Whilst reading the fantastic Partnership Activation newsletter (sign up for if you haven’t already for some great sports activation/branding news) put together by my friend Brian Gainor.  I came across something that really stood out and made me take notice.

On the Sports Technology section there was an item relating to the new hospitality experience being enjoyed by McLaren F1 hospitality guests this season.  So, what have they done that is so ground breaking?

In a market that has run stale with companies cutting back on their hospitality expenditure, there is a need to be different and offer a more exclusive and exciting experience to those attending.  Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (VMM) have used a company called Marvellous who have built a fantastic mobile app for them that really is worth taking note of for all those in the sports hospitality industry.

The brief was to mix the need to enhance and prolong the hospitality experience with the showcasing of cutting edge technology that the team, and the sport, embody.  I think they achieved this and more.

The ‘VMM Guest Hospitality App’ is downloaded to guests handsets before F1 events and, by utilising barcode scanning technology, gives guests secure entry to the Paddock Club with exclusive F1 content, including race schedules, location map, driver profiles, guest contacts and even a city guide featuring the coolest bars and places to go.

The Augmented Reality App allowed guests to aim their handset cameras around the track to pick up dynamic content and info, based on image recognition.   This is a great use of the technology and it fits so well with the sports profile and the famous F1 track experience.

Jon Carney, Marvellous chief executive, said: “The android platform gave us the opportunity to enhance the guest’s user experience, by allowing us to incorporate features such as real-time ticket scanning and checking- in, as well as augmented reality of McLaren’s garage, bringing it to the forefront of leading technology.”

You can see why it stood out so much for me and will set the benchmark for others I am sure.  Imagine, it can easily work within football stadiums, on Cup Final days, within the Olympics, Athletics World Championships…. any major event or stadium. 

Wimbledon had a similar app this year that was in partnership with their technology partner IBM.  Technology is becoming more prevalent within the sports hospitality industry and means it could regain some of the lost sparkle that being a VIP should have.

Have you used the VMM Guest Hospitality App or the Wimbledon one?  Or do you know of other uses in this way of technology within the sports industry?

Love to hear your views as always

There is an increasingly common misconception about ‘social media’. It is a phenomenon that is still rather loosely interpreted and with sufficient uncertainty surrounding its true meaning to warrant the need by some firms to segregate it into a separate box within its annual marketing and PR plans.

This has led to an influx in recent years of specialist digital PR firms, experts and social media strategists, all of whom are – quite legitimately – finding new business with brands or companies who are not truly au fait with all that social media entails. But sometimes even the most expert of experts cannot fully capitalise on the various social media opportunities that arise hour by hour, day by day.

In Formula 1 circles, there has been a notable increase in the use of Twitter as a communications platform this year, which has been a huge step forward in bringing Formula 1 fans closer to the action on track and behind the scenes. This revolution has been sparked by the need for journalists to satiate the immense hunger of the F1 fanbase who are always after the next morsel by laying claim to the next big story or the most insightful backstage feature.

It has also been helped in no small part by the openness of the new teams and their drivers who have embraced social media unreservedly. While the new teams have adopted social media as their communications tool of choice, it is unlikely that they have a specific strategy on how it should or should not be used. And that is no bad thing. In my own experience of social media, the moment you start to stifle it is the moment you start to go wrong. With anything as open and engaging as, say, Twitter, there comes an unwritten invitation for the public to criticise, to deride and to attack the brand, but in equal measure there is the opportunity to praise, commend and – most importantly – recommend.  Ah, yes, the power of an endorsement.

An excellent example of an organic social media success story in recent weeks was with the tongue-in-cheek GrandPrixDiary.com and German race driver Timo Glock. Below is a brief background to the story and how Glock’s team Virgin Racing used an out-of-the-blue social media opportunity to bolster its own reputation online. GrandPrixDiary looks at the world of F1 from a very sarcastic viewpoint. Its founder has made no qualms about the site’s sincerity, but instead offers a light-hearted and comical look at Formula 1.

When Virgin Racing driver Timo Glock started to use Twitter, there was an overwhelming culinary feel to his content. From a quick coffee to lunch in the motorhome to dinner in a restaurant, Timo would always tweet a photo. GrandPrixDiary pounced on the subject and quickly developed a column called Ready, Steady, Glock! (for those not familiar with the TV show Ready, Steady, Cook! its premise was to challenge chefs to cook a meal from an unknown bag of ingredients in under 20 minutes).

