Williams has chosen to show its new car exclusively to F1 Racing magazine. I don’t understand the logic of this. If you give the car to one single outlet, they will love you, but you cannot expect everyone else to think good things about you. The media world is a competitive one and handing someone victory without a fight means that everyone else feels cheated. I hope that Williams has extracted a suitable deal from F1 Racing to make it worth the trouble that such a move may have with other journalists. I dot really care one way or the other but if I was on the news desk of another magazine I would probably not be too impressed, and if have little incentive to be nice and fair to Team Willy. They have not been fair to us. The reason that there are car launches is to avoid this kind of favouritism, but obviously someone at Williams thinks one can reinvent the wheel by doing it this way and will now discover why the wheel was invented differently. At the end of the day the team will be judged on its performance, but having the press feeling good about you at the start of a year is probably a more sensible route to take.
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joeblogsf1 
This seems incredibly odd – as a PR professional who has occasionally worked in F1 (for Craig Pollock with PURE – Joe, you may remember), the key is to make sure everyone is involved but that they all get something slightly different (exclusive briefings with a person of interest, different images, content at time that works better for their deadlines etc.). I see our job as smoothing the path between organisations and the media, not building barriers.
My point entirely
You would know more than me, but in the new world of quiet launches and press coverage being mostly requoting/reusing the press release I guess it was worth a punt.
I did think the coverage was better than many previous launches. You’d hope this doesn’t cause some journalists to have a negative agenda again Williams as I think right now they are one I the most likeable teams on the grid.
Also perhaps with more coverage these days being on twitter and other social media that recycle other media outlet information the impact is less. Sad state of affairs but perhaps one of the reasons.
Thanks again for your honest commentary on Motorsport, your views and assessments are great to read among the morass of rehashing of the same views.
It is not about the coverage, its about the impact on the media.
Just as I suspected, you journalists are biased continually. ” I won’t be kind to you, cos you were nasty to me. Ner nerdy ner “. Pathetic. Grow up, Joe. Williams aren’t newbies to this game. Maybe they knew how you’d react and they’re getting the coverage anyway by virtue of the fact you’ve mentioned it already. We’ve all seen the magazine cover now anyway, because we’re FANS.
No, you are a rude fan. I am simply pointing put what the media will say. And in case you had noriced i am a fan too. So be more polite or I’ll tell you where to go.
Hello Joe,
After looking to this interview (in French) from Robert Manzon i have a huge respect for early f1 drivers. The story of the race he won In Pescara in the 50ths is amazing.
A “must see” video:
Regards
Son of a gun, you fooled me good there, Joe. If I didn’t know you better I would’ve said you’re quite butthurt. (A Bay Area expression.)
Nope, i am simply pointing out what my colleagues will be saying. I am and always have been a Williams fan
Hi Joe,
This is nothing new. Caterham launched their 2012 car in exactly the same way; just to have the glory of being the first car in the public domain.
I don’t recall it having any negative effect with the press? But then Caterham never were the ‘darling’ of the F1 crowd.. That accolade went to Marussia.
No they did not. They did not five it to a single outlet.
That almost sounds like a threat, Joe?!
Perhaps Williams have found, that the press events are not bringing the value they are looking for (and investing in), and choose to try something else?
They are not the only team changing the ways, as FI is only doing a livery-reveal today, and won’t show the 2015 contender until second testing. I suppose that is a “fair for all” situation (compared to the F1 Racing advantage in the Williams situation), but surely it must be disappointing for ALL F1 media.
Anyway – shouldn’t this be about racing, and not about sucking up to the press?
You font undrrstand the media world
Maybe not. Care to help me by explaining?
The answr is in the story. It takes three years to qualify yo earn peize money if you are new
Not sure that was an answer to me, or to this post, even. 🙂
Oh well, just trying to be helpful. What did you want?
No, no – you get me wrong, Joe. I think your reply above accidentally was posted here, instead of the post about the Marussia “non-auction” sale thingy. I wasn’t whinging. 🙂
(I agree, btw. It can only be about Haas negotiating with the administrators. I hope they reach an agreement. But that’s a different topic).
