F1 Movie

Bigger than a Super Bowl spot. Bigger than 2 Chainz. Expensify wanted more than an ad campaign—they wanted another key role in entertainment culture. And from scripted films co-starring a hospital and Ana de Armas to music videos featuring Lil Wayne, Alto has always helped brands show up inside the story, not around it. The agency played a central role in identifying, securing and coordinating a landmark brand integration: the key sponsorship in Apple’s F1 blockbuster.

Alto redefined a blockbuster movie brand partnership. Rather than a traditional product placement, the sponsorship blurred the lines between real brand and fictional entertainment. Alto didn’t just buy logo space—they worked with the film’s team to weave Expensify into the fabric of the story itself. From the race car to the pit crew, embedded in dialogue, and even with an in-film commercial, Expensify is immersed throughout the fictional F1 world—reinforcing the brand promise: the fastest way to get your expenses done.

Despite all that coverage of the brand, we were not going to leave anything to chance. We created a custom trailer to run ahead of the F1 movie, making it clear: Expensify may sponsor a fictional F1 team, but Expensify is a very real company that does expenses really fast.

In a “money can’t buy” moment, F1 co-star Damson Idris made a show-stopping entrance at the 2025 Met Gala, arriving in a full Tommy Hilfiger racing suit with Expensify’s logo front and center. The paparazzi didn’t know it was him until he pulled off his bedazzled helmet on the red carpet. Even before the Met Gala, Damson drove through the streets of New York City in the actual F1 film car, the Expensify logo blazing. The footage went viral and was shared on thousands of news outlets around the world.

A brand that's integral to the story of a blockbuster film is a gift that keeps on giving. Doja Cat and Don Toliver released a dream-sequence video for “Lose My Mind,” the lead song from the F1 movie soundtrack. The first 15 seconds of the video showcases a cinematic glide into the Expensify logo on the F1 race car. Over 20 million views later, it’s more proof that the fastest way to get your money back is through Expensify.

The film opened with $140M+ worldwide ($55M U.S.), Brad Pitt’s and Apple Studios’ biggest debut, drawing 7M+ viewers in its first weekend. It has since grossed nearly $500M globally, making it Apple Studio’s most successful launch ever.

Coverage has topped 3.5M articles, teasers and BTS clips pulled 20M+ views, and Expensify saw a 40% boost in awareness and 60% in consideration. According to Launchmetrics, the Met Gala tie-in alone generated $1.3B in media impact value.