Who better than Patrick Nally, for many the originator of modern sports sponsorship, to offer the latest contribution to our ‘What’s the Greatest Sports Marketing Innovation?’ debate? Earlier this week Patrick threw his hat into the ring, not only offering us insight into his role in the inception of the industry, but also to give us his own nominations for the top spot.

In a wide-ranging interview, Patrick talked about his formative years working with Horst Dassler to create the first FIFA World Cup global sponsorship packages which became the template for the IOC, IAAF, F1 and most sports marketing deals today.

You can watch the full interview on our YouTube channel here, or below. 

So where do you stand? What do you think is the greatest sports marketing innovation of the modern era? Let us know your thought in the comments box below, or in the original blog, before the big vote starts later this month.

By Lucie Bartlett on December 2nd, 2010

Tags: Football Sponsorship, Formula 1, London 2012 sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship, Olympics, Ryder Cup, Sponsorship, Synergy, Television, What's the Greatest Sports Marketing Innovation?, World Cup

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‘Tis the month for a good debate – you only have to click here to see the ongoing and lively discussions generated on our global poll to find the greatest sports marketing innovation of modern times.

With just over a month until this year’s BBC Sports Personality Awards, it’s right about now that I, along with people up and down the land, begin to debate who should be in the BBC’s final short-list. Growing up watching the show, having attended the last two and with this year’s Birmingham ceremony on Sunday 19th December already in the diary, I can’t wait for the night itself.

One of the privileged few who actually does help to decide the final shortlist, SPORT’s editor Simon Caney, shared his own top 10 in today’s magazine which got me thinking who would make mine.

It must be said, Ryder Cup 2010 aside, with no Olympic Games and a truly feeble showing by England in this summer’s World Cup, it has not been the most historic of years. But there are two clear stand-out names for me.

Graeme McDowell checks out his Ballantine's Championship blend

1. Graeme McDowell – having worked with GMAC for Ballantine’s (have you tried Graeme’s very own Ballantine’s Championship blend? Lovely.), Graeme would get the nod for personality alone. Cracking guy. Add to that his performance in October’s Ryder Cup, helping Europe to win the trophy and most importantly, back in April, becoming Europe’s first US Champion in 40 years; he’s had an incredible year.

2. AP McCoy – Tony McCoy. The greatest jump jockey horse racing has ever seen. Finally won the Grand National this year on Don’t Push It, 15th time lucky. Ridden over 3,000 winners and been jump racing champion every year since 1995/96.

Difficult to see beyond those two for me. However, let’s not forget a few other worth contenders:

Powerade ambassador Jessica Ennis

3. Jess Ennis – Powerade ambassador, flying the flag for both Sheffield and GB (as team captain). European Heptathlon Gold medallist in Barcelona earlier this year.

4. Mo Farah – Bupa flash runner, NFL honorary captain and, more importantly, one of this year’s big sporting success stories having won both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the European Championships. Nice chap to boot.

5. Graeme Swann – standout bowler in this summer’s Ashes win, the ECB’s Cricketer of the Year and all-round great Tweeter.

6. Lee Westwood – finally crowned the world’s number 1 golfer (Tiger who?), especially excelled this year in weight losing and Ryder Cup winning, before injury forced a temporarily break from the game.

7. Tom Daley – his gold medal Commonwealth Games performance in Delhi would have secured the 16-year old Olympics gold. True fact.

8. Phil Taylor – has a darts player ever won before? No. More than enough reason for me to back ‘The Power’ and he’s certainly the greatest in the sport. Would eat my hat if he did win. Happily.

9. Lewis Hamilton – has the ability to win SPOTY based on this Sunday’s performance in Abu Dhabi alone, the last race of what has been a fascinating F1 season. Leading the British charge to stop Alonso, Webber or Vettel taking the world championship. Win the title, win the Sports Personality. Possibly.

Bupa Ambassador Mo Farah

Long shots for my final nod include Amy Williams (fearless Olympic gold medallist in the Winter Games), Stuart Broad (if he has a stonking first Ashes Test in Brisbane this month), Phillips Idowu (for services to bonkers hair colour) and Mark Cavendish (five Tour de France stage wins and one of the world’s greatest sprinters on the road).

Never easy to make the final call. If I was pushed, I think Amy Williams would get the nod for #10. And Mark Cavendish to replace Lewis Hamilton is he doesn’t win the F1 Championship on Sunday.

Yep, I’m done. Have I got it right? And who’d make your list?

By Stephanie Branston on November 12th, 2010

Tags: Ashes, Athletics, BBC, Cricket, Cycling, ECB, Football, Formula 1, Golf, Lewis Hamilton, Media, NFL, Olympics, Ryder Cup, Team GB, Television, Tiger Woods, World Cup

11 comments

If you ask industry experts or observers of sport to identify the greatest ever sport marketing innovation, it is reasonable to assume the resultant list would consist of the usual suspects: probably something executed by Red Bull, Nike, or Real Madrid; or perhaps one of the many Mark McCormack-inspired sport marketing initiatives. Such innovations are often iconic, era-defining, sometimes signifying major paradigm shifts in sport marketing thought or practice.

For me, Red Bull is my personal favourite sports marketing innovation; the brand is a phenomenon that has changed the landscape of sport. From its X-Fighters, to Travis Pastrana jumping Long Beach Harbour in a Subaru, to the company’s Flugtag air racing series, the brand has become the sport, and the sport has become the brand. What started out with an Austrian guy buying the right to manufacture a drink that already existed (a natural drink from Thailand that was thought to have stamina-enhancing properties) has become a sporting empire that either defines the sports in which it is present, or else successfully competes in sports where other brands also have a presence. In either case, Red Bull has popularised or developed sports that meet the needs of a rapidly changing marketplace, but it has also brought a sense of excitement and daring to other sports in which it is involved.

Yet profound sport marketing innovations are not necessarily the most obvious, big, bold, global, Red Bull-type statements that touch all of us in some way. Rather, they are sometimes small, subtle changes that affect how sport is staged and played, how it is consumed, and whether it is a success. Alternatively, they are the result of close alliances between different sporting stakeholders that somehow affect peoples’ lives or behaviour: no less significant than Galacticos-era Real Madrid, and with effects equally as ground-breaking as Nike’s Air Jordans.

In this context, it is worthwhile differentiating between sport marketing and marketing through sport. At the heart of sport marketing is what economists call ‘the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis’. In other words, the core product in sport and what gives that product its strength is unpredictability: not knowing who will win a competitive contest between the individuals or teams involved. As such, any development that has promoted uncertainty has to be deemed as being a sport marketing innovation, whether it is a small amendment to the rules, a change in competition format, or the restructuring of a league. Within these parameters, the introduction of the Indian Premier League and the 1992 restructuring of the UEFA Champions League both merit being labelled as major sport marketing innovations in the way they changed the nature of the product and competition. So too, the rule changes that truncated Michael Schumacher’s dominance of Formula 1; at a time when the sport’s popularity was dwindling rapidly, changes to key regulations re-introduced a sense of competitive balance into the sport which in turn boosted its commercial attractiveness and its appeal amongst fans, while strengthening the core product.

