Budweiser schmudwieser!
Discussion
I see the makers of Budweiser, having pulled out of drag racing recently (if memory serves me well) have now entered litigation against the Major League Baseball leviathon who, it claims, has raised it's prices out of all proportions since they switch from Drag Racing to the MLB. Budweiser claim they have a deal which prevents this, MLB have a diferent view.
Come back Budweiser, and take a look at Europe whilst you are doing it. More bang for your sponsorship buck if only you knew it.
Come back Budweiser, and take a look at Europe whilst you are doing it. More bang for your sponsorship buck if only you knew it.
Edited by ribaric on Saturday 13th November 11:22
The booze companies decided to self-regulate in the late 1980's before they were forced to greater sanctions by the EU. Anhauser Busch drove a truck through this with their sponsorship of Harlan and Santa Pod, but this was the US company, so they didn't care. Charles Wells's 'Red Stripe' deal with Barry was so small that no one in the industry really noticed...
Jon C said:
The booze companies decided to self-regulate in the late 1980's before they were forced to greater sanctions by the EU. Anhauser Busch drove a truck through this with their sponsorship of Harlan and Santa Pod, but this was the US company, so they didn't care. Charles Wells's 'Red Stripe' deal with Barry was so small that no one in the industry really noticed...
There are plenty of firms that COULD cross the water with impunity and no problems with tobacco/booze advert restrictions but dont seem interested
Edited by veryoldfart on Saturday 13th November 20:36
Jon C said:
The booze companies decided to self-regulate in the late 1980's before they were forced to greater sanctions by the EU. Anhauser Busch drove a truck through this with their sponsorship of Harlan and Santa Pod, but this was the US company, so they didn't care. Charles Wells's 'Red Stripe' deal with Barry was so small that no one in the industry really noticed...
AB InBev, current owners of Budweiser, even tried to pull out of FIFA World Cup sponsorship due to financial issues, contractually they are tied in until 2018. They are also restricted by the wonderful Premier League as to where and what they may be associated with.As for none sponsorship by alcohol industry names, Diageo (Smirnoff, Gordons, Bells, Guinness and a lot more) appear all over McLaren F1 cars, Kingfisher (and Whyte & Mackay as Vejay Mallya purchased the distilary as he liked the tipple...) appear all over Force India cars, Michael Schumacher is still a Bacardi Brown-Forman (brand owners for Jack Daniels, SoCo & Martini in EU area) face in Germany, although the name is mainly kept away from the cars.
I'm surprised Red Bull has such a limited exposure in drag racing, when will this change?? What with Monster and Rockstar, along with the 'smaller' energy drinks names appearing to increase spend, RB seem to hold back.
Castrol is a british company, part of BP. They have sponsored European teams in the past (Skilton, Hans Knueters, Steve Read), but given the recent BP incident and its likely financial consequence, as well as their up coming title rights deal for Euro 2012 (not to mention a 'less than positive' experience last time), I imagine their purse strings will be somewhat tightened next year.
Budweiser's pull out from Bernstein {after donkey's years}was announced at the time of the Gatornationals in 2009 when I was out there and the fans basically blamed the new European owners {who own Stella amongst other things}. Given they have never got involed in European drag racing they probably don't rate the US version as suitable.
I think the problem with drag racing in the UK is just the level of exposure combined with the lack of the "glamour" of things like say rugby union, Wimbledon or even offshore powerboating which makes it better for corporate entertaining. In F1 for example the Monaco race is by far the biggest draw for sponsors and as a consiquence even Bernie does try to extort money from them like he does at the other circuits. In terms of exposure there is virtually no TV and most of the non specialist mags give only sporadic coverage. It draws decent crowds of course but I can only see a really big buck sponsor getting involved in a big way if the boss happens to be a big time enthusiast {eg Lucas oil}.
If it is ever to become a major pro sport I think the most promising sign is the development of really good well set up strips like the new one in Sweden and Yas Marina {if they are still using it}. I think the nearest thing to an event where big time sponsors might take customers at the moment is the Nitro Olympics and another 2 or 3 events like that every year might start to make a difference.
Bill
I think the problem with drag racing in the UK is just the level of exposure combined with the lack of the "glamour" of things like say rugby union, Wimbledon or even offshore powerboating which makes it better for corporate entertaining. In F1 for example the Monaco race is by far the biggest draw for sponsors and as a consiquence even Bernie does try to extort money from them like he does at the other circuits. In terms of exposure there is virtually no TV and most of the non specialist mags give only sporadic coverage. It draws decent crowds of course but I can only see a really big buck sponsor getting involved in a big way if the boss happens to be a big time enthusiast {eg Lucas oil}.
If it is ever to become a major pro sport I think the most promising sign is the development of really good well set up strips like the new one in Sweden and Yas Marina {if they are still using it}. I think the nearest thing to an event where big time sponsors might take customers at the moment is the Nitro Olympics and another 2 or 3 events like that every year might start to make a difference.
Bill
veryoldfart said:
There are plenty of firms that COULD cross the water with impunity and no problems with tobacco/booze advert restrictions but dont seem interested
I believe the McDonalds sponsorship was actually paid for by Coca Cola, who used it to entice the chain of burger stores to keep supplying their products rather than changing to a different soft drinks supplier. Coca Cola has been a long tome supporter of NHRA with more recently their Powerade and Full Throttle drinks getting the exposure.NitroWars said:
veryoldfart said:
There are plenty of firms that COULD cross the water with impunity and no problems with tobacco/booze advert restrictions but dont seem interested
I believe the McDonalds sponsorship was actually paid for by Coca Cola, who used it to entice the chain of burger stores to keep supplying their products rather than changing to a different soft drinks supplier. Coca Cola has been a long tome supporter of NHRA with more recently their Powerade and Full Throttle drinks getting the exposure.Jon C said:
Think about how many kids (me included) knew what a Funny Car looked like long before we even knew Santa Pod existed because of the Mattel 'Hot Wheels' range.
I was somewhat shocked when, in later life, I realised that nearly all of the toy cars I used to play with as a child were famous drag cars. At the time, I had no idea what drag racing was, let alone that the cars I was playing with were all taken from that particular genre of motor racing.Gassing Station | Drag Racing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff