The whisper at the Wrooom skiing event in Madonna di Campiglio is that Philip Morris will renew its sponsorship of the Ferrari team when the current deal runs out at the end of 2011. It had been thought that the title sponsorship would pass to Santander, but it seems that Philip Morris decided against that and has managed to integrate the Spnaish bank into the portfolio without giving up the title sponsorship. Although legally the team cannot use its Marlboro branding in many places (and in fact no longer uses it on the car) the team’s official name remains Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. The cars also feature a black and white bar code livery with red and white which research shows peopel still think of a Marlboro, even if there is no such branding.
Overt Marlboro sponsorship of the cars and drivers was due to finish at the end of 2006. The branding was used in some non-European races. Since March 2008, Philip Morris International (the international tobacco assets of the company) have been separate from the parent company Altria. This resulted in PMI changing some of its strategies and these days there is no use of the Marlboro name on the cars.
The company remains one of the oldest sponsors in F1, having first entered the sport in 1972 with the BRM team. That deal lasted for three years but without much success and in the final year of the contract Marlboro was also involved with Frank Williams’s Iso team. In 1974 Marlboro agreed a sponsorship with McLaren which continued with enormous success until 1996. Marlboro was also involved with a variety of other teams and drivers, including Ferrari. This deal began in the late 1970s) and gradually increased in size until 1997 when Marlboro decided to concentrate all of its resources on the Italian team.
What happened to Max’s 2006 ban on tobacco sponsorship. It is inconceivable that having Marlboro in the team name and a logo everyone recognises is not contrued as sponsorship. It should be against the rules for any team to receive money from a tobacco company.
Still we have one rule for Ferrari and another for everyone else. Ferrari should have been brought up before the WMSC for reneging on their signature on the Internation Tobacco Marketing Standards Agreement http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns19036.html. All the other tobacco sponsored teams signed it and complied with it but Ferrari decided that they wanted to keep tobacco sponsorship.
It is time the FIA put an end to this ridiculous situation.
[...] Philip Morris a ponto de renovar patrocínio com a Ferrari? [link] [...]
Thanks for the link to the Grandprix.com story. But is / was “Max’s Ban” something that was codified in FIA Regs. And Mr. Saward, do you know what the rules are regarding sponsorship within F1 regard who the teams can or cannot get as sponsors.
Is Johnny Walker allowed because it works to prevent drinking and driving, are those adverts taken from the car when racing in Muslim countries. Well, in thinking I answered my own question, regarding that because Force India has Kingfisher and the Scotch producer as sponsors, and don’t recall them taking the markings off the car.
On a side note will Panasonic maintain sponsorship w/ F1 on Sauber since it appears as though they will have one of the only Japanese drivers, or if Nakajima gets a drive with Campos could Panasonic be a sponsor there?
Lastly Joe, where is a good place to start regarding more about the history and relationships with sponsors in F1?
George,
When it comes to the laws of the land Philip Morris is way more advanced than most companies. They know exactly what they can and cannot do. I am not pro-tobacco, but at the same time I believe that it is the democratic right of anyone who makes a legal product to have the right to advertise it. If tobacco is bad for you then maybe it should be banned. OK, there are downsides to that because it will just hand the business to organised crime, just as Prohibition did with booze in the US. I don’t have a problem with health warnings but I think that advertising bans are wrong. The team name is not advertising (per se). Williams is called A&T Williams, Ferrari is Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, this is not against the law.
Joe,
Thanks for the response. That is a clever ploy, by having their name in the team, not being adverts. I’m kinda neutral as far as tobacco. I think that the Cigarette companies provided some of the more interesting liveries in F1.
My primary question, and one which I would appreciate any guidance/pointing in the right direction, would be is there some reference/resource/book that provides some sort of background relating to sponsorship in regard to F1 teams.
We’ve seen various cycles of types of sponsors, but especially in light of the deafening silence regarding USF1, and their situation, I was hoping to learn from history, to understand the present.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and information.
George