With the general election looming ever closer, the media is crammed full of stories discussing the wonderful world of politics. Whilst I’d be the first to admit skimming through this section in the paper to get to the sport and celeb pages, an article by Daniel Finkelstein in today’s Times caught my attention.

Finkelstein discusses the concept of the brand, using author Martin Lindstrom’s example of the curved Coca-Cola bottle as one of the most recognisable and best-loved icons, to the point that it can be considered “smashable”. If dropped on the ground, and smashed into a hundred pieces you would still be able to recognise what it is from any one of those pieces.

He goes on to explain that “consumers purchase the product as much for what it says about them, and how it makes them feel, as for what it does. The product is much more than functional; it is part of their identity.”

This idea isn’t new in itself, and I’m sure we can all bring to mind a couple of brands that, for us, fall into this category. However, the twist that took this down a new angle for me was Finkelstein’s application of the concept to the Conservative party. We’re all aware of the photos of David Cameron cycling through London and visiting local schools and we understand that public perception is crucial in the popularity polls, but surely in this case we don’t “purchase” based on how this makes us feel? Isn’t it policies on the NHS, education and taxes that decide who gets out vote?

Think again, according to research by the BBC it appears that we absorb far more about the character and broad messages of our political parties than the individual policies they promote. All the more important then that the parties remain true to their brand positioning as any deviation from this could have a bigger impact on voters than they might realise.

Just goes to demonstrate once again, the power of the brand and it’s personality over our decision making in all areas of life. Thanks @Dannythefink – I’ll definitely be keeping a closer eye on the positioning of our political parties ahead of the election, whilst challenging the norm to see if one or two actual policies creep through.

By Kelly Russell on March 10th, 2010

Tags: BBC, Brand marketing, David Cameron, Default, General election, Politics, Public relations, Television

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Jenson Button had a dream last Friday night that he would have a bad qualifying session in Brazil but do enough in the race to win the F1 World Championship.
And so he did.

Button added his name to the history books over the weekend. The first ever English back-to-back world championship win the sport has witnessed. All of this happening in just the first season of Brawn’s existence, a fairytale for the team. The charismatic and handsome Button is now in an enviable position. With a wealth of experience, the support of a strong team around him, a model girlfriend on his arm, this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year a shoe-in and the likelihood of tens of millions of pounds to follow through sponsorship and endorsements, it all rounds off the year rather nicely for him.

And the best thing? He seems like a really nice guy to boot.

Jenson is a PR dream and a hark back to the old days of work hard, play hard F1 drivers. His earning potential is certainly set to rocket so long as he continues to perform on the track. As well as his success in the car, Jenson’s personality, charisma and good looks will help to make him a global bankable star. If he wins next year’s World Championship, he will almost certainly become the highest paid British sportsman.

Interestingly, he is not currently contracted to a team for next year. His negotiating powers right now are surely at a premium, especially having taken a severe pay cut to race for Brawn this season. For brands and future sponsors, Jenson is a very attractive investment. He is a popular figure, a leader amongst his team, speaks well, is well educated and glamorous and is also close to his family (his father attends every race). He is perceived to be more modest than Lewis Hamilton, more approachable and has a real sense of fun. Couldn’t have imagined writing this a year ago but Jenson could very well end up as the more successful of the two British drivers. It may have taken Jenson ten seasons to arrive at this stage (compared to Hamilton’s two) but Button is viewed by many as the more consistent and even tempered driver.

Certainly it will be interesting to watch what he does next from a sponsorship perspective. In F1, most brands are sponsors of the team, not the individual drivers. There are occasions of drivers having individual sponsors – Jenson himself has a personal deal with the (number 1 by volume-sales energy drink in the US) Monster Energy. However, what his manager may well be doing at the moment is looking at long-term opportunities for Jenson to take an ambassadorial role with existing team sponsors - something Lewis Hamilton has done very successfully with brands like Hugo Boss and Tag Heuer. We shall see.

For the time being, Jenson is back in the UK to fulfil sponsor activities (Virgin Media’s SpeedWeek50 campaign, as you asked) before the end of season finale in Abu Dhabi next month which will finish off one hell of a dream season.

