Brief
In 1981, the last time Formula 1 raced in Madrid, Williams won the championship. When F1 came back 45 years later for the Madrid Grand Prix (September 11–13, 2026), Atlassian used the moment for a campaign with Williams. The business goal was to make F1 fans more likely to see Atlassian as a brand that helps the team leverage Williams' rich historical knowledge in context to produce results today. Carlos Sainz was racing at home for Williams for the first time, so fans would be watching the team closely. The concept looked back to 1980s Williams but pointed forward: a one-off 1981 throwback livery and a campaign around it showing how Atlassian turns a team's history into an edge for what comes next. The line that held it together: The fastest way forward is knowing where you've been.
Process
As part of Atlassian's in-house Creative team, I helped build the campaign's visual identity. Layered stickers became the main idea, a visual metaphor for context built up over time. They nodded to Williams' history while hinting at the context Atlassian gives the team now. The system had to work at every scale, from a 320×50 banner to a full garage, and across a rollout where each piece of content built on the one before.
The campaign ran for a week, from September 6 to 13. It opened with a fan sticker contest inviting fans to "design the next layer of Atlassian Williams F1 Team's legacy," run on Williams' website and app. For these early assets we used a blue-led palette so sharp-eyed fans wouldn't guess the 1981 theme too soon. Social teasers followed: green slowly creeping into Williams' channels and hints that "we've been here before." The reveal happened at Williams' fan zone in Madrid's Plaza del Callao, where fans started lining up at 7am for Carlos' 7pm appearance. In person, the identity showed up on the livery, custom race suits with a dark green Atlassian logo and stripes, and our first-ever paddock, garage and trackside takeover. That takeover mixed our stickers with winning fan designs.
Working closely with Williams was a big part of the job. Early on, the team wrote a core narrative and a draft press release, which gave everyone at Atlassian and Williams the same goal to create toward. Williams' content team then produced a large set of assets to spread the story. Highlights included a film pairing a Williams mechanic from the early 1980s with one from today's team, and an influencer shooting race weekend on a 1981 camera. The core cross-functional team included Shannon Winter (strategy), Ed Vince and Rob Calabro (creative direction and copy), Brian Coate (project management), Luke Martin, Matt Robertson, Jeff Salchow and partners across Brand, Comms and Partnerships.
Outcomes
The campaign did very well on reach, sentiment and teamwork, all with zero paid media. It generated 23 press articles across international motorsport and mainstream outlets, including Yahoo Sports, Crash.net, RaceFans and AS. F1's official channels shared the campaign too, and that post got nearly 500K likes. Williams now calls Madrid the benchmark for partner collaboration.
