Meet the Team: Christian Dixon, Co-Founder & Director

On the eve of his first day with the team, we sat down with newly appointed Co-Founder and Director, Christian Dixon, to discuss his career, management style, and plans for his all-new department within the agency.

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How would you describe yourself in a nutshell?

I’m energetic and I can get passionate about anything. That's what's always come through in my partnership roles. I’m good at getting new partners in, helping them to explore motorsport and extracting true value from it.

I feel like there’s a lot of energy and passion at Pace Six Four as well, which is great. I’m looking forward to investing my time in things that are going to drive the business forward, to help people channel their talents and their passions and give those assets direction.

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How did you get to where you are today?

I’ve always been interested in motorsport, but when I came out of university, I didn't really have a particular direction in mind. My degree was in a technical field (Physics), so I knew I enjoyed understanding how things worked, but wasn’t set on where that would take me.

From there, I took opportunities though internships and temping. I started at Mercedes in the rapid prototyping department, where they were building models for wind tunnels. I loved being on the ‘shop floor’ and seeing what was coming in a year’s time; the hope and promise of how it was all going to work.

While I was there, I met some commercial partners who were brought down to the department to look around and learn about what was going on. Through giving that 10-minute tour, I ended up being pulled across to do some of the wider factory tours, and to work on some of the technical partnerships, where my understanding and appreciation of how things work came into play.

I haven’t ever really had a job interview, aside from that first one; every direction my career has taken has been though relationships. When I started with the Mercedes partnerships team there were fewer than 10 of us in the Commercial Department. When I left there were about 50, and now there are more than 100. It’s been an area of exponential growth.

When Mercedes moved into Formula E, I spent almost two years on the partnerships and business leadership team before we ever went racing. I led the project to achieve the first three-star sustainability rating in Formula E, alongside setting up a partner advisory board; an experience which I carry with me to weave into my future strategy and planning.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take Mercedes into a new sport – but then I got the chance again when the team was sold to McLaren. Each time, it’s been about adding new brands, and new ways of doing things.

I’ve been able to take what I like and have learned works from each experience, while ditching what doesn’t along the way. I’m excited to bring that learning to Pace Six Four.

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What would you say are the most important things you’ve learned in your career so far?

It’s about having good people around you; that diversity of knowledge is what creates the foundation for success. It's having clarity on what direction the company is going in contributing to the journey so that, from your own personal objectives and output, when the proverbial car crosses the line, you understand what part you’ve played in driving that forward and can be proud of it.

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What are the three things everyone should know about you?

I heard something once about how you should bring your whole self to work. There’s a real sense of belonging in getting to know people’s real selves, but there must be boundaries that go along with that; non-negotiables that you protect.

I am always family first; my wife and my children will always be my top priorities. I've got two boys at home; a four year-old and an eight month-old. I like to be incredibly involved with them. I think if you can find a way to balance things, and work in a place that allows you to do that and appreciates the reasons why, that’s where the highest performance comes from. Companies that understand this will always have access to the best talent, because they consider and priorities outside of the job.

I like to start from a place of trust. I’m a very open person, so naturally I like to be trusting of other people as well. I always start by assuming that people are on your side and that there will always be a way to work together, you just have to find it. So, think of me as being on your side already – where can we go from there, what can we build together?

The third thing is that I can get excited about pretty much anything. I like working with people who are passionate about what they do, as it enables me to share their passion. It’s a perspective I learned from the partnerships world, where some products or services may not appear the most inspiring on the surface but, with the right mindset and level of creativity, you can find exciting opportunities.

I love seeing people come to motorsport for the first time, and being there when they get that ‘eureka’ moment of “this is f*cking cool”. I think as an agency we're uniquely placed to do that time and time again.

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"I like working with people who are passionate about what they do, as it enables me to share their passion."

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What excited you about the opportunity to join Pace Six Four?

I've known Ben and James for years, long predating all of this, and followed their progress with 64th & Social and Pace respectively along the way. Both companies had exciting journeys in their own right, and I was in the background when the discussions began around bringing them together to form what subsequently became Pace Six Four.

Opportunities don’t always present themselves at the ideal time and, in that moment, I had projects I still wanted to see through – things I was invested in finishing before looking to the future. But, as the months progressed, the team I was in developed to a good place in terms of succession, with excellent talent on board, so I felt like I could sign off and move out.

The idea of coming in at this time – during a merger, with the diversity of talent, the collective experience, the reputation, and the client base that we’ve got, is incredibly exciting. The unique USP that Ben and James have developed as a dedicated motorsport agency is so impressive, and it's the perfect launch pad for transferring into brand clients.

When you get those butterflies – the excitement and the nervousness that goes with it – it’s a gut feeling. I’m not sure I can articulate it better than that. It just felt right.