By Stephanie Branston on October 20th, 2009

Tags: BBC, Formula 1, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Public relations, Sponsorship

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The new Formula 1 season has also heralded a new design for the BBC Sport Online’s Formula 1 page.

It’s clear that British interest in Formula 1 has increased in recent years thanks to a number of factors not least the ‘Lewis effect’ and all the talk of Jenson Button as a possible new British World Champion, Jenson’s girlfriend certainly believes he can do it.
 
The BBC is hoping this interest will continue to grow and has invested a reported £200m into bringing the sport back to the BBC including bringing back Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain as the theme tune for their programming.

Everybody loves a good theme tune, but what really caught my eye was the new design of BBC Sport Online’s Formula 1 page with its  black skin and abundant blue, yellow and red go-faster stripes.  There are lots of other differences such as a much larger selection of external links to other websites (more so than on other BBC Sport Online pages), insider gossip from their ‘mole’ and more which you can all explore on your own time.

The page has a similar look and feel to BBC iplayer with the same black skin as opposed to the white background that is used across the rest of the BBC Sport Online pages.  This may well be a subconscious reminder to the viewer that the highlights are available on iplayer through some sort of visual empathy…or it may simply be that one of the designers at the Beeb thinks the black skin is cooler.

What I did find a bit strange is that as soon as you click onto a Formula 1 story the next page you see is back to a white background. I wonder whether all the sports covered by the BBC online team will begin to have their own identity with different skin colours, each one allowed to stray a little further from the general BBC Sport Online look and feel or whether Formula 1 is a one off…I am also starting to wonder if any of you noticed any of this too or if you care?!?

By Alex Coulson on March 31st, 2009

Tags: BBC, Default, Digital marketing, Formula 1, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Media

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Wed 19 Feb: Dee and Sam Davies join BBC Breakfast on the sofa. Hit BBC Radio studios for live interviews. Head back to the office with Dee, met with more standing ovations. Dee heads back to France. Job done!

By Caroline Ayling on February 23rd, 2009

Tags: Aviva, BBC, Dee Caffari, ITV, Media, Public relations, Sponsorship

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David Beckham, like death and taxes, is one of life’s certainties - only he’s a marketing certainty. Just when we thought his move to California had calmed the media waters around Brand Beckham, he has bounced back with his potential move to AC Milan and return to the England squad.

Now that the BBC has announced a one-off screening of the Milan derby off the back of Beckham-mania, it has proved again that his is a star that has lost no gleam. Hats off to him and it proves that as a marketing icon he has always got one thing fundamentally right - doing his job on the pitch first.

By Dominic Curran on February 11th, 2009

Tags: BBC, David Beckham, Default, Football

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Bravo Lewis Hamilton, cue media frenzy - with, as ever on these occasions, a predictable focus on Hamilton’s future earning power. Thus we find Max Clifford in the Telegraph (not an everyday occurrence in itself) predicting that Hamilton will be ‘bigger than Beckham’ and this, my personal favourite to date, from the Mirror:

He is already on a £75million five year contract with McLaren and has a £10million three year sponsorship deal with Reebok. But extra sponsorship deals could see him on £1billion next year.

Now that would be bucking the credit crunch.

There is, of course, much more interesting territory to be explored here. For example, how will the nascent ‘Brand Hamilton’ be evolved?  To what extent does Hamilton’s appeal extend beyond F1? And what effect is Hamilton having on the F1 brand and audience?

In the UK at least, we already know some of the answers. Yesterday’s Grand Prix drew an average audience on ITV of 8.8m, way ahead of the channel’s slot average for the year so far of 2.6m, with a massive peak audience of 12.5m watching at 18:45 as the race went down to the wire.

Ironically, it was thus easily the most watched race since ITV started broadcasting F1 in 1997 – the irony being that coverage reverts to BBC in 2009, ITV having opted out of F1 earlier this year in order to retain its UEFA Champions League rights.

By Tim Crow on November 3rd, 2008

Tags: BBC, Formula 1, Media, Sponsorship, Television audiences

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Every year I am disappointed that I can’t watch my favourite equestrian events on TV for more than a two hour highlights package.  Time and time again (what used to be) well-loved events get a few measly hours coverage on a Sunday afternoon.  For three day eventing, one of the reasons is that TV coverage is expensive requiring an extensive outdoor unit over a period of four days but it is also because the audience interest for equestrian events is shrinking. Showjumping suffered this fate in the 90’s and has never really recovered and now eventing seems to be following the same path.

