Lotus Racing and CNN International have today announced a partnership deal that sees the new team entering into a long-term agreement with the world’s leading news network. CNN’s world famous logos will feature on the T127 race cars, the drivers’ overalls and on all team clothing.
The deal will be managed by CNN’s commercial Partner Solutions Group and is led by Rani Raad, senior vice president CNN International Advertising Sales.
“The combination of two such iconic and aspirational global brands fits perfectly with CNN International’s worldwide reach and brand positioning,” said Raad. “This unique partnership with Lotus Racing takes CNN International into a new era of marketing and promotions and puts us in front of a worldwide audience of millions.”
It is not clear how the deal will work but it will probably be similar to that which existed between Williams and Reuters, which was mainly used for top level corporate entertainment for customers of the news agency.
The CNN brand hardly needs more international exposure.
joeblogsf1 
Joe,
Having CNN as a sponsor probably guarantees more media visibility for the Lotus cars, hence more value for other sponsors using Team Lotus as a sponsorship platform. Speaking about ‘platforms’, both Gérard Lopez and Tony Fernandez said that they approached the commercial side of F1 by considering their teams as ‘platforms’ rather than merely selling sticker space on the bodywork of their cars. It sounds very intelligent but not that obvious for the average F1 fan. If you could tell us how this will concretely materialize it would surely make for very interesting reading.
Yours, tangui
Where were US F1 when all this was agreed? Surely this would’ve been a dream tie up for them?! But then, after everything i’m hearing from Charlotte, nothing suprises me now…
Well done Lotus!
Don`t the Brazilian colours suggest you anything????? There are some news to come….
Joe, your picture. From bad to worst..Find something nice..
THAT’S WHAT I CALL BREAKING NEWS
I know they say all publicity is good publicity, but does having your name on a racing car that’s trundling around in last place and only ever in sight of the TV cameras when it’s being lapped really equate to good publicity?
I admit it will be lapped quite often, so it does constitute quite a lot of exposure, but since when was association with failure and defeat a good marketing ploy?
If CNN has an interest in the far east, I could see some sense in it. But in that case, either Trulli or Kovalainen will have to be booted out to make way for a Malaysian in the cockpit. That way, they’d be lapped even more often and thus gain even more TV exposure!
Turner media group could be a possible target for a CVC exit strategy. Lotus could be a replacement for USF1 after their rather public failure.
So Blue Chip American companies do want into F1, just not with USF1!
Small steps by Lotus in the right direction, emerging as the solidest new team?
This is an important deal for CNN and is being led by the international side of the company. The three letters ‘CNN’ mean something different depending on where you are in the world, how you consume the media and why, and what sort of journalism and media you have in your own country. While exposure to F1 and interest in the US is lower than many other parts of the world, the feed back we got this morning from F1 fans (and press) in the US has been amazing which should say something for the sport in general. And the global pick up to the story – just Google it and see – underlines why CNN and Lotus partnered. Hope that helps. Role on Bahrain
And I’d always thought CNN was at the leading edge……I was wrong……….
“Nigel CNN PR” interesting nick and even more interesting press release mispelling roll.
Someone that misspells ‘misspelling’ judging other people about misspelling words is interesting as well.