The way in which marketing through sport also leads to innovation has resulted in some unheralded but very important developments. In 1977, Jean-Pierre Jabouille competitively drove a spluttering Renault F1 car for the first time in the British Grand Prix. This was the first ever F1 race for a car powered by a turbo engine; thirty years later and the use of turbo engines in road cars is now widespread. In this case, the innovativeness has come in terms of technological advancement, diffusion of knowledge, product development and enhanced vehicle performance. Such developments are evident too in yacht racing; a decade or so ago, Ericsson used sponsorship of the sport to trial, develop and promote its new GPS technology. Meanwhile Marlboro, through a 25-year association with the McLaren F1 team, reinforced its macho brand image through a relationship that was described as the equivalent of a royal divorce when it ended. Hawaiian Tropic has often used promotional give-aways, handing out sun-tan lotion, towels and hats to NFL fans at games held in the sun, enabling product sampling and building consumer goodwill. And the advent of giant video screens has helped transform the atmosphere in stadiums across the world by providing a better viewing experience, delivering high quality information, and promoting new forms of camaraderie amongst fans. Not to say the new opportunities it has provided to advertisers. The lists of such ‘small’ things that have gone on to become big, even if we have not always noticed them, have clearly been immense in several cases.

When I witnessed a move involving Roberto Carlos, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane, playing in a game at the Bernabeu, it was something that will live with me for a long time: sport marketing innovation at its height, my very own Galactico experience, one which was immensely pleasurable. Yet whenever I take my turbo-diesel powered car on a long journey down the motorway, it is hard to believe that a French sports-car driver tagging along at the back of an F1 field is having just as important an impact on my daily life. Sport marketing innovation does indeed come in many forms, often starting small and ending up becoming something big.

Professor Simon Chadwick is Chair in Sport Business Strategy & Marketing and Director of the Centre for the International Business of Sport (CIBS) at Coventry University Business School. Follow him on Twitter: @Prof_Chadwick

By Synergy on November 12th, 2010

Tags: David Beckham, Default, Football Sponsorship, Formula 1, Indian Premier League, New Product Development, Sponsorship, Synergy, UEFA Champions League

3 comments

A few weeks ago, Tim Crow and I found ourselves sat in the back of a car on a stationary motorway for five hours. A lot of filling time by anyone’s standards, but we turned to one debate which actually not only filled the five hours, but is still going - what is the greatest modern sports marketing innovation?

This is not about the biggest financial deals but decisions made off the field that were genuine game changers in the wider sports marketplace. We brought the debate back to Synergy and found the more we’ve all discussed it, the more we’ve argued and the more we’ve argued, the more we’ve enjoyed it. So we thought it was only fair to open the debate up.

The format is simple:

a) We’ve listed below our initial thoughts – once you’ve read them, let us know if you think we’ve made any glaring omissions or if you disagree with any of our choices in the comments section.

b) In December we’ll then publish the full list including your suggestions, with a voting mechanic alongside giving you the chance to vote for what you think is the greatest modern sports marketing innovation.

c) The vote will determine the Top Ten, which we’ll announce in January.

It wouldn’t be a real debate without some house rules though, so here they are – short and simple:

1. It must have been a genuine game-changer

2. It must have impacted primarily on the marketing and financial side rather than on the field of play

3. We’re talking global impact

4. Keep it within the last 50 years

OK? So, here are our thought starters, in chronological order:

1960 – a promising American golfer called Arnold Palmer shook hands over a representation deal with his friend and Yale law grad, Mark McCormack. This handshake was the start of IMG and birth of modern sports marketing.

1968 – After the NFL and AFL merged in 1966 the first two championship games between the two winners were called, snappily, the NFL-AFL World Championship. KC Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt then came up with the term Super Bowl for the game after seeing his grandson playing with a Super Ball, (a densely elasticated ball) and a global phenomenon was born.

1976 – already prevalent abroad, Kettering Town became the first British football club to have a sponsor on its shirt – the deal may only have lasted four games but it changed the rules in the UK. The forward thinking brand? Kettering Tyres.

1978 – Horst Dassler and Patrick Nally created a sponsorship model for world events starting with The FIFA World Cup that other rights holders have followed ever since.

1978 – Bernie Ecclestone became chief executive of the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) which culminated in Ecclestone securing the right for FOCA to negotiate television contracts turning F1 into the global financial phenomenon it is today.

1979 – Jack Nicklaus argues successfully for the inclusion of European (rather than just British) players in the Ryder Cup, transforming a struggling, one-sided tournament into what is today probably the most significant global event in golf.

