Band and Formula 1 launched #OnlyBandShows in Brazil in May 2021, created by FCB Brasil, to position Band as the broadcaster revealing every untold story
How Band and FCB Brasil Made Formula 1 Must-See TV in Brazil
Band's #OnlyBandShows campaign is a Brazilian television and digital campaign created by FCB Brasil in May 2021 to establish Band as the free-to-air home of Formula 1 in Brazil, positioning the network as a broadcaster that reveals the human and competitive stories behind the races, not only the podium moments.
Band entered the Formula 1 broadcast landscape in Brazil in 2021, taking over rights that had been held by Globo for more than 40 years before that long-running agreement ended after the 2020 season, according to reporting by Máquina do Esporte. The transition represented one of the most significant shifts in Brazilian sports broadcasting in a generation, and Band required a campaign that could immediately signal to audiences that its coverage offered something qualitatively distinct from what they had known. The answer was #OnlyBandShows, a campaign built around the signature line "Fórmula 1 agora é na Band. Quanto mais você vê, mais você ama" — translated as "Formula 1 now on Band. The more you see it, the more you love it."
The campaign's central argument is that Formula 1 contains far more narrative richness than a single winner's celebration. Rivalries between teammates competing for fourth place, a driver's precarious grip on his seat, and the engineering contest between manufacturers all constitute complete stories in their own right. By foregrounding those layers, #OnlyBandShows directed Brazilian audiences to perceive Band's coverage as a deeper, more immersive experience. The campaign ran across Band's television channels and digital platforms in Brazil, with the launch timed to coincide with the network's earliest Formula 1 broadcasts in May 2021. Inaugural sponsors Claro, Heineken, and Banco do Brasil were identified as partners in Band's Formula 1 coverage, according to Adnews.
Band entered the Brazilian free-to-air television market as a Formula 1 broadcaster in 2021 without the decades of equity that Globo had accumulated. Globo had held Formula 1 broadcasting rights in Brazil for more than 40 years before losing them after the 2020 season, as reported by Senalnews, meaning Brazilian audiences had an entrenched association between Formula 1 and a single broadcaster. FCB Brasil's strategic task was to disrupt that association rapidly and give viewers a compelling reason to switch their allegiance.
The creative strategy pivoted on a consumer insight that is structurally sound: dedicated motorsport fans already understand that Formula 1 is not merely a procession to the podium. The championship involves team orders, constructor rivalries, contract politics, and engineering battles that never appear in highlight reels. #OnlyBandShows made that latent knowledge explicit, promising that Band's coverage would surface those stories systematically. Rather than competing with Globo on legacy or familiarity, FCB Brasil positioned Band on access and editorial depth.
The broader market context reinforced the strategic logic. Brazil's sports-media-rights market was valued at approximately US$810 million in 2020, representing around 1.8% of the global sports-rights market, according to Sport Business Media. Within Brazil, football dominates: the country's Série A accounted for approximately 41% of the total sports-media-rights market in 2021, according to Sport Business Media, leaving Formula 1 as the second most culturally resonant motorsport property in a country with deep connections to the sport through figures such as Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet. Band's entry into that space was therefore commercially and culturally significant. Competing broadcasters including Globo retained a substantial share of Brazilian sports audiences in 2021, making the differentiation argument in #OnlyBandShows not merely a creative choice but a competitive necessity.
FCB Brasil developed #OnlyBandShows as a film-led campaign anchored by a single hero asset designed to communicate Band's editorial philosophy in a format suited to both broadcast television and digital distribution in Brazil. The film was produced with Stink Films, a production company with a documented international track record in high-production-value commercial work.
Little Black Book described the film as an action-fuelled spot that presents Formula 1 through stories about people, backstage activity, cars, and performance limits, as reported in April 2023. That editorial framing — people first, machinery second — runs against the grain of conventional motorsport advertising, which typically leads with speed and spectacle. FCB Brasil's decision to foreground the human drama of the championship aligned the campaign's creative language with the network's stated coverage philosophy, giving the film a coherent argumentative structure rather than a purely aesthetic one.
