If you stopped a stranger in the street and asked them to name any car company, there’s a decent chance they’d say “what?”
Once you’ve explained yourself and reassured them you’re not trying to scam them out of their life savings, or worse still, trying to convince them to join your improv comedy troupe, there’s a good chance they will say: “Ferrari.”
So how did a company that makes relatively few cars every year become so ingrained in the public’s consciousness? It took years of hard work and effort, in what can now be called a masterclass in brand building.
All good brands should tell a story, and Ferrari has got a cracker. The company takes its name from its founder, Enzo Ferrari, whose name and iconic “prancing horse” logo came together long before the first Ferrari car was built.
The prancing horse was the personal emblem of Count Francesco Baracca, a First World War fighter ace, with 34 aerial victories to his name, with the horse emblem featured prominently on the side of his biplane.
Enzo Ferrari befriended the count’s mother, Countess Paolina Baracca, who suggested using her late son’s emblem on Enzo’s Alfa Romeo race cars to bring him luck on the track, which seemed to have the desired effect.
Soon, the combination of Ferrari’s red Alfas (car colours were chosen based on the team’s country of origin) emblazoned with the yellow shield (yellow being the official colour of Modena, Ferrari’s base of operations) and the prancing horse became a mainstay of the Grand Prix circuits. When Ferrari built his first car in 1947, the prancing horse badge took pride of place on the bonnet.
Even the shade of red used by Ferrari has become iconic, with many referring to “Ferrari red” to mean a particularly bright but deep shade of red. The actual colour used by Ferrari that most people refer to is called “Rosso Corsa”, Italian for “racing red”, calling back to its racing pedigree.
In reality, it’s just one of the shades of red offered by the brand, and the very first Ferrari race cars would have been a darker (almost purple) shade that’s closer to burgundy.
The mantra of “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” emerged in the late ‘50s/early ‘60s, and it’s the rationale that still explains many manufacturers’ decisions to invest heavily in motorsport. Winning a high-profile race has a direct link to the number of sales of cars and merchandise, thanks to the extra exposure and increased desire from people to be associated with the brand.
For Enzo Ferrari, it worked the other way around: he started selling road cars for the sole purpose of funding his racing team. He soon found that the more he won, the more demand he generated for his road cars. After all, if a car is fast enough to tear up the track at Monaco by day, then it will also draw a crowd when it’s parked outside the casino in the evening.
These days the cars that race at these events have next to nothing in common with the car you’ll spot at the dealerships, but a win at any big name event still brings a huge amount of attention towards a brand, and can strengthen the desirability of everything that shares the winning badge - including branded merchandise.
The problem with building such a popular brand is that everyone wants a piece of the excitement. But when even your cheapest products run into six digits and beyond, that’s a pretty high barrier to entry for legions of motorsport fans and petrolheads.
Fortunately, there’s still a way for the brand’s fans to wear their love on their sleeve (or their head, or their legs). Ferrari operates a comprehensive merchandise department, meaning that a steady flow of clothing, toys, and accessories emblazoned with the iconic badge remain in circulation. Sales of their merchandise make up a significant portion of the company’s revenue each year, with some estimates putting it as high as around 50% of their annual revenue.
Then there’s the knock-on effect that merchandise can drive sales of vehicles, but it can be an incredibly long game. Many people growing up will have had a poster of a Ferrari Testarossa or Lamborghini Countach on their wall, and maybe even played with their Hotwheels likeness.
Increasingly video games play an important role in this as well: it’s hard to say how many Nissan GT-Rs would have been sold without the Gran Turismo franchise putting them on a pedestal, but needless to say, those kinds of memories stick in a young mind and will have an impact on future purchasing decisions. Don’t believe me? Well then why else would anyone think it’s a good idea to put a Mercedes GLA in Mario Kart?
A number of factors help explain Ferrari’s enduring popularity where other manufacturers have struggled or outright failed to see any similar levels of success:
Ferrari realised back in the ‘60s that even if you can create something desirable in large volumes, it’s not without its drawbacks. The Dino is about as close as Ferrari has ever gotten to creating a mass-produced car, but if you look closely, you’ll notice there aren’t any Ferrari badges on the body, interior or even on the engine block.
That’s not because Enzo Ferrari was ashamed of the car - on the contrary, he named the Dino after his late son, and had plans of starting a more affordable sub-brand based on this. But Enzo realised the power of keeping the Ferrari name for his premium vehicles with the characteristic V12 engines that the company had become known for.
While the company builds far more cars than it did in the 1960s, it is still careful to curate how many cars it produces and who it allows to buy one, to maintain the sense of exclusivity.
The merchandise sold to the public needs to match the ethos of the company, which for Ferrari means high-quality and stylish. While unofficial memorabilia of varying quality is out there, officially licensed Ferrari products feature the build quality and attention to detail that you would expect from the marque.
That means if a brand new 296 GTB is a bit too much of a stretch, an official hat, t-shirt, or jacket still lets you feel like you’re part of something special.
After Ferrari signed Lewis Hamilton to their driver roster for the 2025 season, they not only got a skilled driver, but they also injected a huge amount of interest and excitement into the team, with sales of Ferrari merchandise reportedly quadrupling.
2024 also saw the team claim outright victory at Le Mans - their first win at the circuit since 1965, and during the race’s centenary celebrations no less. All of which helps when solidifying the company’s reputation for making some of the world’s finest performance vehicles.
While Ferrari set an incredibly high benchmark for this kind of merchandising, other car manufacturers have used it to great effect as well, more often than not related to their motorsport efforts. Attend any race or car show and you’ll more than likely spot a few Gulf caps and jackets, Subaru beanie hats and probably more than a few gilets emblazoned with current F1 teams as well.
This strategy isn’t exclusive to the automotive industry either, with many other brands seeing great success in using branded merchandise to grow their reach and influence. If you want to find the right merchandise to help propel your business to greater heights, get in touch with our experienced merchandise consultants.