Formula One - Could The Marketing Be Worse?
March 10th, 2006 | by Klaus Holzapfel |Ok, I admit it: Kelly Perdew was right when he called me a car nut. I managed his online car enthusiast community MotorPride for a year before it was sold and I had a blast.
Following that path I will write a bit about car racing today.The Formula One season is starting this weekend with lots of changes: new drivers, new teams, new specs - sounds interesting enough to follow.
But then you are reading about declining interest in many of its key markets.
What does the product lack? Here is my, very opinionated, review of the situation:
1. Playboys no more
At the end of the day it is a driver’s championship. You can talk about the teams as much as you want. Who are these drivers? What separates them from each other?
All we get to see is their toned down, boring statements before and after the races. They’ll rather bite their lips than say anything politically incorrect. Yes they are not artists who are set to be controversial. But aren’t these guys supposed to represent the “macho” in all of us? Maybe that’s not the right way to put it any longer but they look way to much like empty shells these days.
What happened to that guild that respected each other but also fought to the last millimeter?
They would have never called each other “colleagues”.
I know of many other race series where the bond between fans and drivers is much stronger.
Newsflash:
The only guy with a few notable slips in the last years was Kimi Raikonnen. He was just voted most popular driver in Germany, ahead of Michael Schumacher.
2. Lack of benefits for the fans
The fans have been treated real lousy by Mr. Ecclestone who still rules Formula One and it is a miracle how long they have put up with it. I can’t think of any other sports event where fans get so little in return for their money. One day fans might just wake up and stay home altogether.
3. Manufacturers’ colliding interests
The car manufacturers have been becoming much more influential in the last 5-10 years. The power grid is very complicated with 6 manufacturers and some independent teams in the mix. The lowest common denominator prevails. Everybody looks at their short-term gain.
What I am saying is that if this wouldn’t be Formula One it would have been dead over 10 years ago.
Since it is Formula One it deserves better than its actual state.
- How about a driver burning a doughnut in the track or a driver climbing up the fence after the race (ever heard of Helio Castro Neves a.k.a Spiderman?).
- How about team owners like Paul Newman who gave the Cart Series enough charisma to last through their toughest times?
- How about a show before the races that is worth mentioning?
- How about a serious effort to make it up to the American fans?
- How about a site like Nascar.com that serves as a hub to connect drivers and fans?
- How about one race a year where drivers drive in identical cars?
I have to give credit to Audi for not joining that circus (yet). They sure have thought about it. Instead they do something revolutionary that will make a lot of waves this year: The put a Diesel engine in their new long distance R10 race car and will attempt to win Le Mans with it. Sources tell us that this car is so fast that they might have to slow it down a bit. So they’ll be racing quietly and clean but still will make a lot of noise.
