Celsius CEO John Fieldly has laid out the energy drink brand’s ambitious global expansion plans, revealing that the company’s multi-year partnership with Aston Martin Aramco is central to its strategy for breaking into international markets beyond the United States, where it currently generates 90 to 95 percent of its revenue.
Fieldly, who has been with Celsius since 2012 and has served as CEO since 2018, disclosed the company’s growth trajectory in an official feature published by the Aston Martin F1 team. The brand has scaled from 12 employees when Fieldly joined to approximately 1,300 across the globe, and now commands more than 20 percent market share in the U.S. energy drink category across its portfolio of three brands.
“I’ve been on this journey with Celsius for 14 years. We’ve gone from an unknown brand to one that connects to consumers at an emotional level,” Fieldly said. “F1, and our partnership with Aston Martin Aramco, is a way to supercharge that expansion, and is key to its success.”
The company has recently launched in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand as part of its push beyond North America. Fieldly described Celsius as a “challenger brand” competing against some of the largest consumer packaged goods companies in the world, drawing a direct parallel to the competitive nature of Formula 1.
The partnership, which began at the start of the current season, has already produced a series of fan-facing activations including Celsius Run Club 5K events held ahead of race weekends in Melbourne, Miami, Montreal and London. Fieldly said the events are designed to be inclusive, attracting participants ranging from elite athletes to casual runners.
“Why did we come to Aston Martin Aramco? I think their passion was the most important thing,” Fieldly said. “They’re undoubtedly one of the healthiest teams in the pit lane. It’s a good fit for us.”
Fieldly indicated the collaboration extends beyond traditional sponsorship branding, noting that Celsius is studying Aston Martin’s operational infrastructure for insights applicable to its own business. “There’s a lot of great insight here that can help with our business, and not purely in the obvious areas,” he said. “Just looking in isolation at, for example, the logistics of F1, you try to understand what the process is. What kind of infrastructure and systems are used?”
The CEO signaled that the Run Club activations and broader partnership initiatives will scale significantly in the coming months. “We’ve got big plans for the Run Club. We’re definitely going bigger,” Fieldly said. “These are exciting times in our partnership with Aston Martin Aramco. It will only get bigger. It is the perfect step for developing our global business.”