People try to play the media, and especially specialist press, time to time. It just happens. The exercise is pointless and counterproductive. If Joe sounds hacked, it’s because Williams ought to know better than try a newbie hack hack, the futility of it all is what’s frustrating. I think it’s worthwhile to point out just how exasperating it is, to get those who don’t directly involve within media production, to realize that if there was any benefit to this sort of thing, the magazines and their sales people would be doing this all day every day, nothing else, and happily dumping on whoever didn’t cough up, so why don’t they? Need a answer be given?
Does it matter? If it weren’t for the paint job you couldn’t tell them apart!
+1 Robert. In fact it’s hard to tell any F1 car from another these days, and they even manage to paint them in similar colours, apart from Ferrari and Williams. I don’t think launches are newsworthy when all the cars are lookalikes.
Claire Williams used to head up the communications department a few years back, didn’t she? I would be surprised if they pulled a stunt like this without it intending to play a part in a larger plan.
Well she must have missed a couple of important lessons then…
Seconding Joe’s call for at least a revision lesson…
But, I omitted to say, above, that there is a whole subsection of trade press that actually do push all the time, for kinds of “specials”. I know some guys and gals, who literally could sell snow to the Eskimos. Not ice, snow, as in snow dance instead of rain dance, sold on a prayer. This is the sort of “deal” that used to cause my phones to light up with world + dog calling to find out who bagged the sucker. Not going further into it, but I’ve known some very very persuasive salesbods. And much bigger names than Claire Williams’ have been scalped.
I don’t see the big deal? They’ve simply given a chosen title an exclusive. Exclusives are standard practice in all realms of PR.
Plus, they know they will get additional coverage when the real car is unveiled.
I think it’s quite clever!
I think you may have missed out on the question of whether there is a good feeling about them in the media.
The press are rarely fair to anyone so I can entirely understand why they have effectively sold out.
I think the F1 press are a great deal more fair than the Internet wallahs, who know five-eights of f-all but still write a load a shite about things
Try starting a career in the media, and see how “fair” you get treated!
Joe, Now that a lot of the launches are online, how many Journalists still attend in person? I remember the foolish days of spending the best part of a million to launch a car. Mclaren and Cirque de Soleil spring to mind as a prime example.
No idea. I do not consider them to be worthwhile because all interviews are controlled and in groups, all photo ops are controlled and so there si no real value in wasting money to travel to these things. Better to pick up the phone and talk to the people inside
Definitely a deal of political leverage
I got a press release, with images etc.I’m not sure what’s news here?
Well, I did not.
I remember as a kid seeing the new cars being unveiled in Autosport was one of the most exciting things. Not quite the same now. And of course you have every tom dick and harry ‘analysing’ the aero changes.
or they are hiding something and we can expect images carefully taken under specific light and angle to hide innovative piece of engineering 😉
Is it possible the image released yesterday was a leak? I think Williams planned a formal online launch for Thursday in line with the publication in question going on sale.
Perhaps it was naive of the publication and the team to think the leak wouldn’t happen, but I believe the release of the image yesterday was not planned.
No, it was not a leak
Having trouble with a dodgy keyboard Joe? 🙂
Who uses a keyboard? I have a life to lead as well.
Happens every month (god, every day) in car mag world. F1 didn’t really get much more than a digital mockup. Good job by the ed – he’s obliged to sell mags, not make friends with his rivals. Undoubtedly, there will be some pissed-off people around; might inspire them to make a few calls to other teams?
Happens every single month – every day digitally – in car mag land. F1 mag editor just did a better job of landing an exclusive than his rivals. And really, what more has Williams given out than a digital mock up? Everyone in the game will have their back up about it for a few weeks, then the season will start and it’ll be forgotten about.
It does not happen all the time, otherwise I would not have commented on it.
With all due respect, it most certainly does… I’ve been on both ends of the brown-covered stick many times in my career (both as a car mag ed and as a motorsport mag ed).
Granted, the speed at which stuff is churned out/copied/reposted etc nowadays means that outlets who do score the coups don’t have them for long, but scoops for the guys who do the hard yards are still out there – as you have shown on this blog on countless occasions. It smarts like buggery when the other guys get it, I know that much!
BTW, is Sir Frank out of Hospital now and all sorted? I hope he is and I missed it…
Well I dont get that particular magazine. So won’t see this new wheel (they sold the last one) until it reaches the mainstream media.
