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Lauren Gaudion
Lauren Gaudion
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About this episode
Lauren Gaudion, VP of Marketing and Communications at Arrow McLaren, shares her journey from aviation to IndyCar, highlighting her role in crisis management, driver branding, and fan engagement. She discusses working with star driver Patricio O'Ward, the unique dynamics of managing a team under the global McLaren brand, and the rise of Tony Kanaan as a team leader. Lauren also offers insights into the growth of IndyCar, the importance of marketing activation, and how teams can build stronger connections with fans beyond race results.
Topics:
career transition from aviation to motorsport
crisis communications
driver branding and marketing
fan engagement strategies
working with Patricio O'Ward
team dynamics at Arrow McLaren
Tony Kanaan's leadership
IndyCar growth and future outlook
marketing activation and sponsorship
building brand affinity
Hinch is off with all the drivers in the paddock except Alex at a wedding in Europe, so Rossi chats with Lauren Gaudion from Arrow McLaren IndyCar to see what goes on behind the scenes.
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This is off track.
Hello guys. Uh, it's me, Alex,
on a Tuesday episode by myself.
Well, Tim's here ish, you know, uh, mostly by myself though.
Um, because James is at a wedding.
Um, actually the entire Indy car paddock is essentially at a wedding. Yeah.
How did you not get the invite for that? I don't dunno.
Did you run Marcus off the track sometime?
I mean, yeah. But like,
I also live three doors down the road from him, so it's, it's a little bit weird.
But anyways, uh, we can talk about that another day.
Um, we have a guest coming on today and it's, it's pretty interesting because, um, she's a director of communications.
She's actually the VP of communications and marketing, and these are the people that we spend a lot of time editing our show around to make sure that they don't get mad at us if we say something, um, that we shouldn't say.
So it's gonna be interesting to have. Yeah, you sent me it live.
You sent me her email. I was like, I have it .
I've had to send her plenty of emails. ,
We are joined by someone. I had the, the privilege
of working with, um, in 2023.
In 2024 at my, with my time at Errol McLaren.
Um, Lauren Gian, which your title now is Director of Communications, is that right?
Or VP of communications.
VP of Marketing and Communications. Yeah.
VP of Marketing and Communications. Good.
Um, , before we get into what that entails, a little bit of background that I know and, and would love for you to share with our listeners, but you started outside of racing, um, you actually were working for Lyft Academy, which is the kind of the, the starting point to becoming a pilot in Indianapolis mm-hmm .
Um, to, to Republic Airways.
And you, you were very influential in kind of their growth.
So why don't you talk us through kind of what you did there and then why you decided to make the switch to IndyCar racing?
Yes. Yeah. So apparently always attracted
by fast moving vehicles, um, but started, um, when I moved to Indianapolis, I worked a quick stint at the ncaa, um, but then worked close to 10 years for Republic Airways.
Um, and about halfway through that venture, they decided to start a flight school, and that was intended to create training specifically for airline Destin pilots.
So a lot of flight schools, you can kind of go any different direction, whether it's just leisure flying, um, or want a more career based flight training.
And so that's what they did was to kind of make sure that who's ever coming through their doors have the skills like that foundation built specifically to fly airline jets.
Um, so that was really fun getting to build a brand, like create a logo, create the admission requirements.
It was a group of four of us that had airline experience.
Um, but we were on the task force to do all of kind of the, the building of that program.
Um, and now it's got close to I think, like 500 pilots that are now working at the airline industry.
Um, I get to see a lot of that whenever I'm on my flights to different races, which is cool.
Um, but then if you're in the Indianapolis area, if you look up in the sky, odds are that you'll see these like little lift DA 40 twos flying around, buzzing around.
Um, and it's pretty cool to just see that, like that's continuing to grow and, uh, build way after I've been there.
Was that, were you a part of it when in, in 2020?
Mm-hmm . Yeah, so, right.
So a huge pilot shortage ended up happening in that kind of timeframe.
And, and also there was a lot of free time for people, so the influx of new pilots, um, became massive.
So it would've been pretty interesting, I think, to be a part of that as su such a big influx and interest in aviation came about.
Yes. Yeah. That was, um, that was a wild ride.
So we started in 2018, um, kind of as like the pilot shortage was like in its probably worse timeframe.
