Hamilton can have a podium and an Oscar by Monday."

Eight Sleep just partnered with Aston Martin F1 Team this year, and I subscribed to their co-branded landing page.

I'm still waiting for a welcome email.

For context: Eight Sleep just became Aston Martin Aramco's official sleep technology partner.

They make AI-powered pods that regulate temperature and track biometrics while you sleep — research shows up to 34% improvement in deep sleep.

For F1 drivers crossing 15+ time zones a season, recovery is a great performance variable.

The logo appears on the car nose, driver balaclavas, cooling vests, and handheld cooling fans in the garage. Functional placements that reinforce what the product actually does.

So I went to the landing page to see how they're activating beyond the car.

There's a section called "Stay close to the paddock" — promising behind-the-scenes content, performance insights, and future releases from the partnership.'

That's exactly the right instinct. Turn a sponsorship into an owned audience. Capture that initial attention.

The problem is that the email capture is buried at the bottom of the page.

Most visitors will never scroll that far. The headline, product pitch, and stats are all above the fold.

The audience-building part is hidden.

Then I subscribed, hoping to receive a welcome email and what to expect.

These are the small details with digital partnership activations that fall short. The experience after someone opts in is unfinished.

A simple fix:

1. Move the email capture higher — after the first product section

2. Send a welcome email immediately — introduce the partnership, set expectations, deliver one piece of value

3. Build a short sequence — even 2-3 emails keep the subscriber warm

People are afraid of emailing their subscribers, thinking they’re annoying them, but in reality, if you actually give them value, they will welcome it.

Eight Sleep understands the value of building direct relationships with fans. The "Stay close to the paddock" framing is okay.

They just need to finish the job.

For brands activating sponsorships digitally through unsexy channels: the landing page is not the finish line. The email sequence is where the relationship actually starts.

More on this partnership in The Commercial Table tomorrow — https://lnkd.in/gCqNhzqU

credit: Aston Martin Aramco/Eight Sleep

I got my hands on an audit of 27 leading sports apps, and one pattern stood out immediately.

The best apps give you value before they ask for anything. The worst ones hit you with "Sign up, enter your email, pick your team, allow notifications"   before you've even seen what the app does.

By the time they've asked four questions, the fan is already gone.

Here's what the top performers like F1, NBA, and MLB do differently:

1/ They treat onboarding like a product moment, not a data capture form. They show you what's happening right now and prove the app is worth your time before asking you to commit to anything.

2/ They benchmark against consumer tech, not other sports apps. Fans don't compare your app to another club's app — they compare it to TikTok, Twitch, and Instagram. That's the bar you're actually competing against.

3/ They use engagement features that mirror what's already working elsewhere. Stories, personalised feeds, and real-time content that surfaces what matters now instead of what mattered yesterday.

4/ They respect the stadium environment. Unstable networks, one-handed use, and emotionally charged fans making split-second decisions. The best apps are designed for those conditions.

Most European football clubs and motorsport series skip all of this because they have underfunded digital teams and slow development cycles. It shows immediately.

The assumption is that the badge is enough to keep fans around, but it's not — especially when you're competing against apps built by teams with 10x the resources.

If you're building or improving a sports app, the question worth asking is: what value does someone get in the first 30 seconds before they've given you anything?

humbleteam put together the full report covering all 27 apps — football clubs, leagues, motorsport, and media platforms — with specific UX patterns worth borrowing.

Comment "REPORT", and I'll send it over.

I spoke to Robert Burgess, who's been running a race car business in Canada for 14 years — sold over 100 cars with a minimal marketing budget or media team, yet built the most recognisable race car brand in the country.

Most small motorsport businesses try to own everything: the series, the teams, the car supply, the events. The logic seems sound on paper because more control should mean more margin capture. But this conversation consistently pointed in the opposite direction.

Four things stood out about how he's structured the business:

1/ He deliberately doesn't own the racing series his cars compete in — and that decision is what protects his credibility with paying customers

2/ He prices the same product five different ways to capture customers at every budget level within the target demographic

3/ He thinks his real competition is yachts, private jets, and experiences

4/ What most operators get wrong about the relationship between car value and series health

If you want to understand how small motorsport operations actually work commercially, I'm breaking all of it down in today's issue of The Commercial Table.

Subscribe before it lands → https://lnkd.in/gCqNhzqU

Images by Radical Canada East

Jeppe Hyldgaard Olesen nailed this.

