IndyCar is trying to build up interest in its activities. And it believes that engaging with fans is a good idea. So this is their idea of how to keep folk amused with a short viral about what IndyCar drivers do in the offseason, with a few nods to the hit show, The Office.
Don’t miss the cameo performance by Michael Andretti…
Can you imagine a promotional film happening in F1 with more than one team involved.
Why not?
joeblogsf1 
Because Bernie has created the perfect fragmented dynamic between teams. They’re too caught up in petty disagreements (albeit the kind worth millions) to be a force worth reckoning. The money to be made with decent marketing of F1, using modern techniques and reaching new audiences would take this sport to new heights that could never be reached using today’s system, but nobody will ever see that.
Yes…
“If you think the Nissan DeltaWing is radical, look what we’ve come up with for the new specs for F1…”
Or maybe not…
Who would do this?
It would have to be organised between the teams (hahahahahaahahhaahhahahahaaahaahahaha!), or by an authority (The Concorde agreement), or FIA?
Anyway, teams have contracts with drivers for XX promo days presumably, and if you lose one or two to an FIA or FOM day when you didn’t expect it then you have to take one away from your sponsors, which they wouldn’t like.
Also perhaps sponsorship agreements are different, would certain sponsors (e.g. santander) want their brand to be first and formost in all Ferrari activities, and not have their santander-sponsored-Ferrari drivers jumping around with any sponsors in the background? An Alonso fan would watch that and see advertising for a competitor!
Longer shot, but still spending XX, XXX, XXX per year for a decade might make you a bit tight in contract sponsorship talks.
It would take 2 years to organise if at all. Firstly the teams “people” talking to the other teams “people” then the drivers “people” talking to the teams “people” then to the other driver’s “people. Then a scenario could take 6 months to be agreed a script a further year. Then the trailer sizes for the hangers on would need to be negotiated, (I doubt the drivers would actually care much)
In an age where every word spoken by a driver to the press, is recorded by the team and then analysed and used for reference or guidance (or maybe ammunition) later, to let a driver converse with other teams would immediately raise accusations of favouritism, enticement and espionage.
Good luck to IndyCar if they can do this kind of thing.
But having said all that if Bernie said he would like it done then all would be swept aside and it could happen very quickly.
….. or it could be that the F1 bosses lack the “sense of humor gene”.
I do remember in the run-up to the first Singapore GP, Martin Whitmarsh had a funny video, putting lights on the front wing of the car. Of course, he may be one of the few with the gumption to do something like that. A bigger problem is that Indycar has already done it, I suspect the bulk of F1 will not want to follow Indycar in anything. (even though, I would love to see Indycar as a support race for Austin or NJ, good luck with that)
That was a single team. McLaren has been very active with virals, but the point is that this clip involved several drivers from different teams.
Does RBR and STR count? Anyway, from memory I have seen a multi team vid. Renault at the Nurburgring.
It featured the Caterham drivers (Kova and Trulli), Lotus (Heidfeld and Petrov) and Red Bull (Webber and Vettel).
Obviously becasue they were the Renault powered cars of F1 2011, but still it is a multi team video, and it does prove that if teams have something in common (read: sponsor/manafacturer) then they have come together in the psat.
Because noone actually promotes or markets the sport as a whole.
Right on. Indycar has been active in the past in this way, with some fun and funny videos (YouTube search ‘day with dario, day with Wheldon’). They try, although surely many like me are still feeling burned up over the Bernard ouster, being scared for their future as a result, and it’s taken away my appetite for looking at these and other new efforts. But it’s hard for me to picture F1 resorting to the like unless someday it too finds itself struggling to survive.
Yes that always annoys me too! Who do you think should promote the corporate image of F1 racing? I would have said Bernie and his merry men, since they gain most out of it. The FIA have their low key road safety thing, but if you were not an F1 fan you would not have heard of it. Now Todt is president, F1’s profile is almost underground. Only in Bahrain next year, will it get full international attention again. (I hope Joe can contact those guys again to get the real situation)
No I think if F1 is to survive past the next CA, then the rights holders need to push “the sport” globally, they seem to have missed a trick with Coke, (maybe F1 was too small for Coke to bother with)
I think Joe mentioned an F1 documentary, but it has not surfaced yet, then there is Rush coming next year in mid September. There is opportunity to do joint promotion. There is also currently, a Red Bull video, but I refuse to watch online on a site with 5 scripts and eleven (yes 11) trackers running.