So we did a ton of recruiting all over the US just to find people that would be interested in flying, convince them to like either go straight from high school to train or leave, you know, other jobs knowing that the demand was, was building.
But then in 2020 it was a total different ball game one, like the recruitment was different because we weren't able to just travel to events and, and find people.
Um, but a lot more applications were coming online through, through that channel, but then also balance that with the, like, crisis comms of an airline.
And that was at an all time high of just people and flight attendants being mad that people weren't wearing a mask or passengers being mad that people, you know, That they had to wear a mask. Yeah.
That they had to wear a mask. So that was, um,
Did something happen in 2020?
I, I didn't get out much then.
Some, some pandemic. Yeah. Yeah.
Forgettable . So,
um, is it true, and this is kind of my last question about that, but I've always been curious, is it true that like you can go from never having stepped foot in an airplane before to flying a regional jet in 18 months if you like, go through the lift program?
Um, that is true, but weather, as you know, plays a big role in that when you're flight training in Indiana.
Yeah. Um, so they actually opened some satellite
destinations while I was there.
So in the winter they would send people down like Galveston or to Myrtle Beach to keep flying.
Um, but that also, yeah, depends on like the motivation of the pilot too.
So average is like probably more two years, but some people got it done in 18 months, which is wild That, that is incredible actually to think about.
Um, and something that, you know, Tim could, could never do, um, just because he has commitment issues.
So I don't even think he could do anything for 18 Months.
Wait. And nobody on an airplane wants me to like nobody.
You don't want. That's good point. You don't wanna know
that I'm flying and be like, by the way, like two years ago I'd never even been on one of these things.
Backed into someone in my Bronco and like got into a, got into an argument with them.
Um, okay, so, so you, you did your stint with airplanes and then you decided to do airplanes of the ground, essentially flip 'em over in terms of ind Yeah.
Flip 'em over. Uh,
how was Motorsport something you were always interested in or was this just an opportunity that popped up and you jumped at it?
Uh, the latter, um, actually had never really been a motor sport fan, but coincidentally, my first IndyCar race was the one you won.
Nice. The hundredth running of the Indy 500. Nice. Nice.
Um, so you played a part in this. Cool.
But, um, I, uh, honestly, the woman who hired me at Republic Airways call it 10 years before she was then head of HR at Aaron McLaren.
And so they had a comms opening role and, um, our comms role opened and she asked if I was interested.
I was sure why not count me in, what do I do ?
But found out quickly that, um, I thought I had seen all of the crisis from the airlines and, and felt like I was pretty prepared.
But that was good training for, for the motorsport world.
Would you say that you were surprised by, by that, you know, when you look at, when you look at racing and, and obviously you can think about these worst case scenario situations of someone getting injured or God, God forbid something worse, right?
And you will think about, okay, there's a risk involved in motor sports, so there's always gonna be this kind of crisis management that could potentially happen.
But in your stint, you haven't had fortunately to deal with that in, in such a case.
But you have had a lot of scenarios that have involved, you know, people coming and going, drivers coming and going, um, maybe before they ex were expected to or not.
Um, and so was this all something that you kind of had to just adapt to on the fly?
'cause I would imagine it wasn't something that you were really prepared or expecting, I should say, going into it.
Yeah, I think I was pretty naive at that.
I mean, I'd worked in sports before, so know that like yeah, players change teams and things like that all the time.
Um, but yeah, when I was thinking crisis comms, I was definitely thinking to be an issue on track.
Um, not a ton of driver changes, but honestly like those while can be super unfortunate.
Um, you learn a lot about your team, you learn a lot about the drivers, you learn a lot about just kinda like navigating those things.
And you can make, you can make good scenarios because, you know, like while it may be detrimental to one person, so really good opportunity for the next person.
And so how do you onboard or bring or market that new driver?
Um, so trying to focus on that.
Um, but also you've got a very passionate fan base, which I think that's a privilege that IndyCar has.
You can have some pretty passive fans, but we've got a very vocal, um, group that we're always trying to, um, you know, create affinity with.
And they, they tell you really quickly whether you're doing it right or doing it wrong.
So that's, that's an interesting kind of follow up question in terms of a team, right?
So you're, you have so many responsibilities to your partners, obviously to your employees, to the drivers, but also to a, to a fan base, to an audience, right?
