The other day my godson wrote to me to tell me about his latest adventures. He was going to be a merchant banker but decided, after spending some time with these masters of the universe, that it was a really bad idea and so he is now doing what he really wanted to do, which was to start a fashion brand. It made me smile. It is always great to see people doing what they WANT to do, and not just settling for a job because it pays well. Formula 1 is like that and it is a joyful world as a result. People like doing what they do. In my godson’s case, I think it was probably genetic: his mother used to be a lumberjack and his father had the odd ambition of turning an old gravel pit into a corporate leisure venue, and did do very successfully.
I cannot claim to know much about the world of fashion, but what I do understand is that you need to create a good brand and after that the products don’t really matter. Ferrari has shown that in F1. If the brand is strong enough, you can sell anything. What you need at the start is a catchy name, a product to launch the brand, and a target market. Big companies can afford to spend millions launching brands with TV advertising or sponsorships, but the little guys have to rely on good ideas and word of mouth. My godson’s idea is brilliantly simple. Most people have a bunch of ties hidden in their wardrobes. They do not want to throw them away because each has some significance, but they are never worn. His idea is to convert these into belts for the preppy types, each belt being a unique design, with a matching wristband made from the offcuts. An original concept, low material costs and high margins – and a snappy name as well. It sounded like an interesting business to me…
Anyway, it got me thinking about simple ideas that can make a difference in F1. Oddly enough, I have another friend who came up with another clever idea a year or so ago when she started a company called Flag Rags, to give women rugby fans a nice way to show their allegiance. It is an idea that could spread to many other sports, and my first thought was that it would a great idea to see F1 grid girls wearing such clothing (complete with sponsor allegiance, of course) rather than lugging great big flags around with them.
F1 seems rather averse to new ideas like this and the attitude always seems to be that there is no point in fixing something that is not broken. There was an attempt a while back (in Valencia I think) to have grid boys rather than grid girls, but no-one seemed much taken with idea. Whether it is politically-correct or not, F1 fans seem to like having grid girls.
One innovation that has come along in recent years was the idea of the drivers on the podium being interviewed there and then by old World Champions (or whoever is at hand). I like the idea but I am not sure that the execution was as good as it could have been in 2012. For a start some of the old champions could not stop themselves reminding the audience that they were once great racing drivers as well… which is not really the point of the exercise. Others asked awful questions and the additional problem of doing interviews with adrenaline-hyped F1 drivers emerged when one or two of them used inappropriate words. Most people in F1, particularly those for whom English is not the mother tongue, tend to use swear words as a matter of course and it seems that this upset little old ladies in Wisconsin and other sensitive F1 viewers. The teams had to be reminded to make sure that their drivers remained civil.
The key point for me about the marketing of Formula 1 – at all levels – is that the attitude is rather different to the engineering. When it comes to technical matters every single items and idea on a car is questioned year after year as engineers seek to make the machinery quicker. In marketing the same old stodgy ideas are applied year in, year out, because the attitude is that if nothing goes wrong, there is no need to change. It is true too of the tracks that rarely make changes to facilities unless they have to.
It’s much more effective if an organisation can identify something that’s not necessarily a problem, but could be done better. It is a question of paying attention to things that are not obvious and usually get ignored. In the pursuit of true excellence these things should be coming under the spotlight all the time…
joeblogsf1 
+1,000,000,000 – couldn’t agree more. It’s a reflection of those in charge – as is anything in life – culture comes from the top.
I agree about the podium interviews. A good idea in theory that pretty much failed in practice. If they can be done by Brundle/Coulthard/Buxton etc then fine, but some of the ‘randoms’ they had were amateur, and that is hardly the image that F1 wants to portray. And that is before getting to the swearing and Massa trying to talk to Piquet in Portugese and so on.
Even if the world was made of only bad ideas grid boys would still rank as one of the worst ever!
I like the grid girls, nothing wrong with them at all, the female F1 fans can have the drivers……
There is a current article on the BBC regarding the ‘Booth Babes’ at the CES show this year:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20957848
– bit of a non-happening but some of the girls were pretty far out.
Guys like gals, pretty obvious really.
Good heavens that was nothing!
How do the young generation think we used to sell cars in the old days? Every car at every international motor show was draped with female allure in various stages of undress.
