Virgin Sponsorship of Brawn to end?

[Northern Munkee]

While we wait for the broadcast to start here's some news of sorts.

http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5394075...

Can't say I'm surprised, Virgin got a big bang for very small buck from Melbourne, law of diminishing returns perhaps?

[FourWheelDrift]

Good, I don't have to look at the grinning fool any more.

[CivicMan]

Maybe Ross Brawn got fed up with the Branson unremitting self publicity trip......

[Teppic]

FourWheelDrift said:

Good, I don't have to look at the grinning fool any more.

It wasn't really a sponsorship deal at all, but a publicity exercise to get Beardy's name back in to the papers.

[andyps]

Teppic said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Good, I don't have to look at the grinning fool any more.

It wasn't really a sponsorship deal at all, but a publicity exercise to get Beardy's name back in to the papers.

Why does anyone else do a sponsorship deal? I know there are other benefits sponsors gain, but getting their name in the appropriate media is always going to be at the forefront of the deal. Virgin is no different to anyone else, except that the owner of the organisation is more of a public figure in the UK than many of the others. Do you object when Dietrich Mateschitz is seen on TV at grand Prix?

edited to correct spelling of Dietrich Mateschitz

Edited by andyps on Sunday 21st June 23:35

Edited by andyps on Sunday 21st June 23:36

[nc107]

He only ever had an essentially rolling contract with Brawn. What about he has agreed to fund one of the new teams - Virgin F1 per chance. Non of them has announced a sponsor yet.

[Munter]

Teppic said:

It wasn't really a sponsorship deal at all, but a publicity exercise

No way! Sponsorship in "publicity" for sponser shocker!

[german tony]

& the next headline will be Branson for new FIA President. God help us.

[Jarama79]

andyps said:

Teppic said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Good, I don't have to look at the grinning fool any more.

It wasn't really a sponsorship deal at all, but a publicity exercise to get Beardy's name back in to the papers.

Why does anyone else do a sponsorship deal? I know there are other benefits sponsors gain, but getting their name in the appropriate media is always going to be at the forefront of the deal. Virgin is no different to anyone else, except that the owner of the organisation is more of a public figure in the UK than many of the others. Do you object when Deiter Maastricht is seen on TV at grand Prix?

Who is Deiter Maastricht?

Do you mean Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz? I don't recall ever seen DM trackside, not recently at least. Perhaps once, soonafter the Jaguar F1 takeover he might have put in a pitlane appearance but TBH, I wouldn't know what the man even looks like.

[deevlash]

Im fairly certain DM was in the pits for the last race

[andyps]

Jarama79 said:

andyps said:

Teppic said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Good, I don't have to look at the grinning fool any more.

It wasn't really a sponsorship deal at all, but a publicity exercise to get Beardy's name back in to the papers.

Why does anyone else do a sponsorship deal? I know there are other benefits sponsors gain, but getting their name in the appropriate media is always going to be at the forefront of the deal. Virgin is no different to anyone else, except that the owner of the organisation is more of a public figure in the UK than many of the others. Do you object when Deiter Maastricht is seen on TV at grand Prix?

Who is Deiter Maastricht?

Do you mean Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz? I don't recall ever seen DM trackside, not recently at least. Perhaps once, soonafter the Jaguar F1 takeover he might have put in a pitlane appearance but TBH, I wouldn't know what the man even looks like.

That is the one - my Austrian spelling is slightly worse than my English for which I apologise. Whilst I wouldn't recognise him on the street he does go to races and I am sure has been on TV this year. I would suspect he gets more exposure on Austrian TV than he might in the UK.

[dxg]

Withdrawing sponsorship at this precise time could do the Virgin brand harm, however.

I mean, what does it say to jump on board a winning team, only to jump ship at the first sign of trouble? If they want to project themselves as highly-opportunistic, then this is the right way to do it. But what about the values of being in things ofr the long temr and seeing things through - good old fashioned gumption. I could see their Virgin Money people not being too happy, for example.

[andyps]

I don't think there is a suggestion of stopping what they are currently doing, just that they are unlikely to increase the level of sponsorship partly because the cost of title sponsorship with Brawn would now be a lot higher than the originally suggested figures meaning Virgin would not receive value for money. Bit of a catch 22 really - it was a big gamble to pay the required rate at the start of the season although that would now appear to have been a bargain, now that the team have proved they are worth backing the going rate is too high.

[VladD]

dxg said:

Withdrawing sponsorship at this precise time could do the Virgin brand harm, however.

I mean, what does it say to jump on board a winning team, only to jump ship at the first sign of trouble? If they want to project themselves as highly-opportunistic, then this is the right way to do it. But what about the values of being in things ofr the long temr and seeing things through - good old fashioned gumption. I could see their Virgin Money people not being too happy, for example.

I can't remember where I read it, but I believe that Branson wanted a different, possibly larger, sponsorship arrangement, but Brawn said no. It's not so much Virgin bailing out as just failing to agree on the terms of a new sponsorship deal with Brawn.

[Evangelion]

I've never believed Brawn and Branson were totally comitted to each other. If they had been I'd have expected to see the cars painted dark red with huge white Virgin logos all over them, and renamed Team Virgin Brawn Mercedes or something similar, fairly early on.

[skwdenyer]

Evangelion said:

I've never believed Brawn and Branson were totally comitted to each other. If they had been I'd have expected to see the cars painted dark red with huge white Virgin logos all over them, and renamed Team Virgin Brawn Mercedes or something similar, fairly early on.

They couldn't rename the team, as that is one of the conditions of entry; renaming Honda to Brawn after entries had closed meant that Brawn went to the end of the pitlane and lost a lot of money.