Is it, is it difficult to, you're, you're never gonna appease everyone, right?
And, and you are always kind of balancing the, the company line, if you will, especially working for an organization like, like McLaren.
Um, and then also the, the bringing people into the personalities of, of who your indie car drivers are, which I think is, is an amazing thing that our sport does.
But walk us through kind of how you try and manage that kind of juxtaposition.
'cause it exists where, you know, we know Pat's personality, right?
It's not necessarily always a, a corporate McLaren way, but he has to still represent that, but at the same time not be this like box figure that is just reading company lines.
So, so how do you, how do you manage those situations?
So I think that's actually where I got a lot of good foundational, like, I guess call it like business strength, um, from the airline because at Republic we were representing American Delta or United, which I mean a lot of them are very conservative versus, um, you know, some of our flight attendants views and things like that.
So you kind of had to like find the best neutral, um, in, in whatever message that you come across.
But fortunately where we were trying to avoid headlines in the airline industry, like from a brand standpoint in racing, you can create a really good scenario out of some bad press, um, or get people to pay attention to your brand that, um, and just kinda like help, um, kind of massage the problem away a little bit by creating, like I said earlier, like the more affinity, um, from a fan base.
So I felt like it's, it's fortunate, I think Zach and, and Tony are interesting in the fact that they're leaders that very much appreciate a marketing angle.
Um, you get some team owners or some business owners that marketing is, is not the primary role that you will serve when you're on a team.
It's just kind of like a happenstance of your responsibilities.
Um, but the McLaren brand is, is very out there.
Um, they want to keep growing it, they want fans to, to kind of help build it as well.
So using that to our advantage of knowing like, we're not gonna make everyone's day, we're gonna have people that can't stand some of our drivers or really love them as well.
And so trying to lean on, okay, what's the, how do we keep the fans that we have but also kind of cater to those that kind of may be wavering on every other day.
They're gonna either hate you or love you.
Speaking of hating people, was anything fun about working with Alex ?
Well, we got along well.
I say that we got along pretty well because he, he was a pilot, so, um, We had that in common.
His, um, glares when I would come around for media, windows sometimes were fun to navigate .
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But, um, you were pretty good though. It wasn't personal.
It wasn't personal. No,
No, it never is.
No. Yeah. He's just a prick to everybody
and that makes it okay, I guess.
There you go. There you go. There you go. I
Would like to to say usually left those windows smiling more often than glaring. So I think I did my job.
Mm-hmm . People. That's what we all know.
Alex is a big softie.
People know what they get.
Um, okay, so speaking of, of knowing what they get, I would love for you, a lot of our listeners are, are huge Patto fans and they're, I mean, every, a lot of people are huge Pat Patto fans, right?
You look at what he's done from a mer sales standpoint and, and his just general following seemingly everywhere we go on the calendar, um, give us an inside look as from, from your job, like what it's like to work with him.
You know, he's, he's the most popular driver, um, on the grid.
He's obviously incredibly successful as well.
It's, he's not just a, a fun personality, like he's getting it done on the racetrack.
Um, is it, it must be cool in, in kind of a dream situation for you, not only from a team perspective, but also just in your job description to be able to work with someone like that. Yeah,
I've always said that I'm, we're, we as a team are lucky that like, you don't have to convince him to help build his own brand.
You know, he, he spends as much time trying to be a better race car driver as he does to kind of build who he is to fans, um, but also does a lot to contribute back to the team.
And then IndyCar, um, I think he's doing a good job right now to kind of also like cement like who he is, you know, whenever he was younger, probably back whenever I started with the team in 23, it was just like he did a lot of everything.
Um, whereas now you can definitely tell that he's leaning into this persona that he is built.
Um, he's, he's attracting more fans and that kind of all just like avalanches into, into huge bark cells, into getting a s Super Bowl commercial, um, that doesn't just happen because he is a pretty face.
Um, you know, so I think that he's done a lot of good work to, like I said, create who he wants to be to finance, but then also he spends a lot of time on it.
Um, and money. It's one and money, yes. Yeah.
Like he has done, he's put his money where his mouth is with buying out sections of racetracks for his fans, but then also just like where he will go to be present with fans.
He goes into markets a lot of times early on, um, sometimes for his own will, sometimes at the asking of IndyCar.