Lets face it most electronic gadgets are singularly boring to look at and are greatly enhanced by the presence of a someone attractive holding it. I suppose that nowadays in the name of political capitulation, one has to have a pretty bloke holding another one too!
“It’s much more effective if an organisation can identify something that’s not necessarily a problem, but could be done better. It is a question of paying attention to things that are not obvious and usually get ignored. In the pursuit of true excellence these things should be coming under the spotlight all the time…”
In the pursuit of excellence for this site, maybe some Polls here and there could be back on the radar for this blog. I am sure that you could ask great questions to ascertain what perhaps a more informed set of F1 fans might think. This would serve two purposes, 1: add even more great value to this blog for us fans and 2: it would make you an even more informed journalist as you get more snapshots of the way the F1 world is perceived by fans, not just reporting F1 from the inside out.
I really hope this does not come across as arrogant. It is just a suggestion in the spirit of the excellent article above, the pursuit of excellence.
JA does that sort of thing if you need polls.
+1
I don’t “need” polls and yes JA is a great site, as is this one.
Original comment withdrawn (if that’s possible). It’s not for me to suggest ideas to Joe.
I cannot stand those interviews on the podium. None of the drivers want to be there, you can see that they want to celebrate and be with their team and families. Half the time it’s inaudible, and the questions asked are ones that could be both asked and answered better in the press conference. I pray that get rid of it, I’ve not heard anybody say one positive word about it. Even when people I love like Brundle do it, I’d still rather it wasn’t happening. Plus they’re always in English, whereas the crowd rarely is!
With you one hundred percent mate.
Podium interviews are abysmal. Should be stopped immediately. the old format inside is far superior. Providing only that if Kimi is present his hands need to be restrained and kept away from the microphone.
The Wimbledon tennis lot are just as bad if not worse, with the winner out of breath and dripping with sweat and wanting sit down, but instead has a microphone shoved under their nose and a series of inane questions asked. It show a basic trend towards tabloid journalistic standards and instant gratification/lowest common denominator.
Me too, with you 100%. How can we get a voice heard regarding the atrocious podium interviews? I’m sure Bernie & co will want to get some sort of return for their investment in the revised podium structure, but the world will be grateful if it quietly disappears over the winter and is replaced by a more conventional press arena – with questions asked by a proven journalist rather than an opera singer or a former driver/team owner with poor broadcast skills (Messrs Brundle, Coulthard and even the surprise package Herbert being notable exceptions – Messrs Lauda, Piquet and Jordan emphatically not exceptions).
As for the swearing, I know the comment about old ladies in Wisconsin is intended to lighten the mood, but – while I was not personally in the least bit offended – I fully agree with Peter Windsor’s view on the unacceptability of such language on world feed ‘family entertainment’ TV. I can imagine plently of familiies not welcoming the effing and essing while gathered together on a Sunday afternoon.
While ripe language may be rife in F1, and of course in society as a whole due to an increasingly poor breadth of vocabulary, it remains a wholly inappropriate way of communicating in any kind of formal setting. The world at large – and particularly a certain major world superpower – is still a conservative place in general. Teams should not underestimate the potential damage caused by broadcasters being unwilling to grant coverage to their drivers for fear of them dropping bombs into the conversation…
I was rather hoping that a few real down-home English words would see the end of this ghastly cringe-inducing spectacle on the podium, so lets hope that Kimi and Seb are up there often.
For preference with JB, whose “good evening everyone”, as if it was suddenly Sunday night at the Palladium, made a great effort to put the whole thing back into the box where it belongs.
PS. These are the sort of podium interviews we need (courtesy of the Fiver) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGeYrDWOuFw&CMP=EMCFTBEML853
Look at the later posts, you’ll see that I commented on archaic government regulations on broadcasting here in the US. It is doubtful that anyone who watches the races live, which means getting up at “Oh Dark Thirty” (depending on which ocean you live closest to.) would actually care about a random F-bomb. You can see much worse than that on US TV at that hour. Certainly the prospect of a family gathered round the TV at 4:30am doesn’t seem too likely. True, the races are usually re-broadcast at a more civilized hour later in the day, but by then, any indiscretions are edited out. Joe said there were many complaints, but those were probably from broadcast engineers and station managers with nothing better to do and a chip on their shoulder because they have to work at ungodly hours to cover “European” programming.
