For TeamViewer, lucrative sports partnerships endear it to new audiences
The German business-software firm has tie-ups with F1’s Mercedes-AMG Petronas and football giant Manchester United
TEAMVIEWER is well known in the corporate world for its remote access and support software of the same name that allows users to access and control devices from anywhere in the world.
But in recent years, the tech company – headquartered in Goppingen, a small town in southern Germany – has been making plenty of waves in the sports scene through various high-profile partnerships.
TeamViewer is an official partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team and England’s record 20-time Premier League champions Manchester United. It is also a main sponsor of two handball teams in Germany.
The partnerships have seen TeamViewer’s logo displayed prominently on the cars driven by the likes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and splashed across the front of Manchester United’s jerseys for three seasons.
On the sidelines of the recent F1 Singapore Grand Prix in September, TeamViewer organised a private lunch event for its clients, customers and partners at German brewery Paulaner in Millenia Walk.
The highlight for many was the chance to meet Hamilton, the seven-time F1 world champion, and get insights into the life of a professional racer.
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Before the event began, The Business Times sat down with TeamViewer’s chief commercial officer Peter Turner to find out more about the company’s approach to sports partnerships and how it has reaped the benefits from aligning with these global brands.
Tell me more about your role at TeamViewer and what you oversee.
I’m responsible for all our sports partnerships, which is one of the reasons why I’m here in Singapore. I look after our relationship with the Mercedes Formula One team. I look after all our marketing efforts, and help bring our solutions to life for our customers around the world. If customers need help in managing or changing some elements of their TeamViewer products, I have a team that supports them to make sure they get the most out of what they have.
And how did this deal with Mercedes come about?
We have about 630,000 customers all over the world, including Mercedes. Actually, our relationship with Mercedes started because they were a customer in the first place. They said they needed a solution to help connect everyone remotely, so they started using us more and more.
One day, Toto (Wolff, the chief executive officer of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team) contacted us and said our software has been really helpful to them. He asked if we wanted to come on board as a partner, and that’s how it all started. In May 2021, we announced a five-year partnership with them.
Hamilton himself has been a TeamViewer customer for many years as a private individual. He’s a music lover and while on his travels, he uses our software to connect with his sound engineer over in California, and they write music together.
In these last few years, how has TeamViewer activated these partnerships to leverage those brands that have a global appeal?
We get to go to places like Singapore, Melbourne, Miami and elsewhere, and at each place, through our partnerships, we get to tell our story to a much bigger audience. It helps us break in to enterprise audiences, in particular. Many of the people who buy our software are also big fans of motor racing and Formula One, so we can demonstrate how the Mercedes team uses our software, and they in turn can see how it can benefit them.
Manchester United also uses our software, and we have leveraged their presence in countries like China, which is where their biggest fan base is. So all of a sudden, our brand is exposed to millions of people. We get the chance to tell people about what we do, why do we do this, and why we believe in it. That helps with brand awareness massively.
How do you feel about Hamilton leaving Mercedes at the end of this season to go to Ferrari next year?
I think it will be quite exciting next year now that they’ve announced a lineup with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. That’s also a really powerful sign that you have to, in this sport, as in life or at a company, constantly seek new ways in which you can grow. Mercedes has benefited from an amazing world champion for a number of seasons, and maybe now is the time to let someone else have a go.
Kimi is 18 years old and has now started his F1 career that can hopefully blossom into a world championship for him and the car in the future.
Are you a big sports fan yourself?
I watch a lot of football and F1, definitely. I’ve always loved motor sports. I support Brentford in the English Premier League – that’s where I live in West London now, and it’s where I grew up in.
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