1981 – the first major PPV boxing match between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns was screened by Viacom Cablevision, the event sold over 50% of its subscribers for the fight and a new form of sports viewing was born.

1984 – Nike, a struggling sports shoe company, signed rookie Michael Jordan and created the first shoe named after a player – The Air Jordan.

1985 – Horst Dassler, Juergen Lenz and Michael Payne (pictured) create the TOP (The Olympic Partners) concept – the building block of the most lucrative sponsorship format in the world.

1992 – The English First Division clubs resigned en-masse from the Football League and formed the Premier League (with the considerable help of Sky TV) which is now the most watched and most lucrative football league in the world with the format copied across the globe.

1995 – The first ever Extreme Games (later changed to X Games) was held with the backing of ESPN – it catapulted fringe sports into the mainstream, bringing with it vast corporate investment.

2003 – The ECB introduced the world to Twenty20 Cricket via the Twenty20 Cup between counties, the mould breaking game has gone on to be adopted across the globe with IPL changing the financial face of the sport.

Now it’s over to you - let us know what you think (good, bad and ugly) and we hope you enjoy the debate as much as we have.

By Dominic Curran on November 5th, 2010

Tags: American football, Barclays Premier League, Brand marketing, ECB, Football Sponsorship, Formula 1, New Product Development, NFL, Olympic sponsorship, PR, Public relations, Ryder Cup, Sponsorship, UEFA Champions League, What's the Greatest Sports Marketing Innovation?, World Cup

54 comments

I was saddened to see that Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd has gone bust. Amid all the furore about the location, and very existence, of the 2010 British Grand Prix it has been easy to forget that DVL had a vision that extended far beyond a single race in the F1 calendar.

DVL CEO Simon Gillet is an immensely likable man and it is easy to agree with his views on just about anything, such is the clarity and passion with which he communicates them. I am not certain of exactly whose idea it was to fund a race track through debenture sales, but when I heard him expound the virtues of his scheme, I completely understood what he was trying to do.

Yet the basic assumption behind the scheme was deeply flawed and in the final analysis I am surprised that it got as far as it did. To expect regular race fans to subscribe to multi-year debenture seats in unbuilt stands, to attend multiple races each season to justify the cost, at a location that is remote from the centres of commercial power in this country, was just too much of a stretch. The approach works well in sporting environments where tens of thousands of loyal fans live locally to a facility (The Emirates, for example) where the number of games is high and demand historically outstrips supply.

But motor sport doesn’t work like that. The Bahrain International Circuit concluded after five years of hosting a Grand Prix that the race earned the circuit no money at all; the cost of organising and hosting the event over five days is significant. But what it did do is confer on the circuit the awareness, credibility and gravitas to allow it to promote itself on the open market as a venue for events throughout the remaining 360 days of the year. The BIC is successful at executing this strategy and hosts hundreds of events on track and at its various facilities each year, which earn more than enough to compensate for its F1 loss leader.

Donington chose not to attempt to replicate this model, perhaps feeling that without the steady stream of government business that the BIC enjoys (it is government funded), the East Midlands facility would struggle to survive as an independent exhibition and events venue in the manner that Gillet had conceived. Instead it chose to focus on hosting lesser races and driving events on a more regular basis, and charging regular punters more than they could bear, for the privilege.

There is insufficient demand for Motorsport away from F1 to justify this approach, and that is why DVL’s dream has died. Sad, I know, but true.

By Scott Garrett on November 20th, 2009

Tags: Default, Formula 1

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Formula One pits nation vs nation in A1GP copycat shock!

Some time ago, I recommended to FOTA that it adopt some of the infrastructure of A1GP (the self-styled World Cup of Motorsport), were it to start a breakaway series, which was a topic being discussed earlier in the 2009 season by the F1 teams’ representative body. I meant it as a logistical efficiency, whilst bemoaning the decline of A1GP which I reckoned was founded on some interesting principles: nation vs nation in identical machinery.