Two separate organisations, working with and against each other, navigating a crisis neither fully controls.

The McLaren-Honda parallels are hard to ignore. Hard to ignore what is going on at Aston right now.

I consult for agencies, media companies, and suppliers in motorsport (alongside writing The Commercial Table). The questions they ask tell me exactly where the industry gets stuck.

Here are a few anonymised ones that have stuck with me:

1/ "How do we get more sponsors?" (from a media company)

This often masks a deeper question: Why isn't our current approach working, and what are we missing?

The blind spot: Most focus on outreach volume instead of positioning clarity. 

You can't sell what you can't articulate. Before chasing new logos, the real question should be: do we have a commercial narrative that makes partners want to be part of this?

2/ "What are other agencies doing with their content?" Behind this question is usually an anxiety: Are we falling behind, and by how much?

The pattern: Almost everyone asks this. The anxiety is about relevance and staying top of mind. The companies that don't ask this question are usually the ones already publishing consistently and seeing results.

3/ "How do we get more corporate clients?" (from an experiential supplier) 

The real question: We know our product is good once people try it, but we don't know how to get in front of the right buyers.

The blind spot: Most experience providers lead with the hardware or the spectacle. But corporate buyers aren't buying equipment; they're buying a memorable moment for their clients or team. The pitch needs to start with the outcome. This is the most difficult one, because there are so many experiences to choose from.

Three patterns I've noticed across these conversations:

1/ Most companies are stuck on permission, and they're waiting for someone to tell them their instincts are right.

2/ The pitch materials get all the attention. The follow-up and relationship building get almost none.

3/ Everyone wants to know what's working for others, but almost nobody is tracking what's working for themselves.

If you're working in or around the motorsport commercial space, pay attention to what's underneath the initial request. That's where the actual problem lives.

P.S. The Silverstone Lego trophy looks great in person! At the RAC lobby

Sports apps don't work like other digital products.

Your users are checking scores seconds before kickoff, reacting to a controversial call, or refreshing for transfer news while walking through a crowded concourse.

Design patterns that work for most apps fall apart under those specific conditions.

humbleteam put together a breakdown of what actually works for sports app UX. A few things stood out:

1/ Navigation for live events has to be built differently.

During a match, fans need instant access to scores, lineups, and highlights. Apps should prioritise matchday content dynamically; what matters right now surfaces first.

2/ One-handed use isn't optional.

Thumb-zone accessibility matters more here than in almost any other app category.

3/ Real-time data needs to be scannable in seconds.

Scores, stats, timelines should all be skimmable. Visual hierarchy, colour logic, and motion cues have to do the heavy lifting.

4/ Offline and low-connection modes are important.

Stadiums have notoriously unstable networks. Frustrating fans at the exact moments they want to engage will lose them.

5/ Push notifications need to respect context.

Goals, transfers, and breaking news are what fans want. But constant noise, and they'll turn notifications off entirely.

What I find interesting is how much of this comes down to understanding fan behaviour under pressure. You're designing for emotionally invested users making split-second decisions.

I spoke to humbleteam, where they shared a case study with me on how they worked with a top European football club on its OTT experience — benchmarking fan platforms, UX recommendations for TV interfaces, and opportunities for AI-powered personalisation.

When the natural instinct is to add more, sometimes the better approach is to remove friction from what already exists.

It's worth getting right.

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Brand partnership • Helping people master the commercial playbooks in motorsport | Founder @ The Commercial Table

Project Starts Here

As the founder and lead photographer/videographer at Project Starts Here, I blend my architectural background, spanning from visual renderings to detailed drawings, with a passion for creating impactful visuals. My approach is characterized by meticulous attention to detail and storytelling, transforming moments into compelling digital narratives. Whether working with brands or individuals, I leverage my expertise in videography and photography to craft content that not only showcases but also truly embodies the essence of each story.

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Crafting Inspiring Automotive Visuals for Brands Big and Small | Connecting Audiences & Fueling Passion for Automotive Excellence | Founder of Project Starts Here

As a creative,I've leaned into a niche in creating compelling visual narratives for brands and individuals. My journey from architectural visual renderings to impactful social media visuals has instilled in me a unique perspective – one that emphasizes detail and storytelling.  I now leverage my skills to create  content that transforms moments into digital impact helping businesses grow their audience.

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