Why not use a tor browser to hide yourself from all those scripts and trackers?
i watch indycar. it can be entertaining although the serious seems to have great trouble with leadership and the constant desire by the inmates to run the asylum.
drivers like will power and james hinchcliffe are wonderfully entertaining, fan friendly, and seem to be willing to do anything to promote their sport. since indycar primarily races in the US and canada, they know that their fans here have a strong desire to connect with the DRIVERS, not necessarily the teams. it seems like indycar fans support drivers while F1 fans mostly support a paint job.
it’s a a little different with indycar (and NASCAR, for sure), and F1 just doesn’t get that.
don’t get me wrong, i love F1, but you have to live with the fact that you won’t get much interesting interaction with the drivers. i think that the mobil 1 commercial with lewis hamilton and tony stewart were fantastic and show that there is potential to humanize the F1 drivers and present them to the US fanbase in an entertaining an likable way.
Sometimes they surprise you – remember the video ITV made to mark the end of their broadcasting contract with F1? Vettel’s air guitar, Hamilton deadpanning, Button and Barrichello lip-synching, Ted Kravitz with a Mario Theissen moustache and all. (Link here: http://vimeo.com/21369667)
So it can be done if the will is there…
Could be that this driver is simply a one-man show, and that this didn’t exactly go thru Indy for approval. Granted, things should be better, but in Indy you can pretty much feel free to do whatever your sponsor and owner will allow you to do. I hear some sanctioning bodies are not so minded.
Then again, betting he understands Texas football.
There are four drivers and a team boss involved. Different teams. Different engine manufacturers.
No thanks! Why should Formula One copy the Americans?
Formula One is more cultured and cerebral than any American motor-racing series. Agreed FOM could be doing more to promote and broaden the appeal of F1, and what it needs is a commercially minded creative team to think up new ideas…
It is not copying. It is being smart.
Precisely! Being smart and clever is what Formula One is about.
What’s happened with the Tata internet deal announced in February?
And what of the two new marketing directors, Michael Payne and Christian Vogt appointed in 2011?
We hear of these announcements and nothing seems to happen, unless i’m missing something.
My, my. A bit elitist aren’t we?
From my observations attending Grand Prix, Formula One appeals to the blue collar and blue blood and everyone inbetween.
An elitist sport for the masses? Perhaps yes, but then that’s it’s cachet.
Yyyeeeessssss. Hmmm…….. not too funny then. In fact not funny at all. Must be the canned laughter thats missing.
You really didn’t find any humor in or enjoy any of that clip? It made me like the drivers and appreciate their sense of humor; they actually were enjoying making that clip. I am totally bored listening to F1 drivers’ comments with their media speak and sponsor mentions; I remember the first time I saw Riciardo (sp) interviewed and being totally disappointed that he didn’t actually say anything or mention honestly what a blast he was having at his first F1 race.
I believe ahead of the return to the US there was supposed to be a promo in NY with all teams present, cars et al.
It never happened because they couldn’t agree who would do what.
Yet Mr. Big does accentuate the culture of self interest in F1, and when he goes, things can and may be different.
Not just one team, but two different engine manufacturers. Kimball’s story is amazing, in that he actually races with an insulin monitor and pump (his dad worked for McLaren and Ferrari). Hinchliffe turned out to be just as engaging as his predecessor in the Go Daddy green, Danica Patrick.
I have long been pals with his father and knew Charlie as a very small boy!
There is a wonderful IndyCar36 documentary with Charlie as the featured driver over a 36-hour period. His achievements serve to inspire those who suffer from diabetes.
“Why not?” Because according to your recent pronouncements, fans don’t matter; F1 can survive without them, either at the track or watching on the TV.
There is a difference between expressing an opinion about how things and thinking they are right. A subtle but important difference.
Your posts, and rabid defense of the ideas postulated within, would seem to contradict subtlety. I shall attempt to be more discerning in future reads and possible interpretations.
I have been called many things in my life: “Oi you”, “laid-back”, “too relaxed”, “horizontal”, “unflappable” and so on, but never before have I been called “rabid”. I guess that you must see a side of me that the rest of the world has missed.
There’s a moment, in Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker (seminal work, study of his time and a era at Solly) when he notes that the traders would just get fed up of dealing with customers, and bypass them altogether.