F1 machinery is not identical and I am happy for that: A1GP could never offer a constructors’ championship. But I remain intrigued by the nation vs nation idea and think that – more by accident than design – F1 is heading this way. I think it would be good for the sport if it were to do so because national passions could be piqued, adding a spice to its competition that F1 has largely been missing. The news today that Jenson Button has signed for McLaren has helped.

To begin not with McLaren but with Jenson’s former team Brawn GP, here’s how I see it:

Brawn is now Mercedes Grand Prix. Mercedes is German. In 2010 its drivers will be Nico Rosberg and possibly either Nick Heidfeld or Adrian Sutil. All are German. They may be sited in the Northamptonshire countryside (Mercedes F1 engines are made down the road from Brawn’s Brackley site, in Brixworth) but this team will be under teutonic management. Team Germany.

Not ten minutes’ drive from Brackley, Force India F1 operates from Silverstone. Promoting Indian brands globally, and western brands in India, the team’s commercial proposition is clear. Owner ViJay Mallya is the face of this team that has no Indian drivers yet, though Arun Chandhok remains a decent bet for a drive next year. Flushed with pride at its late season progress and with an Indian GP on the cards from 2011, Team India is alive and well.

To the east, in Hingham, Norfolk (until it moves even further east to the home of its Malaysian owners) is Lotus F1, managed by Tony Fernandes, the man that built Air Asia on the back of a Williams F1 sponsorship. The corporate body behind the team (Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Bhd) has embarked upon a programme of driver development aiming to put Malaysians in F1 cars in the future. In his tweets, Fernandes refers to “Team Malaysia aka Lotus F1″.

On the other side of London, the McLaren team pairs Jenson Button with Lewis Hamilton. Ignoring the fact that the team remains 30% owned by Bahrainis and will run Mercedes engines under its existing contract, we know that Mercedes will be reducing its investment in the team over the next couple of years. This will allow McLaren to become Team GB A.

In Oxfordshire, Williams F1 markets itself as the only truly British-owned team, the only true independent and the only team still managed by its founding partners. In 2010 none of these statements will be true, so the commercial proposition will have to evolve. Nonetheless, for Sir Frank’s unstinting loyalty to Queen and country, I think Williams can comfortably assume the mantle of Team GB B. At least it will run a British (Cosworth) engine in 2010.

One new entrant struggling to assert its nationality is Spanish team Campos Meta, which has been desperately trying to sign Spanish driver Pedro de la Rosa but there is so little interest from Spanish sponsors that the team is having to run a Brazilian and (probably) a Russian or a Venezuelan. But it’s a Spanish team sited in Valencia and Madrid, and no-one else is laying claim to the title of Team Spain.

By contrast USF1 positively glows with pro-American sentiment. I cannot imagine a sports team from the USA with the name US in its title, based in Charlotte NC, being anything other than Team America, whoever ends up driving the cars..

Ferrari is of course an Italian brand and excites rabid passions among the scarlet-clad grandstands of Monza and beyond. Even though it has failed to excite with its driver selections since Michael Schumacher departed (a shame: Felipe Massa is a cool character worthy of more than he receives from the fans) it will doubtless rise again in 2010 to become Team Italy.

So there you have it: Team Germany v Team India v Team Malaysia v Team GB A v Team GB B v Team Spain v Team Italy. This is a solid reflection of where F1 is touring, location-wise, and I think we will see teams from Korea and Russia before too long.

The teams that do not fit this model (Renault, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Qadbak Sauber and Virgin Racing) are backed by sponsors with naming rights that care little for national boundaries and so fail to excite national passions. This is not a criticism: their commercial objectives are transparent and they will doubtless serve their sponsors well. But I predict that their share of national support will be weaker than the “national” teams with a corresponding reduction in media attention that may yet cause sponsors to take note.