The column reproduced Timo’s Twitter images and presented them as if from his own German recipe book. Cue meals such as ‘Pizza mit der ham und mushrooms und olives’ to ‘Double chocolate cake mit Ice Cream’. After the Turkish GP, GrandPrixDiary challenged Timo (via Twitter) to participate in F1’s first ever online cookery show, Ready Steady Glock, offering Twitter followers the chance to submit recipes for Timo and his girlfriend Isabella to cook during the weekend.

Succumbing to a barrage of online pressure, Timo agreed. In fact from here on in, it was Timo’s own enthusiasm for the challenge that really propelled it forwards. The winning recipe was selected and announced on Twitter through the @grandprixdiary page, as well as through @realtimoglock, with suitable fanfare, and thus the shopping trip was set.

The winning entry, submitted by Kathryn Bird, was Marinated Chicken with Virgin Olive Oil followed by Timo’s Truffle Chocolate Puddings. Timo promised to tweet photos of the shopping trip as well as images from the cooking challenge itself, which he duly did. Credit also to @VirginRacing who recognised the growing stature of this online competition and agreed to supply a prize to the competition winner. The team has agreed to cook the winning recipe in its hospitality area for team members and guests at the weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

As Rob Sinfield of GrandPrixDiary.com explains: “Ready, Steady, Glock! would not have happened were it not for a combination of Virgin’s laid back style and Timo Glock’s now obvious sense of humour. We never set out to be cruel but we do like to prick the precious F1 bubble. So, referring to Glock as ‘the 5th best German in F1′ and then writing the cookery column in an ‘Allo ‘Allo style could have easily offended him but once he got into the idea it was he that drove it. The photo diary of the day is hilarious, he even decorated the fridge.

Once Virgin saw the fans response they too embraced it. The feedback I have had about Glock has been immense; he has scored a hit here. Now he has turned the tables, organising his own competition via Facebook where I have to cook a meal of HIS choosing with the winning recipe provider getting the cap he wears at the Canadian Grand Prix. A whole lot of fun has been had by all.

F1 must encourage this sort of participation with its fan base.” The outcome has been a hit for all concerned: – The GrandPrixDiary site has a heightened profile with endorsement from Timo Glock and Virgin Racing – Timo Glock has engaged directly with a website who were portraying him in a comical light and turned potentially negative comments into a massive positive – Virgin Racing has used an impromptu social media competition between one of its drivers and a Formula 1 fanbase to derive positives for its team – Formula 1 fans have been able to gain a closer connection to both team and driver via a social media portal and to have a bit of a laugh along the way.

So it doesn’t always need a carefully honed social media strategy to enhance a brand’s reputation online. Sometimes, it just takes a sense of humour and a willingness to engage socially.

As Formula 1 moves onto the most iconic and beloved circuits on the calendar with the Monaco Grand Prix shaping the sporting weekend ahead, we spoke to the Tony Fernandes, Team Principal of the new Lotus Racing team, who gives a fascinating insight into the team’s modern approach to Formula 1. In an exclusive chat with the UK Sports Network, Tony discusses the Lotus heritage, the impact of social media on the team’s communications strategy, why F1 is still has a lot to offer international brands and how Lotus Racing aims to put the sport’s legion of fans first.

As a new F1 team with an iconic name, how difficult is it to satisfy the F1 purists and concurrently appeal to new audiences?

“Some would see this as a potential problem, but since day one we’ve seen it as a major opportunity. The key to satisfying both parties has been honesty – we have never pretended to be, nor do we want to be, a rebirth of Colin Chapman’s Lotus, but we are very aware of the responsibility we have to uphold his legacy, and that of his cars, his drivers and his employees. We embrace a number of his philosophies in the way we go about racing – innovation, passion and dedication all being key watchwords for us, and those are as relevant to the purists as they are to the younger fans. We also chose our cars’ livery specifically because it is a contemporary nod to the classic green and yellow colours, and have been delighted to see that both new and old fans have unanimously come out in favour of our choice, many already saying it is by far the best looking car on the grid.  

So that’s the philosophy and the way we look on track – we’ve also embraced the new audience by being open, honest and very interactive in all forms of media. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube all afford us the opportunity to talk directly to individual fans, to build a relationship with them that gives them unprecedented access to team information and to give us their feedback on what we do. F1 teams are notoriously secretive about what goes on behind the garage or factory doors, and we want to challenge that, so Mike Gascoyne will tweet from the pit wall the lap before Jarno pits, telling his 15,000 followers what’s about to happen on track, or I will share a picture of me embracing Heikki as he climbs out of his car having broken into Q2 for the first time  – this is how the fans talk to each other and share in each others’ lives, and we do the same.”

What are the objectives of the team in 2010 not only from a performance point of view, but also in terms of fan attraction?