Um, but he's always been able to take care of or take advantage of big opportunities.
Not only because he is asked, but also because he like realizes that's good for him, it's good for the sport, it's good for the Team.
Yeah, I mean, he definitely has a, a very holistic view of like being a race car driver is not just about, you know, going fast in a race car, right?
It's, it's, there's so many other elements that, that create success, that create a brand identity, um, and, and create that fan base.
So, you know, I think he in a lot of ways is the benchmark for all of us in, in terms of what he does off the track as, as well as what he does on the track.
So, um, I want to get back a little bit.
You mentioned Zach and Tony, right?
It's, um, it's a pretty unique dynamic that Arol McLaren has, you know, your your own race team, you're your own entity, but at the same time you're under a bigger global brand that is McLaren and, and there's McLaren F1 involved in that.
And, and Zach Brown is obviously the, the ultimate decision maker, and he's also in charge of the F1 team.
How's that work, um, for you guys?
You know, not only from a, you kind of have these two probably criteria you have to meet, but you're also operating on completely different time zones most of the time.
So is your phone just constantly on and, and you're managing different countries?
'cause Zach doesn't seemingly ever sleep .
Yeah. You know, as well as I do
that you never know what time zone that he's in.
Um, yeah. But yeah, I mean, in a way,
I think coming from an airline industry where that was happening regardless, um, because there were always planes in the sky, I felt like this isn't as bad as that, um, in terms of the, the, the text messages and messages that come through.
But I think that both operate really quickly.
Um, they expect a lot from their employees, but then they also like create a lot of opportunities from a brand standpoint too that we wanna take advantage of.
Um, so I think it depends on like your pace as an individual, but I like to work fast and yeah.
So it, the, the demands that they have don't seem as, um, sometimes crazy as what they make to other people.
What was it like kind of watching Tony?
'cause like I was there when he first came into the team as a driver slash kind of, I don't wanna say this in a bad way, but kind of tour guide for NTT, right?
And then it kind of pre progressed through like driver liaison and, and he started to have a little bit more involvement here and there, and then fast forward to now, and he's the boss.
Like it was, was that cool to see his development?
Because I know, I know he was super kind of nervous about it in the beginning, like that this wasn't his plan, like from the beginning, right?
He wasn't going into this thinking he was gonna be in charge of Menindee car team, but just the way the dominoes fell and, and things happened and he ended up being very good at it.
It kind of worked out that way.
Was that, was that kind of wild to see his, his rise in progression through that time? It is,
But now looking back on it, it's not a surprise at all because I feel like he almost treated it as like driver feedback from the car.
You know, like at first he started like, I think this is right.
I think this is how the car should feel, but I'm not quite sure because engineers are, aren't, you know, who, who's making the decisions.
But then like, he couldn't control himself, so he started giving more feedback, more feedback, and then all of a sudden, like he was then making more and more decisions because of it.
So it was, it wasn't like, there was no point where it was like, oh, today's the day where he can see like the shift of him being a driver versus a team leader.
Um, but it just became more of that, like what he's saying is making sense.
He's like building a team around him because he gets it.
He's been a driver. He's had such close relationships
with every person who has a role in this team from marketing, from mechanics to um, engineers.
And so Kyle Moyer said it really well a few weeks ago when we had an interview with him where he's like, Tony's not the guy who's necessarily giving the expertise for everything, but he's found the right people because he is had years of building relationships across the paddock where he is putting the right people in.
And he's listening in all those conversations say like, yeah, that's right.
We should do that because that person really knows what they're doing.
Yeah. And I think it's clear.
I mean, you look at, you look at the results that the organization had this year, it was the best year that they've had across, across three cars, right?
In terms of the podiums that were, uh, accrued through the year and the championship position.
So whatever he is doing, he's, it's obviously working.
And I think if you look at the, you know, the legacy teams, right?
The teams that have had the most success over the past several decades, it's Penske, Andretti, <inaudible>, what do they all have in common?
All three of those owners were drivers at some point, you know?
Mm-hmm . You look at RLL Bobby was a driver.
You look at ECR, ed was a driver, right?
So it's not uncommon.
It makes a lot of sense that, that someone, especially of Tony's personality and for how long he's been in the sport and how good he is from the commercial standpoint, that, that he would be really suited to this role.
