When Duracell became an unlikely sponsor for F1’s Williams Racing team in early 2023, nobody expected the basic household brand to become the sport’s newest darling. Yet now, per countless fans across social media, Duracell has “managed to make thousands fall in love with literal batteries,” per @jefwun on X.
The Duracell-Williams partnership is unlikely because typical F1 sponsors are luxury and fashion brands such as Rolex, Tag Heuer, Boss, and Ray-Ban. Duracell, on the other hand, is a battery company and household brand. But Duracell and Williams have quickly found teaming up to be mutually beneficial. Both organizations are dedicated to relentlessly advancing in their respective fields, and they continually seek innovative and effective ways to enhance their performance. With Williams Racing being one of the most iconic teams in the sport—it’s won the most championships after Ferrari—it made a natural fit for Duracell, a newcomer to F1 but a longtime giant in its own industry.
“I need to cry because I never knew Duracell admin goes to search and respond to every fan…this is the best thing ever.”
From there, Duracell leaned into its natural impulses. The people behind this partnership were fans of the sport first, so they approached their outreach to F1 fans in the same way. The thing about F1 is that it’s an inherently self-serious sport—and for good reason. These cars are going fast around tracks that can be dangerous. This requires intense and serious focus on the part of the drivers.
Fan culture, however, has become increasingly lighthearted and irreverent across all sports, and Duracell wanted to bring that sort of joy to F1. First, it created a clever design for the Williams cars that transformed the airbox on top into the spitting image of a Duracell battery. Fans ate that up.
In response, Duracell gave the fans one-of-a-kind, blue-foam cowboy hats with batteries on the top. Suddenly the hats were everywhere on social media.
Then there was social media itself: Duracell admins took to X and simply fanboyed and fangirled out. They made it their goal to not talk at fans, but to talk with them. One admin or another took on the task of live-posting throughout every race, and replying to any and every post they could find about Williams Racing and its drivers, such as Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant.
When Sargeant posted about “leaving it all out there” and looking forward to the spa after a race, Duracell admins sent him sweet and earnest messages cheering him on.
When fans posted Photoshopped pictures of Albon’s hair dyed in Duracell’s signature coppertop color, Duracell admins replied that they loved it.
“Duracell found a random untagged tweet of mine about Alex Albon and replied? Icon [expletive]. They are AA’s biggest fan and I’m here to support them for it.”
Fans took notice, and not only of the fun conversations they were having, but also of Duracell’s commitment to the cause. “It’s like unreal,” wrote X user @4LBON. “Super on the grind!”
Another user posted a gif of someone sitting in front of a wall of computers, another posted a gif of a cat pounding away at a computer keyboard. X user @abble_16 wrote, “Duracell admin see all and hear all.” And X user @needyforlerclerc wrote, “I need to cry because I never knew duracell admin goes to search and respond to every fan.” After posting some crying-face emojis, they went on, “this is the best thing ever.” Then they added four red hearts.
Countless social media posts echoed those sentiments. In short, Duracell was not only giving fans unexpected shots of joy; they were doing so by making them feel seen. The fans got it: As @soufflepuffmay wrote on X, “Duracell found a random untagged tweet of mine about Alex Albon and replied? Icon [expletive]. They are AA’s biggest fan and I’m here to support them for it.”
As X user @williams_fw45 put it in a meme showing a jacked bearded man “simping” for a Duracell battery: “At your service, my king.”
The feelings are mutual: To share with their fans a symbol of solidarity and to celebrate their new bond, Duracell created friendship bracelets for everyone.
At the core of it all, one can find Duracell and the fans’ shared deep and inherent love for the sport itself and the Williams Racing team they support: Under a Sargeant Instagram post about a race that ended with less-than-ideal results, a Duracell admin sent kind words of encouragement and outright said, “We still love you!”
Instagram user abeinsp3ce replied, “You guys are real wholesome in here. We love to see it.”
They’ll soon be able to see plenty more.