You have to realize that very few races are televised over the air in the US. One has to purchase a “sports package” that includes the SPEED channel to go with their regular satellite or cable service, for which they also pay (usually a lot- in our household, it’s the highest utility cost we pay).
If there were complaints from viewers, they probably weren’t from Wisconsin; more likely they were from what we call the “Bible Belt”, farther south. Complaining is so much easier than it used to be, what with tweeting and all that, and it seems that complaining is one thing a lot of people in the US are really good at doing. (see, I just complained). Cheers
Well the striving for ever “better performance” is really not limited to F1/racing. There is a whole world of Continues improvement philosophy’s spear headed by the Japanese motorcompanies: Six Sigma, Kan Ban & Lean Manufacturing…so luckily not everybody thinks that doing it the same way because it works is the best way….but it can work anyware! As simple as suggesting that the supermarket should not print every receipt everytime (it is all stored in computers for their own amdinistration) but only when the customer asks for it, this saves loads and loads of paper every year!
My local Wal-Mart does not open up a regular checkout register in the middle of the night – which is when I’m usually out. Instead, I have to take my cart full of products and check myself out. It’s annoying. So, what I do to “get even” is use up as many plastic shopping bags I can. If I have six items that can fit into one bag, I’ll split them up and use three bags instead. So there.
Very good article Joe.i think this type of problem is not uncommon in most specialist industries.The problem is everybody is an expert in their field. But the problem with “Experts” is that after a while they start to believe they know everything about everything.. Formula 1 must receive many submissions from marketing companies full of young dynamic people who are on the cutting edge. But the closed shop environment of Formula 1 is not conducive to new ideas especially from outsiders and I suspect the insiders do what the “Experts” tell them in order to stay on the gravy train.
I’m slightly ambivalent on the grid girls thing… On the one hand I think it’s harmless fun to have them holding the flags out, and DTM had (has?) a good system whereby female drivers get a ‘grid boy’.
On the other hand, the lining of the route to the podium with women who are basically just there as decoration seems a little off to me. See @sniffpetrol.
That’s my favourite bit, grid girls wise. I look forward to the Japanese, Korean and Chinese GPs in particular!
I have no problem with the female drivers having grid boys. If only we had some female drivers!
Joe, I must say, I’m quite impressed with the “Otto Originals” website and product (though I haven’t tried them). Good luck to your godson!
True enough – once spoke to a friend of my boss, who was deep into a variety of sponsorships in various teen/extreme sports in the US and still wasn’t sure what his product line was going to be.
Why am I suddenly reminded of t-minus?
I didn’t like the podium interviews either. Preferred the old format.
But the real insanity, to my mind at least, was watching the final podium interview when most everybody really just wanted to hear from was Vettel. Who in management looks at a situation like this and doesn’t identify a glaring, yet easily fixed, problem?
The year end interviews, wherever held, should be top three Drivers Championship places. Speaks to F1’s strange disfunction when it comes to giving the fans what they want (other than good racing, of which they gave us plenty in 2012).
Randy Bernard can tell you what happens if you try to improve the sport with new ideas, bring back old ones that make sense, expand the market, connect with fans by answering their email. you get backstabbing owners, jealous drivers.and a pink slip,
The NBA is known for having celebrity fans such as Jack Nicholson and Spike Lee who are always getting screen time (Woody Allen keeps off camera but is known as a devoted fan). They marry several of their players in the the herd of Kardashians infesting this country.They make their players-Kobe,Lebron, Magic, Bird the stars instead of the game results (only a few teams have a chance to win a championship).
Someone once asked NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt what his salary was. He replied with an earthy euphemism and said he made $18 million a year on merchandising. I think Ferrari is good with this but do the others do as much?
I have heard of these Kardashians, are they actually Klingons? (Or is there a planet kardashia?)
A lot of people thought some of Bernard’s ideas – Vegas paydays, double headers, double-file restarts, picking grids from a lottery during a championship – were plain “daft”.
I liked the podium interviews using old champions, but I’d rather listen to Piquet and Lauda, etc. than the current bunch anytime. I thought the it was great they were unpredictable and spontaneous. Graham Hill would have been magic in that environment.