That just about happened.
But if Ole Rupe does not see anyone watching, or true fans can not get close, then ultimately, we have a serious problem.
What I think is happening, is simply a huge change in the sport. Much is brought on by the impending superannuation of Bernie, but much also about the economics.
I shall give you the blunt edition: nobody who cannot afford PPV television is any longer who the sponsors want to talk to.
This is not happy to understand, it means that we are dividing societies structurally, but the post – war dream of equality – and just about every social movement was out of necessity because of the immense casualties – was bunk, also, and funded by debts we all have to pay, and I assure you we pay them unequally.
Face it, true F1 fans are a rarity. Which is why I argue they should not be so gouged. The track is where we’d all feel happier. Now *this* is a critical flaw. But as for getting the money barrelling in to keep the show running, the devil drives.
Walk around any high street from Streatham to Singapore and how many F1 t-shirts as opposed to football kit do you see, any at all? Fan interaction seems to be limited to grudging autograph sessions. And the marketing of the sport with a view to keeping it in the public eye seems mainly to centre around Bernie saying controversial things, especially in the winter.
I wonder is F1 just too big for drivers to appear to be truly interacting with the fans – there are over 1 billion fans spread across so many different cultures, and just 24 (22) drivers. In the US with indicar, any PR they do will likely relate well with the majority of the fanbase.
Dunno about you, but who I know is a F1 fan wouldn’t be seen dead in a livery tee shirt. You know, well, hmmm, obviously we’re a much posher lot, us F1 fans 🙂
I always advise fans thatthe one way that one can spot a Formula 1 person in the 36 hours after each race is that none of them will be wearing team gear. Thus anyone who is wearing team gear is a wannabe.
You just don’t know how much I needed the still remaining, ten minutes later (enjoying it) grin from reading your reply!
My prep school had the most gruesome blazers . . and my mom was soooo proud . . .
F1 makes money for everyone involved. The .1rl loses money up the wazoo.
I would not be taking cues from the indiana faction if I wanted to be/stay successful in OWR…
BTW, I’m sure little videos like this one (that I won’t watch) will make up for the 27% drop in ratings and all the empty stands last year. 😆 😆 😆
Why won’t you watch it, Jim?
Is that ” The Stag ” ? ( There is only one ” Stig ” 🙂
So what? The IRL/Indycar series has promoted and hyped itself incessantly for the last 15 years and look where they are. Still basically nowhere. Meanwhile, F1 just keeps on rolling along…
Joe, off the topic of marketing, but still on IndyCar, are there any current drivers who you think could cut it in F1?
To my mind, having watched most of this season, Power, Franchitti & Dixon, Pagenaud could cut F1. And those who have already driven in F1 are obviously capable if not the best. Bourdais would deserve another go in a better car.
I suspect that nowadays not many drivers in F1 consider any other driver a friend, in Indycar there is much more cameraderie and ‘hanging out’ together.
I’ve been around this sport long enough to remember the likes of Hill, Clark, Courage, Amon, Bruce McLaren etc all partying and hanging out during down time especially in the Tasman series. There is a lovely scene near the end of Mike Keyser’s fabulous “The Speed Merchants”
filmed by the pool at the Glen Motor Inn, Ronnie Petersen, Mario, Jacky Ickx, Brian Redman…….different times and as far as I’m concerned today’s scene has little to compare. I know Rubens Barrichelo had a real awakening when he arrived in Indycar this year and found it so laid back and social, sad that he can’t raise the money for another season but at least he gets to enjoy his lad growing up as he’s back in Brazil.
David,
that clip was so good, it hurt. Only a while, mind you. There is good pain.
Those drivers were big names when I still ran about the garden in my shorts. I used to do laps, imagining I was being chased, always stepping over a stone or a tree root a different way, to split faster . . . If I bothered to wear shorts, I was not very big then. The delight transgressed the years, and I felt like that little boy again. I was running, all alone, in the dark, through the trees, I closed my eyes – I did this walking home in London just the other week – in a imaginary pack, hearing only what was in my engrossed head, the fantastic sounds of others roaring to keep pace, to beat me, to be a part, disturbed only by my mother calling me for dinner. Engaged only by a dream of going faster. My mother would put out my plate so I could smell it, as I ran by, another lap, upset I’d not come in. But, of course, I did.