However I am now puzzled at the quoted exclusive release because I see the pics on formula1.com and on the BBC F1 site as well as F1Fanatic (Keith Collantine)
I am sure that it is now available elsewhere because people will have asked for it. Once it is out, it is out. But they did not give it to F1 Racing yesterday. It takes time to produce a paper magazine
And this magazine is read by absolutely everybody touched by F1, right, so nobody is missed out… no regular fans or punters pissed off, either?
Argh, minus many many brownie points, since yesterday, Williams.
If I were a sponsor, or had booked a sponsor, I’d be livid at the restriction of coverage.
So far all coverage of the FW37 seems positive, nobody seems to be jealous or snippy at what Williams have done.
Yes, and you think that this means that people are not pissed off?
Didnt they do the same thing last year? Must of worked for them to go again.
I don’t believe so
This feels ever slightly how the FIA treat the press i.e. Only speak to certain publications, resulting in others being pissed off… It doesn’t feel sensible
The powers-that-be only speak to people they think they can handle. It is fear beyond that…
Which, boys and girls, is confirmation as good as any may need, that we’ve a naked emperor situation.
Launching it on the cover of F1 Racing guarantees better visibility to consumers for sponsors, rather than the vague chance of a photo appearing on page 38 of the Guardian (for example). And let’s face it, it’s not exclusive to F1 Racing, it’s exclusive to Haymarket – hence why Autosport are covering it. Also your beloved copy and pasters won’t be shy pushing the coverage into social media which is where it really matters. I think some journalists tend to forget that they’re not the audience; the punters at home are who the team and sponsors are trying to reach.
Times change and things move on. This seems a fairly good way of generating the coverage and eyeballs Williams and their sponsors will want, certainly worth a try.
Maybe, but the point you are missing is that it will upset the journalists. As I said I don’t care because I am not in that game, but I don’t understand the logic behind it.
I’m not a journalist, and I _guess i might be the audience.
Now, I don’t read any of Haymarket’s stuff, save for a quote check, or idly in the library. I spend, well, thousands a year on my love of this sport. I’m not, then, a market?
Haymarket aren’t free and easy with their media packs (price lists, circulation audits) (some say, with reason, though everyone perennially has the hump with audits, for whatever they are worth) so I don’t know off hand, their distribution.
Nonetheless, people are missing why Joe wrote this article: he’s not alone in being not a part of this deal. Oh, I reckon there’s at least one or two other magazines with pretty good circulation, other than at Haymarket… so I heard on the grapevine…
Maybe they fell for Haymarket’s international syndication business, multiple language editions. Well, that’s not quite as robust as you may think. They pitch those deals, you can buy one, for a price. Okay, syndication for titles complete, is hard, and few do it “right”. As in make money. Overseas publishers buy in often as not, for kudos, for having a “British Establishment Brand”, as much as dear Tarzan can claim that. Never underestimate how valuable Tarzan is, in such deals, either, whether he’s in his bath chair, or not.
I’m sure a lot of thought went into this. But, with all thought, was is the right kind, and was it enough? I’m going to punt some porta-darkcoolroom companies into the season opener GP+ …
But you’re missing the point that once the images and press releases are out there, the news is carried on a viral basis, either by the cut n paste merchants Joe dislikes so much, or by punters on facebook and twitter. I don’t really see what the disadvantage is. Williams get a spot of cash from Haymarket in return for exclusive first dibs; Williams and their sponsors get guaranteed global coverage in the best selling F1 magazine, in turn in prime position on retailer’s shelves; the story gets out (hence us reading and writing about it her, on yahoo, on facebook, etc.). I’m sure Williams’ PR people won’t be slow to make up for lost time by filling in the gaps for any journalists who have missed something – or by having a more traditional press event in a couple of weeks.
The latent goodwill of the media is the key point. It involves an undrstanding of subtlety
But, then again, I tend to avert my eyes from suspect reporting, or grabs of others’ legitimately licensed material, because I grew up form a child aware of the value of individual works, even if I don’t approve of the deals behind them. I’ve not seen or looked for a Williams launch picture or gallery. Frankly, I’m disinterested.
One word: Martini.
Red or white?
We haven’t ALL seen the new F1 magazine; being across the pond and on the far side of beyond that, I got my last month’s issue on the 8th of this month. I expect to get this month’s issue in about 3 weeks.
