Ecclestone interview
Discussion
Ecclestone: F1 doesn’t need cars
Formula 1 does not need cars, or so claims the sport’s 107-year-old overlord, C. Montgomery Ecclestone.
‘I don’t understand these new fangled things such as cars and autogiros and the electronic videogram machine,’ Ecclestone said yesterday in an interview with Minted Old s
t magazine. ‘Formula 1 doesn’t need them. Having a car on the track doesn’t sell advertising. Having an advertisement on the track, that’s what sells advertising.’
‘I simply don’t care about people who are watching Formula 1 for the cars,’ the talking scrotum continued. ‘I’m only interested in people who watch for the adverts. They’re the ones who make me money. And that’s what Formula 1 should be about. Making me even richer. Get rid of the cars, I say. They get in the way and you can’t fit enough Rolex adverts on them.’
‘Money is what keeps me going,’ Ecclestone later admitted. ‘Well, that and the nutrients I extract from orphans.’
Formula 1 does not need cars, or so claims the sport’s 107-year-old overlord, C. Montgomery Ecclestone.
‘I don’t understand these new fangled things such as cars and autogiros and the electronic videogram machine,’ Ecclestone said yesterday in an interview with Minted Old s
t magazine. ‘Formula 1 doesn’t need them. Having a car on the track doesn’t sell advertising. Having an advertisement on the track, that’s what sells advertising.’‘I simply don’t care about people who are watching Formula 1 for the cars,’ the talking scrotum continued. ‘I’m only interested in people who watch for the adverts. They’re the ones who make me money. And that’s what Formula 1 should be about. Making me even richer. Get rid of the cars, I say. They get in the way and you can’t fit enough Rolex adverts on them.’
‘Money is what keeps me going,’ Ecclestone later admitted. ‘Well, that and the nutrients I extract from orphans.’
MrBaker said:
Agree with your point
A twenty year old isn't going to be interested in SAP (McLaren),but a business might. Yet McLaren ran with MaxiMuscle the year before which would appeal to the younger generation, but not to a business. From that I get the teams don't really care what they are advertising as long as the money from sponsorship is coming in.
It would be interesting to poll the "young" to identify what brands they recognise from F1 - I would bet Red Bull would top the list, and Monster energy would be high up even though its only advertised in a few subtle areas.
I'd imagine Red Bull don't appeal to too many 70 year olds with a few quid...A twenty year old isn't going to be interested in SAP (McLaren),but a business might. Yet McLaren ran with MaxiMuscle the year before which would appeal to the younger generation, but not to a business. From that I get the teams don't really care what they are advertising as long as the money from sponsorship is coming in.
It would be interesting to poll the "young" to identify what brands they recognise from F1 - I would bet Red Bull would top the list, and Monster energy would be high up even though its only advertised in a few subtle areas.
interviewer said:
Has Formula One become an impossibly expensive sport to be involved in?
Bernie Ecclestone said:
Just don't spend as much. These teams don't need to be in financial trouble. They need to think about what they have got to spend and do the best they can with that...
It's the same for everything in life, isn't it, really? It's the same problem with ladies and credit cards.
It's the same for everything in life, isn't it, really? It's the same problem with ladies and credit cards.
I almost wondered if Bernie was trying to provoke CVC into firing him with this statement. For any organisation to have no interest in younger audiences there is a worrying lack of foresight, and for all his faults Bernie has usually had a good eye for the long term. I suspect his issue with social media is that it can't be monetised, for him, but that doesn't mean it should not be embraced - the teams all pretty much have done and it has increased fan interaction and involvement which is surely very positive for sponsors, and they are the ones who fund the sport as far as the teams are concerned.
It is time he went, however!
It is time he went, however!
Bernie is right. It is very simple.
Young folk don't have any disposable income. They don't earn enough compared to the cost of living.
What age group do have disposable income? Why, it is people who own their own homes. That is a good starting point.
Who is more likely to go and buy a new Mercedes? An 18 year old or a 70 year old? Or a Rolex? Or an Infiniti? Same answer.
F1 is a 'lifestyle' sport. You won't see Tesco involved for example.
Maybe people should understand that Bernie is no fool when it comes to making a judgement about business. People may not agree, or like it, but there we go. Hence why he is one of the richest people on the planet. He's not wasting his time on here with nothing better to do (like I am) is he?
Young folk don't have any disposable income. They don't earn enough compared to the cost of living.
What age group do have disposable income? Why, it is people who own their own homes. That is a good starting point.
Who is more likely to go and buy a new Mercedes? An 18 year old or a 70 year old? Or a Rolex? Or an Infiniti? Same answer.
F1 is a 'lifestyle' sport. You won't see Tesco involved for example.
Maybe people should understand that Bernie is no fool when it comes to making a judgement about business. People may not agree, or like it, but there we go. Hence why he is one of the richest people on the planet. He's not wasting his time on here with nothing better to do (like I am) is he?
I think he's talking a lot of sense ... Mostly. The bit I disagree on is with engaging young people. I was hooked on F1 from ten years old (I'm 40 now) - I knew what I wanted at ten! I also believe that, while a 15 year old can't afford a Rolex watch, you can etch into the psyche of 15 year old the values of a brand like Rolex, such that it becomes their default choice when they reach the point in their life when they can afford one. When I was a kid at school you talked about a rich person wearing a 'Rolex' - not an 'expensive watch', because you'd already made that association. Bernie needs to work on etching F1 into the psyche of young people, whatever he thinks, if he cares enough about it to want it to outlive him by more than a few years.