So it’s good to see that British Eventing have a plan to kick start a turnaround – the question is will it work?  Express Eventing is their latest idea.  Inspired by the success of twenty20 cricket and World Rally’s in-stadia Super Special Stages, it aims to create a fast-moving single day event in one venue that features all the stars of the sport.

This isn’t the first time that British Eventing has tried to boost interest for their sport through a new format.  The Eventer’s Grand Prix, featuring showjumping and cross county only, taking out the (arguably boring) dressage element has been well-received and is now an integral part of the event calendar, featured at Hickstead’s Royal International Horse Show.  But it has not made significant inroads on audience interest levels.

If by using this new format they are attempting to recruit a broader audience, I think they have a tough job on their hands.  One event that appeals to more than the horsey set is the Olympia Christmas Show.  This continues to be a success and draws crowds looking for a Christmasy evening out as well as a chance to watch international showjumping.  The key to this format is that they offer a lot more than just horses.  With aisles of shops and Christmas treats the crowds are enticed through the doors to experience something a little different during the holiday season.  

Badminton, Blenheim and Burghley also continue to draw large gates by offering a ‘great day out in the country’, where dogs run about, children enjoy ice cream, the hunter wellie wearers lap it up in the Veuve tent and Joules clad yummy mummies peruse a more extensive shopping experience than most city malls. A one day sport-focused extravaganza in a stadium in Cardiff doesn’t appear to offer the same benefits. There has been no mention of shopping and other attractions and without this I wonder if it can attract a wider audience.

Is this therefore only an extravaganza for aficionados? If so is it exciting enough to win new followers to the sport without the added extras?  I believe it is critical that they convince enough horsey people to travel to Cardiff to give the event an atmosphere - the Millennium Stadium is a big space to fill. Secondly, they need to persuade a broadcaster that the event will work for TV, be cost effective to produce and have enough interest to win audiences.   Only time will tell, but maybe our equestrian heroes can once again fill our TV screens.  Harvey Smith and David Broome were there in the 1970s. Can Express Eventing reclaim this prime time Saturday night spot?  I certainly hope so.

By Holly Anderson on October 7th, 2008

Tags: BBC, Equestrianism

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Steve Parry; ex-Team GB Olympian, bronze medallist, BBC TV pundit, Michael Phelps look-a-likey.

One of the funniest clips from the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

By Stephanie Branston on August 20th, 2008

Tags: BBC, Beijing 2008, China, Olympics

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Farewell then, to Robinsons’ sponsorship of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show, following this week’s decision by the BBC Trust to end the Corporations’s short-lived foray into broadcast sponsorship.

BBC signed a two-year agreement with Britvic, reputedly worth £200,000, for Robinsons to brand Sports Personality from 2007. But the deal was doomed from the moment that ITV and the RadioCentre both mounted high-profile post-show attacks on it, highlighting its breaches of BBC policy and - somewhat less convincingly given the modest size of the deal - alleging that such agreements would distort the market for broadcast sponsorship.

As a result Sports Personality 2008 will not be Robinsons-branded unless the deal can be renegotiated to make the show editorially compliant, and the opportunity will be withdrawn from 2009 along with a number of similar, smaller projects.

An unhappy episode and an inevitable result, but overall a good thing. Bottom line, this was an ill-conceived and (as anyone who watched the 2007 show would agree) poorly executed deal which took the BBC into no-win territory both commercially and editorially.

Which is not to say that sponsorship doesn’t have a role to play going forward for the BBC – quite the reverse.

The Corporation’s search for alternative revenue sources beyond the licence fee will quite rightly continue. But the big wins are in digital services, international markets and the BBC archive – and as those models develop, so will sponsorship opportunities.

But on-air in the UK, sponsors should only be seen on the BBC where they’ve quite naturally and prominently been seen for years - as sponsors of events which the BBC covers.

By Tim Crow on July 23rd, 2008

Tags: BBC, Broadcast sponsorship, Television

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