Will what we have now evoke so much, or, I admit it, it’s just me, so little me? All those sounds, they hit me under the plexus, maybe because I had it on very loud, maybe a bit more because I hadn’t heard the voice of someone actually examining why they raced for so long. Sometimes I think my prematurely failing sight and hearing are because there’s been so little worth to absorb. You have to *want* to see. Just as you have to want to love, or care, or just be.
The video was filmed at the IndyCar offices by IMS (as in Indianapolis Motor Speedway) productions on the day of an owners’ meeting. The drivers were there for physicals for their 2013 licenses and the prize-giving banquet was that evening so someone took advantage of those stars aligning to make the video and good on them for doing it.
Yes, but the key point is that they made it happen.
Oh, I agree totally. I was just giving some background information.
James is a great guy – I’ve known him since he was racing karts and then FFord’s. Sponsors love his personality. You also don’t hear about his visits to children’s hospitals when he drops in without a posse of ‘handlers’ – just himself.
If you think this is cool, you should go to the races or watch them on TV and online! The racing is always extremely close. You never know who’s going to win. They have committed sponsors, lots of freedom and they sure know how to treat their fans. They are normal folk, accessible to their audience – and as you’ve indicated, their marketing shows lots of good thinking.
Yes, Indycar is fun and very relaxed. They can and do do lots of these kinds of things. They have to. They have no audience. And most of their sponsors are as unknown as are most Indycar drivers. Indycar has to BUY television time to get broadcast anywhere and the seats are empty at most events.
It wasn’t always like this. Back in the day when the grid was filled with Andrettis and Unsers, Fittipaldi, Sullivan, Cheever, Fabi, Tracy, Lehto, Lyendyke, Rahal, Mansell, Moreno, Papis (and the list goes on), the races were always exciting and close and the fans were always treated like customers. But back then, the sponsors were huge, the events sold out and networks were fighting for the race broadcasts and the drivers were almost as famous locally as ‘stick and ball’ athletes.
From then to now, I’ve never missed an F1 race, as boring as so many of them were over the years. But l never had to worry about missing or recording an Indycar race – if you can even find one on TV – because you’ll never hear who won or read about it anywhere. They are trying everything – rules, cars, events… but nothing seems to work.
I don’t get it. Maybe you can tell us what happened, Joe.
The Indycar world committed suicide when it divided into CART v IRL. This was basically a clash of ego between a bunch of rich men and no-one backed down until they had to, by which time they had destroyed the sport and NASCAR had filled the vacuum. The smart Indycar team owners built NASCAR teams…
That’s the right word – suicide. CART in its day was potentially a challenge to F1; teams designed and built their own chassis, there were more than two (or one) engine manufacturers and the racing was great, with a very nice combination of road and oval courses. Penske and his Mercedes stock block at Indy was a wonderful shock to the system; Porsche, Alfa, Honda, Toyota, Ford, Chevy (Ilmor), Mercedes (Ilmor), et al made things technical and exciting. CART discovered a very good balance of downforce and mechanical grip with underbody venturi and wing regulations that allowed very close racing and no need for DRS type solutions. And now we have a spec series………
Too bad they did commit suicide, and a long slow sad suicide it was.
Nice one, SteveH.
I was just a kid P****ed off by lack of racing I could understand. My childhood, the fast cars went vroom something wonderful down your circuits, kids my age thought it was pure awesomeness to slam down your neck of the woods.
If you had just a bit of that enthusiasm, who needs Bernie?
Maybe that’s why he won’t play his cards on your table.
Hey, maybe it’s not F1 being lousy at working out the USA, but the USA being lousy at sussing racing? I mean the game we play.
Sorry that is just not meant as insulting to anyone, I just think there’s been a mess.
As in, since when has a US team gotten over here? Just look at how we all drooled at seeing Andretti again.
I know we are all pussy and don’t like muscle cars . . . absolute b’sh’t we don’t want them. DTM = Don’T ever Mention.
Arrrrgghhhh! Want to see us lot playing you lot, at a race. That would get some hearts actually racing. ~ j
Right you are, Joe. No doubt the split was the cause – a stupid a self inflicted slow death. It took too long to come to their sense and by the time they did, the die hard entrants had been convinced to move to NASCAR to save their investments.