I agree with that, having just received January’s issue two days ago. One of the reasons I’m not sure I will even renew this year. So much better coverage from other sources (GP+ being one of them)
interestingly, BBC F1 website uses the pics, credited to Williams but crops out any F1 Magazine text and does not name the publication.
I’m a little confused at the negative comments towards Joe on here. Do you people not understand that he’s simply pointing out a fact of human nature: People don’t like you to give others something and not give them the same type of “gift”. And in this case, these are journalists who help sway public opinion with their writings….what is the point of confusion here?
Unless Williams is getting some kind of special value out of this, it was not a particularly brilliant move. Claire seems to be a smart lady from what I can tell so I’m hoping they get something out of the deal.
Wild arse guess … perhaps because making a hubbub out of a minor thing and telling everybody “you don’t understand…!”?
One of those words is correct…
Journalists in general are a really entitled bunch. I don’t understand the criticism as you journalists shouldn’t need any extra “incentive to be nice and fair to Team Willy” as long as you simply do your job and MERELY TO REPORT THE NEWS, as it certainly should be, instead of consider yourselves entitled to create them… A free individual or group of individuals can go about their business any way they see fit.
If you do not understand how the media works, you will not understand. The reason that the press is “entitled” is that we have earned the right to be considered media. All those who claim to be F1 media because they have written something on the Internet are not media at all. They are just trying to be… If they want to become entitled they must earn respect.
Joe my question is as it is a local (mainly UK) publication does it really matter? In the world wide scheme of advertising would it make any difference in the penetration of reach of this type of launch. I would think most people worldwide who follow F1 would know and see the Williams either through the magazine (here in Canada it takes another six, yes 6, weeks to get the physical copy) or other websites.
I’m not sure that it makes any difference to Martini or Williams (other than the $$ Williams extracted from the magazine) the amount of coverage they will get in the season proper. Sadly F1 is so far behind in selling itself I still think this “get whatever you can” idea of publicity is still better than sitting back and waiting to launch at the Jerez test with most of the other teams. The coverage will be washed out in the “too many teams to cover” .
Thanks for you blog Joe,
As I said it matters to the media
I saw the cover on another website (one that likes to sensationalise just about everything it writes about) and it looks just like any other scoop in the entertainment media. If you look at other sectors, magazines are always getting “exclusives” of pop stars or TV stars, especially around the time of a new song/film/TV season and there isn’t any backlash from that.
This has got a lot of extra exposure (on top of just the launch coverage) for Williams and their sponsors, and most of it seems to be positive. It’s only a render of the car, so obviously some physical details yet to come – plenty for all to report eventually. If the other media outlets take offense then I’m not going to feel sorry for them – they should get out there and see if they can get an exclusive next time…”that’s how it’s always been done” is one of my least favourite phrases…
I know you’re not like that Joe. Just can’t see what either party has done wrong.
Hi Joe,
Any good stories from the days of the Mega Launches at the Royal Albert Hall or Scicily? Can you see them ever returning again when the austerity is over?
Williams is now a traded company. So the only thing that matters to the investors is money. If that is the most money they can get from the car launch, that is what they will do.
That is why I prefer privately owned companies, they are a bit more free to make decisions based on a long term strategy rather than short term financial results.
Yes, it is a traded company.
You think they got paid?
Not a lot of media people about here, today, at first sight…
It seems many people are forgetting that PR stands for “Press Relations”, that means keeping good relations with all of the press. By offering an exclusive on a car launch you are telling your other press contacts they are not as important to them.
You can do this once in a while but a Car launch or a new Driver signing are usually not the time. That said hopefully they will make the rest of the press core feel well loved and this is just a blip.
The odd exclusive isn’t a bad thing once in a while if you get the benefits from it, you just have to be careful how you play it.
Absolutely.
Not disagreeing with Joe’s points here Edwin, but I thought PR Stood for Public Relations?
Both
Americanism: Presser, sometimes comes in handy, for a release. Usually a non embargoed one.
I’m not sure what you’re getting so upset about. You’ve already stated that you don’t bother with the launches.
