win on sunday sell on monday

[ukaskew]

wemorgan said:

But with how expensive motorsport sponsorship is, what real benefit does sponsoring the likes of Sauber give to obscure non retail brands?

Access, networking, entertaining clients etc. That's priceless to many companies, they probably don't even need (or may not want) their name on the car.

My brother-in-law works for a very, very large company that has absolutely no public involvement in F1, yet they pump a significant chunk of money in just to access race weekends. As a corporate ticket it's up there with the likes of Wimbledon, but with the added benefit of being in 20+ countries.

Edited by ukaskew on Monday 20th March 12:37

[Swede123]

I was involved with Jaguar Cars in the 80s. It was very true that if we won a Group C race over the weekend beating Porsche and Mercedes backed cars on the Monday our dealerships got the sales. First thing on a Monday morning we'd check the national newspapers to see that the race articles and our full page adverts, space booked way in advance, were showing the results as of end of play Sunday.

[tommunster10]

Well F1 hasn't done the Merc brand any harm over the last 3 years has it, neighbors around me who were always BMW now rock around in Mercs.
It has transformed Mercedes IMO.

Obviously Red Bull sell drinks and an image and they sell plenty. It can't hurt unless you are doing badly. Honda aren't doing themselves any favors right now in F1.
It was Shelby I think thought up the phrase IIRC. And he really did.

[Centurion07]

Your neighbours have all said they switched from BMW to Merc because of F1 have they? I'd be amazed if even a single one cites that as their reason.

As for Red Bull, they sponsor anything and everything.

[ex1]

There are many different layers to motorsport sponsorship. "Getting noticed" is just one. Many companies just use it to network.

There is huge value when the top bloke at DHL gets direct access to the decision makers at other huge PLC's. Its often part and parcel of the contract that ABC company will buy the products of XYZ. Larger sponsors will also "encourage" their suppliers to support their team in exchange for their business.

Its a very nice environment where they can network and do business, for many companies this has much more value that a tiny bit of branding on the side of a car.

[anonymous-user]

Centurion07 said:

Your neighbours have all said they switched from BMW to Merc because of F1 have they? I'd be amazed if even a single one cites that as their reason.

As for Red Bull, they sponsor anything and everything.

You may well be right, but Toto Woolf said at a factory briefing, after Mercedes' first WC win, that the cost of alternative forms of advertising that would have got them similar exposure over the year would have been very significantly more than the total cost of running the team.

The neighbours may not have switched knowingly because of F1, but maybe the accompanying exposure was a factor?

[zeb]

The principle transformed peugeot in the 80's with the 205 GTI and its rallying sucess. Not sure it works as well today.

[Some Gump]

wemorgan said:

I take that point, but without looking, tell me what products you can buy that Haas cars advertise?

Big engineering machinery. Main rival DMG Mori, who sponsor Porsche LMP1.

I'd expect that it's less advertising to consumers, more "sign this contract and of course you can come see us in action on a boat in Monaco".

[Mark Benson]

mattyc69 said:

Not on the same scale at all but at my old place of work we used a lot of hydraulic hoses and fittings etc... All the local companies were very similar on price and service. My boss got an invite to go to touring cars and be very well look after for the day by Pirtek (they sponsor Andrew Jordan). We then switched solely to Pirtek supplying are gear and he carried on going to Snetterton ever year to be looked after buy them and we kept buying their gear.

This is the one of the main reasons; when you can take the people who make buying decisions on a day out they simply couldn't get anywhere else, they'll want to keep buying your stuff to have access to these kinds of experiences.
Doesn't matter whether it's a small engineering company's MD on a day out at Snetterton with Pirtek, or a blue-chip CIO sipping champagne in a pit-lane suite at Monaco with SAP, it's about creating sales by attracting the decision makers with cash to spend.

It's also why getting anyone to sponsor a club racer like me is so difficult - a brew in an E-Z-Up at Anglesey on a rainy Sunday in October doesn't really attract the big names......