Marcelo Rizério, Executive Creative Director at FCB Brasil, articulated the creative rationale directly, as quoted by Little Black Book: "We are showcasing the Band way of telling stories from the sports universe. Whether it's the rivalry between teammate drivers fighting for 4th place, a driver's struggle to keep his job, or the battle between two manufacturers to see who has the fastest car, these are complete stories for auto racing aficionados, and not just the winner's story." Rizério also noted the campaign's strong reception internally, stating that #OnlyBandShows "has been so well received by the entire Band team and embraced by the sports" community, as reported by Little Black Book. The campaign was produced in Portuguese and targeted the Brazilian market specifically, with the signature line calibrated to build habitual viewing rather than a single-event tune-in. Production credits beyond the FCB Brasil creative leadership and Stink Films' production involvement are not fully documented in publicly available sources. Amanda Fonseca is credited in connection with the campaign in available records, though her specific role is not detailed in publicly accessible documentation.
Band recorded a fivefold audience increase during its first Formula 1 broadcast weekend in 2021, according to Little Black Book. That figure represents a structural validation of the campaign's launch strategy: #OnlyBandShows was designed to drive trial viewing, and the audience data from the opening weekend suggests it succeeded in generating that initial impetus in the Brazilian market.
More granular data reinforces the picture. The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on 18 April 2021 saw Band average 4.4 audience points in Greater São Paulo, reaching a peak of 5.6 audience points and achieving an 11.7% share in that market, according to reporting by Natelinha UOL. That represented a 389% audience increase and a 350% share increase versus the annual average for the same time slot, per Natelinha UOL. Band subsequently reached second place in total television audience during its Formula 1 coverage period, a result that contextualises the scale of the shift the campaign helped engineer.
No verified awards for #OnlyBandShows are recorded in the Cannes Lions, Effies, One Show, D&AD, Clio Awards, Webby Awards, or WARC databases. The campaign's video recorded 1,251 views on its primary upload, with no public engagement in the form of likes or comments, indicating that the campaign's primary impact was measured through broadcast audience metrics rather than social amplification. Structurally, the campaign achieved its core commercial objective — establishing Band as a credible Formula 1 broadcaster in Brazil within a single broadcast weekend — which is the measure against which its effectiveness is most usefully assessed.
Clapboard Score: 55/100. The score reflects strong strategic clarity and a well-defined consumer insight, offset by limited creative documentation, the absence of awards recognition, and modest digital engagement metrics.
#OnlyBandShows is a Brazilian broadcast and digital campaign created by FCB Brasil for Band and Formula 1, launched in May 2021. It positioned Band as the free-to-air broadcaster revealing untold stories behind Formula 1 races. The campaign carried the signature "Formula 1 now on Band. The more you see it, the more you love it."
Band became Formula 1's free-to-air broadcaster in Brazil in 2021 after Globo's agreement ended. Band needed to establish immediate credibility with Brazilian audiences who had associated Formula 1 with Globo for more than 40 years. FCB Brasil built the campaign around the insight that Formula 1 contains richer stories than podium moments alone.
Band recorded a fivefold audience increase during its first Formula 1 broadcast weekend in Brazil, according to Little Black Book. The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix delivered a 389% audience increase and 350% share increase in Greater São Paulo versus the annual average for that time slot, per Natelinha UOL, with Band reaching an 11.7% audience share.
Marcelo Rizério served as Executive Creative Director at FCB Brasil on the #OnlyBandShows campaign. He described the work as showcasing the Band way of telling stories from the sports universe, emphasising rivalries, job insecurity, and manufacturer battles as complete narratives rather than background detail, as quoted by Little Black Book.
No verified awards for #OnlyBandShows are recorded in the Cannes Lions, Effies, One Show, D&AD, Clio Awards, Webby Awards, or WARC databases. The campaign's documented impact is measured primarily through Band's broadcast audience results in Brazil rather than through creative industry recognition.
Stink Films produced the #OnlyBandShows film in collaboration with FCB Brasil. Little Black Book described the resulting work as an action-fuelled spot presenting Formula 1 through stories about people, backstage activity, cars, and performance limits, positioning Band's Brazilian coverage as editorially distinct from conventional motorsport broadcasting.
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