All of which may mean that A1GP’s legacy is more memorable than most commentators assume, as Formula One becomes the true World Cup of Motorsport.

By Scott Garrett on November 18th, 2009

Tags: Default, Formula 1, New Product Development

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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

1 comment

I always liked the idea of A1GP. Even as a Formula One purist, employee and fan, the idea of competing for one’s country as the zenith of an athletic career is a concept I understand. And it’s a concept I am happy to support with my heart, my voice and my wallet every time I enter Twickenham, Wembley or Lord’s.

My former F1 colleagues decried A1GP as being sufficiently inferior to F1, technically and commercially, as to be irrelevant, a place where driver careers went to die rather than peak. I suppose that they were right.

Yet the appeal of competing for one’s country in motor sport doesn’t die with one series. Instead, I think we’re about to witness its resurgence in Formula One. USF1 is a good example: viewed positively by F1 aficionados for its promise to rekindle interest in the world’s biggest commercial market, it will doubtless sell itself well in the USA, become sponsored by US companies, employ an American driver and run the stars and stripes on its livery. Yee-hah!

In 2010 the team will compete against Formula One’s oldest brand, Ferrari, which recently rediscovered the commercial effect of running an Italian driver in an Italian car at an Italian circuit. Ferrari has always been, in varying degrees, Team Italia. F1′s newest team before 2009 was Force India, which aims to bring Western brand sponsors to the huge Indian market and 2010 entrant Lotus, though it hides behind an English brand will be based in, owned, sponsored and supported by Malaysia and Malaysian businesses.

Enough cash is being invested in driver development programmes in developing markets like India and Malaysia that it won’t be long before we see drivers from these nations in F1. It is only natural that they should drive for their nation’s teams, employing indigenous support staff. Meritus Racing, a Malaysian-backed GP2 Asia team is already on record as saying ”We would be honoured one day to race as the national team in F1 and we hope to be ready to build our own F1 car, with Malaysian engineers, to achieve that goal by 2016.”

I think that this sense of national pride is something that F1 has been missing. I think it could add a certain frisson to proceedings. Not that Formula One needs it necessarily, but I like the irony that the raison d’etre of a series so heavily criticised by the techno-snobs of Formula One might be a key factor in keeping the series alive as motor manufacturers wave good-bye.

By Scott Garrett on September 21st, 2009

Tags: Formula 1

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Scott Garrett comments in The Guardian on the continuing fallout from the Renault F1 cheating case.

To read the article, click here

By Roberto Colandangelo on September 18th, 2009

Tags: Formula 1, Press Clipping, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultants

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Reading through my daily Google News Alert I came across a press release from Endsleigh Car Insurance issued Sunday last where, according to the headline, Endsleigh ‘looks ahead to the rest of Formula 1 Grand Prix 2009 season’.

What followed was a short summary of Michael Schumacher’s failed return to Grand Prix racing, Luca Badoer taking the place of the injured Felipe Massa, and questioning how many more teams will leave the sport following BMW’s decision to call it a day.

Not exactly ‘what Formula 1 Grand Prix fans can expect from the rest of the season’ as promised in the release, but more a lazy regurgitation of old news.

Luca Badoer has been and gone, having raced in both the European and Belgian Grands Prix, before being replaced last week by fellow Italian Giancarlo Fisichella; BMW are well into the process of trying to find a buyer; and ‘Crashgate’ has been dominating the F1 media agenda.

Despite the stories mentioned in the release being more than two weeks out of date, a quick Google search revealed pick-up on more than twenty websites.

It’s tough for brands not directly associated with Formula One or one of the current teams to benefit from the sport’s perceived glamour and large fan base. Endsleigh Car Insurance have shown themselves to be a little off the pace, which for a sport that lives and dies by fractions of a second will not endear the brand to motorsport’s hardcore.

By Synergy on September 17th, 2009

Tags: Default, Formula 1, Sport

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