What’s more, if memory serves me correctly they did exactly the same last year, which didn’t seem to do them any damage
I’m not upset. I merely pointed it out. I was upset by some ride f@ckwit who was abusive…
Wonder how much F1 Racing would have had to pay to secure the exclusive? In fact, it’s made me wonder what sort of $$$£££ they have to pay to secure the other aspects of the mag – such as the ‘You ask the questions’ section which I’m sure fellow bloggers who read the mag will know usually involves readers’ opportunity to put questions to a driver. Perhaps drivers do it for free? Surely not?! Just what sort of sums do these F1 personalities command? In any case Joe, your post is useful in other ways and serves as a reminder of the merits (or otherwise) of a more conventional magazine, such as F1R as opposed to GP+. I ‘used to’ subscribe to the mag (had it last year) however, haven’t done so this year. Reason – this blog and the attraction of GP+ which I’m yet to sign up for. People will have their own views about which of the mags is best. I enjoyed some of F1R last year, especially Richard West’s poignant piece about Senna in the edition around May. However, this blog was an ‘immediate’ and continuous source of info throughout the year so, a significant amount of what I was subsequently reading in F1R was yesterday’s news. Then of course, there’s GP+ and the obvious savings, convenience, speed……etc. Now where’s my debit card……….
They did not pay
Been reading linearly downwards, so just seen this … I don’t know certainly, but I would never bet on payment being given for this sort of thing. Something else is funny, like a tipsy social chat becoming a elevator pitch, becoming a deal pressed unfairly, that got honored, because, well, Williams probably would honor something like that, whatever the old tosser names FW was called back when. As if a investor, or potential investor, did some persuasion. Or was to be flattered. Heck, doesn’t Wolff still have a block of shares? He seems cracked enough to pull a stunt on someone, like this…
Agreed!
Williams is essentially saying to the rest, “you’re not worthy,” and it absolutely affects the perception and relationships between the press, press officers and team.
Points for F1 Racing, but you will not be seeing the Williams featured anywhere else for a while.
And incidentally, I’m nothing to do with F1, and not a publisher, though I do trade in media interests, and I’m hacked off and uppity about this, being a load of crock for a stupid silly affair that does nobody any good. It’ll backfire on who sold the idea, likely as not too. I hate this kind of crap in any kind of business. So, I’m not backing Joe up or anything. Just, if you accept my position, then this is the kind of thing that riles people in the media biz, wherever they are, assuming they didn’t run off with a big far check, by doing so, and anyone who has any clue about the game, knows nobody took home any fat cheque.
But, you could use this as a example, in interviews, to weed out the wrong kind of candidate. Funny, that impressionable people are attracted to life in the media, I trust the irony is obvious enough…
Same thing happened last year and it was the first picture of the new regulation car. It received a massive coverage.
Anyway, Williams published a press release with those same pictures the same day the magazine was out so I dont see a problem. As one of the posters pointed out, exclusivity is the point of the game.
I have explained why it makes no sense. If you don’t understand the subtleties involved in having the media on your side then you will only see what you see
Most game theory, and neural net optimization, tells you differently, when you have a highly heterogeneous network of communicating (promiscuous is the actual term) nodes, e.g.: a lot of people and outlets in the media.
Do Williams not have a thing going with hay market to find the next big engineer?
Yes, they do
Maybe this is the wheel 2.0 Joe?
Certain partisan media outlets and journalists nowadays get excluded from first hand news by participants, the commercial rights holder and the regulating body. Maybe it’s a trend?
They have often deeper pockets, longer staying power and have no fear anymore to alienate those who sometimes do more bad than good with their reporting on team/commercial or regulation matters.
Tit for tat me thinks.
This sort of crap has happened for decades but it NEVER benefits anyone. Smart people don’t make enemies that they don’t need… It is always better to try to work with the media…
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Yeah, might sell…
Joe, your point is that their decision will create negative bias towards them in the media?
No. My point is that if you do things badly they will be reported. That is not bias, that is a healthy media.
But then would it be too naive of my part to believe that the real journalists in the business would report whatever is relevant news regardless if it’s positive or negative towards the team? Do you think that spreading the release would be effective against negative news being painted too negatively? I understand we’re all only humans and, as such, there are the good and the bad journalists, as there are good and bad professionals in any activity. The trick for the fan is identifying who’s good and fair to their profession and stick to them!
I think it would reflect very badly on any media man who let’s the decision to give an exclusive to another outlet affect his coverage of a team to a material degree. The media should be telling the truth (and making a buck), not playing power politics.
You miss the point that s story that is out there has less value thsn one that is not.