Where the sport seems to be failing is with young people. Supposedly, younger generations aren’t all that interested in cars, and if you look around at spectators at most events, they are primarily older males. I don’t know of any kids that have any interest in F1. I’ll give McLaren credit for trying with their “toons”, but is there any coordinated effort by the sport? Current tv coverage seems lazy and very 1980’s. F1 is missing big opportunities in digital media. Couldn’t Bernie find partners/sponsors to help pay for the investment?
Another thing that bothers me is the exclusivity angle that F1 has fostered so well over the years. I think it actually turns a lot of people off. It can be seen as aspirational, luxury-like, or as a bunch of rich old toffs’ club. As you said, inside the sport is very creative and vibrant, but to this long-time fan, it feels like there’s a wall around how I can access it.
Joe,
not sure about the old-ties-into-belts thing – there’s a reason they have been consigned to the back of the wardrobe!
But… old-belts-into-ties…that’s a different story!!
Have I said too much??
Hey, I live in Wisocnsin and I was not the least bit offended by Seb’s F-bomb! But on the other hand, I’m not a little old lady, so maybe there is something to it. However, I don’t know many local little old ladies who watch F1.
Not to be politically incorrect, but Joe, do you really think that a little old lady in Wisconsin who is up at 5:00am to watch an F-1 race really cares about swear words? It’s actually the anachronistic government regulations in broadcasting here in the US that gets offended. They must have someone who is a relic of the Edwardian era who is in charge.
Yes, there were lots of complaints apparently…
Is it OK for someone with a 10-year old kid say f*ck? If they hear it, you know they’ll say it.
Who is in charge of F1 marketing? If anyone actually is I trust they will return their salary and resign pdq. There is no coherent, or indeed “visible” F1 marketing at all.
Only the efforts of the teams to sell any kind of clothing or trinket bearing their logo or wordmark, (Team reputation bearing no resemblance to quality of trinket or clothing)
Otherwise we have to look to Bernie and the Paddock Club for marketing.
However all that is “point of sale” so where is the FIA corporate image shown the public? Even on the tv the FIA is invisible, is the FIA or FOM that is forced at us for 5 seconds during the opening titles? Obviously so good that I cannot remember which it is.
Now if Bernie had woken up a few at Concorde House with sharp stick and got things together we could have been seeing the “Coca Cola FIA Formula 1 championship” advertised on tv in advance of each race firstly at a time when people buy their travel tickets and then a week before each race. (A sub deal with a ticket/travel/package company in the early ad too??)
The current financial structure does not allow the circuits to advertise, having paid Bernie through the nose and paid for staffing, policing, new buildings, and a hundred other things, they are boracic for most of the year.
Obviously things need to change in the finances of the sport, everything is affected by it, if the greed were removed, the sport could become so much bigger.
Superb business for your godson! What is Freepost? That seems like something that might be available to UK residents only.
No idea, I am not a UK resident.
Yes, it is a UK system to allow companies to pay have mail sent to them. The customer just writes Freepost (and the Freepost number) on the envelope or package and mails it.
I’m so pleased to read that American F1 fans have grown in number sufficient to include “little old ladies from Wisconsin.”
Brilliant!
Here in Indiana 20 years ago, a co-worker’s elderly mother-in-law (since departed) was a big sports fan and she’d watch F1 races. So they’re out there.
The F1 business model is very simple – do everything you can to maximise revenue from TV rights and race fees and keep the red cars at, or very near, the front. Everything else is secondary and probably a waste of time.
Joe – unfortunately a lot of the possible innovation is held back by the agreements the media is forced to sign with the FOM as part of the TV rights deals. I think the clear area that new marketing initiatives could be introduced is via the internet. However, whilst there were some minor improvements in 2012, it still remains a neglected outlet.
In 2012 I turned the tv off before the interviews started, found them cringeworthy also the lack of actual national flag is insulting!!
Marketing doesn’t have the monopoly on stodgy old ideas either! The way the workshops and factories are run in a surprising number of F1 teams is based on ‘tried and trusted’ principles which do not reflect the ingenuity and ambition applied to the engineering….I agree that although budget capping isn’t ‘motor racing’ (but F1 stopped being a sport many years ago) it would drive much more innovation and reflect the teams performance as a whole rather than principly the design and engineering dept’s access to budget as now.