So good to hear, um, that you see it that way as well.
I guess my, my final question I have for you is really just your viewpoint, um, of where the series is going.
You know, there's been a, a lot of positive things that have happened, especially, you know, if you look at this year and, and some of the things that, that went on with Fox and our, our broadcast partner.
Um, obviously the TV numbers for the 500 were incredible and, and some other races this year and, and the sport is growing and it is going strength to strength.
But where do you see, you know, it going in the next couple of years and, and what is the biggest thing that you would like to see, not just the series do, but other teams and drivers do to, to continually close the gap?
Um, to, to our sports. We're competing against.
The news about Fox was super exciting.
Um, I know we're all waiting on the edge of our seats for the schedule, um mm-hmm .
But keep hearing whisperings of really, you know, fun locations.
And it's, it's nice to see that that's just creating a buzz not only within the team, but like more fans are talking about that.
Um, so I think we'll, we'll hear more in the hopefully coming days or weeks on, on where we'll be next year, but I have a feeling that the markets that we'll be in and the fans that will be coming to the races will keep growing and getting better.
Um, I'm excited to see what Fox is gonna do from an activation standpoint.
Like I loved, um, St.
Pete last year where they had some components of the commercials that they had at the racetrack with Joseph's Cologne bottle and Pancho's newsstand.
Sure. So like, bringing those things to life,
I think just help the fans buy in.
Um, and I hope that, you know, teams realize kind of the money that you put in the investment that you put back into marketing, you are going to reap that as well.
Mm-hmm . Um, so it's not just a cost
that goes out the door, never comes back to you.
Like I, I love what Ed Carpenter racing's doing, um, with Splenda and with Java House, I've got some brand envy.
Um, and having brick and mortar locations that you guys can activate at, even though you may not love all those appearances, um, fill in your calendar.
Yeah. It's, it's awesome to see like
how different brands are activating outside of kind of what we're doing as a team and more, you know, they're more social people, social media people in the paddock now than ever.
Mm-hmm. And that's only helping us.
It's keeping us on our toes on what we have to do from kinda just keeping the conversations and building the characters around our drivers alive.
Um, but hopefully you see, you see more of that.
You see investment from nearly every team in the paddock to some degree.
It doesn't have to be, you know, equal across all teams, but the more that teams can create sentiment around their drivers beyond just what their race results are, I think you're going to get this buy-in of people wanna wear the merch, they want to see cool things, that that's another thing, like the quality of the merchandise at track is getting better.
Mm-hmm . Um, and wear that becomes more than just a driver's
t-shirt, I think becomes kind of a lifestyle play that you're not just wearing that to the track, you're wearing that out and about and you get other people to ask questions.
Um, so yeah, I think it's got a lot of momentum that we need to tap into now.
But it's not just IndyCar, it's not just Fox that have to play a part in it.
It's, it's every team member.
It's, you know, even the fans continuing to spread the word and, and make sure that their fandoms known outside of just whenever they go to race.
Yeah. I think, I think you really nailed the point there
about the activation, you know, in terms of the team slash sponsors, right?
You can't, as a sponsor just go in and, and put a sticker on a car and expect the ROI to be there because of eyeballs from a TV metric, right?
It has to be the brand affinity that, that McLaren does such a good job at.
And, and I'm actually very proud of, of what ECR is doing as well from the Java House Splenda side, because they understand that it's, it's the, the product experience, right, that people are having at the racetrack that is gonna make them fans.
It's not just seeing a sticker flash by or be on the podium or whatever.
So, um, yep, you're absolutely right.
Gotta spend money to make money. It's what Pat's doing.
It's, it's what, you know, Aaron McLaren does so well in a, in a lot of respects.
Thank you very much, um, for your time and sharing your, your thoughts and viewpoints and, and as well as your background.
And, um, like I I, I loved what you guys did, um, or are doing when I was there and, and, um, keep it up.
It's, it's very cool to be a part of, and I still follow and double tap on socials most of the time. , keep doing that. Please,
Please, somebody who struggles, somebody who struggles to make Alex appear likable.
I I admire that you made it through that .
Yeah. Yeah.
We did our best. Yeah.
, I think he came out on the other side better for it. .
Yeah. Absolutely. Couldn't agree more.
Thank you very much. Alright.
Always. It's a pleasure to see you guys.
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