there's having history and then there's making it

jack daniel's in celebration of lando norris winning the 2025 f1 gp.

TL;DR Jack Daniel’s partnership with McLaren and Lando Norris shows how modern brands build cultural capital not by chasing the moment of victory, but by owning the ritual after it. This is a transferable playbook for how brands turn success into meaning people can participate in.

Because there’s having history.

And then there’s knowing how to enter it.

Jack Daniel’s celebrating Lando Norris’ 2025 World Championship is not about motorsport sponsorship. It’s about cultural positioning.

They are a ritual brand.

It does not exist at the moment of performance.

It exists at the moment after.

The glass raised.

The breath out.

The story that gets told again.

This is where cultural capital is built.

Most sponsors chase visibility at the peak of victory. They fight to be seen in the noise of the moment. Jack Daniel’s waits for the pause. The after-moment. When celebration turns into meaning.

That timing is not accidental. It is strategic.

Jack Daniel’s does not borrow Lando Norris’ success. It converts it into a shared ritual the audience can participate in. By raising a glass, the audience does not just celebrate a driver. They symbolically place themselves inside the moment. The win starts with the driver, becomes the team’s story, and ends as a shared ritual.

McLaren understands this logic better than most. Its power has never been just speed. It is continuity. Legacy that is not frozen in nostalgia but re-earned through performance. History as something that must be actively maintained.

Lando Norris fits this perfectly.

He represents a modern archetype of success. Calm under pressure. Public without being performative. Competitive without bravado. Confidence without excess. A champion shaped for a culture that values control over spectacle.

That archetype mirrors Jack Daniel’s own evolution. Once a loud symbol of Americana, it now operates as a global marker of earned confidence. Craft over noise. Patience over flex. Presence without shouting.

This is the real partnership.

Not logo placement.

Not borrowed credibility.

But what can be called the after-moment advantage.

In an era where attention is cheap and visibility is over-supplied, the brands that endure will not be the ones that shout the loudest at the peak. They will be the ones that know when to step in, frame the moment, and give it a ritual form people can carry with them.

Trophies live in cabinets.

Rituals live in culture.

Some wins change the standings.

Others enter the story.

That is cultural capital at work.

RAISE A GLASS TO THE NEW WORLD CHAMPION!

Congratulations to our friend Lando Norris on winning the 2025 Drivers’ World Championship and the entire McLaren F1 Team on their back-to-back World Constructor’s Championship, in what’s been a historic year for our partner. ‘World Champions’ has a nice ring to it!

Since we joined forces with the McLaren F1 Team in 2023, we’ve been proud to stand alongside a partner who shares our drive for independence, authenticity, and boldness. Seeing Lando clinch the title this season is another milestone moment in our shared history—and one that deserves a proper toast.

Please join us in raising a glass of Old No. 7 to Lando and the entire team in papaya.