MitchT said:
I think he's talking a lot of sense ... Mostly. The bit I disagree on is with engaging young people. I was hooked on F1 from ten years old (I'm 40 now) - I knew what I wanted at ten! I also believe that, while a 15 year old can't afford a Rolex watch, you can etch into the psyche of 15 year old the values of a brand like Rolex, such that it becomes their default choice when they reach the point in their life when they can afford one. When I was a kid at school you talked about a rich person wearing a 'Rolex' - not an 'expensive watch', because you'd already made that association. Bernie needs to work on etching F1 into the psyche of young people, whatever he thinks, if he cares enough about it to want it to outlive him by more than a few years.
Completely agree. I found that part of the interview rather insulting. If I was 15 reading that interview I'd be thinking 'Well fk you BCE, why should I bother wasting myself with F1' and if a significant proportion do feel and enact those feelings then F1 would seriously be on its knees because it can't engage with a new generation.Teenagers may not afford high end/up market brands - hell even working adults can't afford the high end stuff advertised in magazines - but it is somthing one would want to aspire to own. I certainly wouldn't be wearing Hugo Boss clothing if I didn't see its name on a McLaren or Penske Indycar chassis.
And also he seems to contradict himself bigging up Ferrari and Red Bull. As BCE admitted himself he has no clue whatsoever about young 'uns.
entropy said:
... I found that part of the interview rather insulting. If I was 15 reading that interview I'd be thinking 'Well fk you ...
+1 Agree. k you ...I had an interest in F1 from the age of about 6 or 7. I had an older brother (and cousin) but all the same I was already totally absorbed by sports cars, racing cars and record breaking cars. I had all the Dinky F1 collection, I had the Corgi Shark Nose Ferrari. Although there were only highlights on TV in those days I well remember Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Graham Hill etc. a few years before I would have been a teenager. I would have loved a Lotus Cortina when I was 17/18 and that interest was sparked by Lotus and F1.
Ecclestone is wrong if he thinks kids are not interested in fast cars. What he really means is that he thinks his sponsors may not believe kids are interested in fast cars and I would say he is wrong about that too.
He is trying to be contentious in order to gain publicity which is what he always does. He is tedious in the extreme and has nothing fresh to say and is, in my opinion, a dinosaur in a modern sport. Time for him to step down - he won't.
Edited by RichB on Saturday 15th November 16:35
The bloke is a bellend.
He has now accused the teams of being bloody idiots because they will not agree to the last three races of 2015 being double points events!!
Thank god that the teams have said no.
I also bought an Olympus OM1N thanks to the Lotus sponsorship deal & I was only 16 or 17. Cost me a fortune. Eventually sold the OM1N a couple of years ago.
Bernie seems to be loosing the plot at the same as managing to alienate many of the fans.
He has to go. And soon.
He has now accused the teams of being bloody idiots because they will not agree to the last three races of 2015 being double points events!!
Thank god that the teams have said no.
I also bought an Olympus OM1N thanks to the Lotus sponsorship deal & I was only 16 or 17. Cost me a fortune. Eventually sold the OM1N a couple of years ago.
Bernie seems to be loosing the plot at the same as managing to alienate many of the fans.
He has to go. And soon.
entropy said:
If I was 15 reading that interview I'd be thinking 'Well fk you BCE, why should I bother wasting myself with F1'
I'm 24 and I feel the same way. For my 25th, my dad had offered to buy me tickets to the Silverstone GP. Since I'm obviously not the target market, F1 can go fk you BCE, why should I bother wasting myself with F1' k themselves and I'll continue to just watch the BBC highlights and not spend any money on F1 stuff.PW said:
Was F1 targeting 10 year olds at the time?
F1 has never targeted a "youth" market, but has never struggled to attract one and has never been raised as an issue before. The moment Ecclestone says it's a bad idea though - it's suddenly a crisis that needs to be addressed; because the only ideas people have about running F1 are "do the exact opposite of what Bernie said in his last interview".
Yes F1 has never targeted a "youth" market, but has never struggled to attract one and has never been raised as an issue before. The moment Ecclestone says it's a bad idea though - it's suddenly a crisis that needs to be addressed; because the only ideas people have about running F1 are "do the exact opposite of what Bernie said in his last interview".
Golf, afaik, doesn't particularly target a youth market but seems to be quite popular with middle aged, middle class white men (ie F1's same demographic).Having thought about this for a bit, something has struck.
Bernie is saying that young people basically don't matter to F1. Yet one of the teams that is relying on to carry the sport forward, especially if they have to go to three cars, only exists because of an energy drink which is particularly popular with which demographic of consumer?
And I'm sure Monster and to a lesser extent Burn, would be just as pleased to hear that he feels a large amount of their target market don't matter either.
He really is losing the fking plot. Get him out now.
Bernie is saying that young people basically don't matter to F1. Yet one of the teams that is relying on to carry the sport forward, especially if they have to go to three cars, only exists because of an energy drink which is particularly popular with which demographic of consumer?
And I'm sure Monster and to a lesser extent Burn, would be just as pleased to hear that he feels a large amount of their target market don't matter either.
He really is losing the f
king plot. Get him out now. Edited by The Hypno-Toad on Sunday 16th November 12:08
The publication to which he gave the interview was Campaign... a trade magazine for the advertising, marketing and branding sector and the context of the interview was about the commercial aspects of F1 in terms of where it is pitched, it's values and target markets and so on. In this context, a lot of what he said is quite right. What 10 year old kid is in the market for a Rolex of the services of UBS.
Of course, the sport needs young fans because they may one day be in the market for these types of things.
Of course, the sport needs young fans because they may one day be in the market for these types of things.
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