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What do you admire the most about what the team have built at Pace Six Four so far?

The culture here is amazing. Everyone that I've spoken to has been so welcoming, and everyone's very excited about the future. People have this feeling that it's a good place to be and it's going somewhere, and that's something that you can't necessarily design. We've got it, and we're now trying to bottle it and continue moving in that right direction.

Creating something lasting is about bringing the right people in and identifying something for the future. Ben and James have surrounded themselves with good people, and that's the most important part – putting people first, and then directing the organisation in a way that's going to bring the best out of that talent.

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What are the key skills you will bring to your new role at Pace Six Four?

I think for the first part, curiosity. Before diving into anything else, I like to develop understanding – to really listen to what the challenges are for a brand or business, but also for the people who work around me, so I can find ways to help move things forwards.

The next thing is structure. If you ask my wife, she would laugh because I’m not structured at home! But in the professional world, I like precision. I enjoy the elegance of that. I think it comes from my technical background, with formulae that distil things down into what’s really important.

At McLaren, we had a mantra: “control the controllable”. For example, when you’re racing, you have a whole lot of data but only a limited time in which to make decisions, so you need to identify which are the key data points that will best inform that decision. You have to cut through the noise. I hope there’s an aspect of that I can bring with me.

In terms of my department, it will focus on partnership evaluation and development, as well as planning and strategy. There will be a real push on digital-led execution, which we already have the capability for, with plans to expand into experience management down the line, allowing us to truly work 360 degrees on a partnership.

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What can we expect from your department at Pace Six Four?

As a relatively small agency with such an incredible depth of experience and resource, any brands that join us will get our full attention. I think this is one of Pace Six Four’s USP’s across the board, as well as within my new department; one aspect of which will focus on Partnership Evaluation & Development.

We will help brands to get more from their existing partnerships and negotiate new partnerships within the sport. We will also be supporting clients to integrate partnerships into their broader business strategies, working with rights holders within motorsport to sharpen their partnership packages and engagements with partners, as well as completing rights inventories. Another aspect will encompass strategy and planning. When it comes to brands, this means putting the strategic building blocks in place to act as a ‘north star’ for partnership activity. We will articulate the objectives and KPIs into a robust set of tactics, which can be used to engage key internal stakeholders, rights holders, supporting agencies and employees.

For rights holders, we will assist in the creation of more effective commercial operations, tying specialist functions into a common commitment and defining an individual’s contribution toward the overall goal. We will be involved in everything from the end-to-end execution of partnerships on behalf of a brand or rights holder, through to specific campaign and project management. Our current capability will allow us to deliver a design, digital, PR and comms and production scope, but we have plans to develop an experiential offering too as we move forward.

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"As a relatively small agency with such an incredible depth of experience and resource, any brands that join us will get our full attention."

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Motorsport can be a busy and chaotic industry. How do you cope with the pressures?

I’ll quote some excellent advice I once received: “remember that your phone and your devices work for you, and you can switch them off.” I have a system where I compartmentalise, so I put my focus on only one thing at a time. Firstly, it’s face-to-face conversations or phone calls that come in. Next priority is text messages and Teams messages, then emails. That’s the way I operate. It’s about being able to close your laptop and being open – but firm – about where your boundaries are.

Everybody works differently. I’m one of those annoying people who likes to get up at 5am and I’m immediately awake and ready to go. I get up and get an advantage on the day – but by 8pm I’m useless. Beyond then, I’m just using up tomorrow’s energy; the longer I work, the more I’m going to suffer. That’s where my boundary is.

Fortunately, in this world where we can be more flexible, I’m usually able to do that. Of course, if I’m messaging at 5am, I’m not expecting a response immediately! I know everybody has their own rhythms and ways of doing things. To that end, if you’re messaging me after 8pm, you’re not going to get the best out of me.

I also try to focus more on performance and what I’m getting out of something, rather than how long I’m spending on it. If I’ve got a big project I’m struggling with, I'll remove myself from it. With that that kind of separation I can think more creatively about something, for example, on a dog walk or when I'm playing golf – then I come back to it.

It’s a chance for my subconscious mind to be whirring away on the problem in the background, rather than sitting staring at the same screen and achieving nothing. I find stepping away can be very beneficial. Recognise that you’ve entered a kind of spiral, remove yourself from it, and approach it when you're in a better mindset to be able to see it through.

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Is there a legacy you’d like to leave through your work?

Relevance, I think. The chance to contribute to the sport, how it’s consumed, helping it move with the times. Can I find that way to help new audiences come into it? Is the sport still relevant at the point when I retire? Is it still going strong? I want to make sure I’m a part of keeping it going well into the future.

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