But there’s more than that. NASCAR growth has been continuous for a very long time. Both before and after the CART IRL split. Their audiences have grown through well timed TV relationships and active merchandising. But it has been the driver relationships with sponsors and fans that have really made it happen. Only NASCAR could do this as they have a unique advantage. With drivers close to 50 yrs old, many have had the same name, number and colour scheme for decades. That makes it easy for casual fans to recognize the participants and become more involved – and it sells a lot of t-shirts (along with Viagra and just about any other household product known to man or woman). And it builds very loyal sponsors and fans. In the après tobacco era, no other racing series has that!
Yes, there are some things that NASCAR does very well. I think the numbering concept is a good one. F1’s is logical from a sporting point of view but it misses the marketing potential as teams have to change numbers every year and so cannot build up number “branding”. I think it is maybe a good sign that they still get excited about putting a number one on the car.
MotoGP allows the reigning champion to put 1 on their bike but doesn’t enforce it.
Hence you get some champions, notably Valentino “The Doctor” Rossi, who retain their number (46, in Rossi’s case) and some such as Jorge Lorenzo who bear the number 1 with pride (Lorenzo has even had the 1 designed to look like his initials, JL).
Whether it’s by numbers or not (though numbers are the easier and cleaner option), I’d love F1 to find a response to the all too frequent situation of commentators struggling to identify a car/driver correctly immediately after an incident. Large numbers on the sides of the engine cover and/or sidepods would help, though the teams would scream about lost sponsor exposure/revenue.
As for the drivers expressing themselves, sometimes I wonder if it’s not just the kind of people that modern F1 attracts / recruits. F1 teams are looking for intelligent, measured, controlled drivers. It’s often about minimising risk, about conservatism.
MotoGP and motorcycle racing however requires a high degree of risk taking and danger – shown by the death of Marco Simoncelli last year – and so perhaps attracts more eccentric personalities.
I’m not saying that the F1 drivers are uniformly boring, but I’d say that they’re a more reserved bunch than the MotoGP paddock.
For all the endless helmet changing from Vettel and Hamilton, I’m not sure I can see either of them copying Rossi’s bonkers “face” helmet (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2008/Rossi+turns+heads+with+special+edition+Mugello+helmet) amongst other fun designs.
I’m surprised that none of the F1 lot (to my knowledge) have taken advantage of the on-board camera position to have a message specifically written to be read on TV screens around the world.
Large numbers do matter, but one more thing that could help is a proper spotter also sitting at certain points of a circuit helping. Commentators in US motorsport are often supplied spotters where both commentators and spotters assist the director, and commentators’ boxes are often designed for maximum visibility of the circuit; In North America, many circuits have moved the control tower and broadcast compounds for visibility, as their backgrounds often include public address or radio broadcasts.
Permanent numbering (NASCAR, INDYCAR with the #1 being optional) allows numbers often to have a meaning. Andretti Autosport’s #27 dates back to the time the team was owned by Barry Green in CART, where Jacques Villeneuve wanted it in 1995 as a tribute to his father Gilles..Stewart-Haas’ #14 is an A. J. Foyt reference. Panther’s #4 references minority owner Jim Harbaugh’s gridiron playing number (except in Charlotte, where it was used by a popular player, so he used #14 for Foyt).. Ryan Hunter-Reay’s #28 (will not be used in 2013) refers to the million in the United States battling cancer (his mother died of cancer). Even in the USAC era, #98 usually meant J. C. Agajanian, where the family often sponsors cars in various series using #98; Bryan Herta Autosport had an Agajanian-Curb deal in 2011 that led to it being that number. And, of course, Richard Petty’s #43.
When Penske first “defected” to IRL from CART in 2001, IRL already had the numbers they usually used, so Penske chose numbers #66 and #68 to honour the past (#66 best known for Mark Donohue’s win, #68 best for Tom Sneva in earlier Penske runs).
Speaking of liveries, did Hendrick Motorsports and Lowe’s pull a good one in NASCAR with their #48 team’s Dan Gurney influenced livery, ironic considering Johnson has raced with Gurney’s son in sportscar efforts.
Precisely. Even after all these years Mansell is still known by his “red five”, but he’s the only driver who’s ever been able to do it.
a clash of ego between a bunch of rich men and no-one backed down until they had to, by which time they had destroyed the sport
Methinks these words may come back to haunt us…
No, I think that intelligent souls have learned from the stupidity of the CART-IRL fight.