“The performance goals are clear – we initially want to be the best of the new teams, then challenge the established runners in the midfield, and the top, as quickly as we can. After the first four races we have achieved our initial goals – we are comfortably the best of the new teams and in China we took on and beat Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams in a straight fight on track. We had a major upgrade package in Barcelona, with a new front wing, front and rear brake ducts, new turning vanes and a number of mechanical updates, so we now want to push on from a solid base and take on the likes of Toro Rosso, Force India and Williams.

From the fan’s perspective it’s also simple – we want to be the number one team that fans follow. Traditionally fans will support drivers, and only one team has really broken that mould, Ferrari. The Ferrari legend is very alluring, but so is Lotus, and we have the opportunity to take on Ferrari and beat them in the fan stakes. We are new, fresh, honest and inclusive, but with the added magic ingredients of heritage and credibility. For fans this is a very cool mix, and gives us the chance to become, in a reasonable timeframe, the fans’ favourite worldwide.”

How do you view Formula 1’s global perception? What needs to be done to increase F1’s international appeal?

“In recent years F1 has started breaking out of its traditional European based model, and has expanded into the Middle and Far East. Next year there will be a race in India, and with the launch of the South Korean race this year, and the success of the Singapore night race, there will be more races in the sub-continent and Asia in future. This is critically important for F1 as this is where the developing nations are – as the countries’ economies strengthen so do the buying power of their people, and there will be huge competition for their attention from every area of the sports and entertainment industries. F1 needs to be seen and heard in their countries, and needs to be accessible 24 / 7 via their mobiles, laptops and TVs with content that is truly innovative, engaging and creative, and that’s the challenge for F1 – embrace the digital world and see the fan numbers swell, hold it at arm’s length and football, the Olympics, music, film and games, to name but a few, will push F1 further and further down the fans’ list of priorities.

As an Anglo- Malaysian team we have a unique opportunity to open up the sport to fans across China, Asia and India, and to give the brightest talent from those areas the chance to work with us, both at our factory in the UK, and at our base in Sepang, where we will have an R&D and production facility, a museum and other visitor attractions, all aimed at creating employment opportunities in a global sport, and at giving fans access to Lotus Racing, its stories and its experiences.

The other aspect of the sport that needs looking at is the on track action. For too long now the rules have favoured the teams at the top and have not encouraged enough on track action. Great efforts have been made to spice up the action on track, but when conditions are variable and the teams are pushed to the limit, strategically and tactically, the fans see amazing action, on track and in the pits. Australia and China this year have produced two of the best races seen in years and that’s because of variable conditions. We can’t artificially reproduce those conditions, but we can decrease the artificial conditions that lead to processional races – one immediate way to do this is to get rid of blue flags. Every one of the guys on track is a racing driver, and yet we have to wave a flag to make them let fast cars through, further slowing down the guys in the midfield and down, and widening the gap between front and back even more. Do away with these flags and suddenly everyone has to concentrate throughout the whole race – the guys at the back come into play in the action, wherever they are in the race positions, the element of risk when overtaking is introduced throughout the pack and the metronomic nature of the latter stages of races will soon become battles all over the track – we’re here to race, and overtaking is racing, so let’s get rid of the flags and show the fans what the drivers can do.

Lotus is one of a few teams to really embrace social media (Facebook, Twitter) – was that a conscious decision?

“Very much so. As I’ve said earlier, our fans use social media to give each other total access to their lives, and why should we be any different? F1 precedent dictates that we should keep the doors shut and not give away any secrets, but why? What does that solve? Nothing. All too often a team has spent millions designing and building something that may or may not give them an extra tenth of a second on track, and when they finally unveil it everyone else rushes off and copies it, spending millions on something that has no relevance to fans and doesn’t improve the show at all. We must move away from this, and instead be thinking how we can use that money, or in fact much less money than is wasted on the latest gizmo, to embrace fans – let them experience what it’s like to be a mechanic in sweaty overall in 40° heat in Malaysia as Heikki’s about to pit, or what an Engineer is going through as the heat sensors on his car are rising to dangerous levels with three laps to go and he has to decided whether or not to bring his driver into the pit. That will increase our fan base, and that will ensure we have fans for life. Until we can all do that, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube are our best conduits to the fans, and we love the fact they respond to us every day.”

Does the team have a social media strategy as such?

“The strategy is simple. Embrace all the relevant social media platforms with content that is relevant, timely and innovative. We can over complicate it, but that’s what it boils down to in strategic terms. Tactically, the challenge is obviously immense, and requires a different but complimentary plan for each outlet, but we have embraced social media, we think, like no other team and are breaking new ground in our use of all its platforms.

Heikki is an active Tweeter, as are Mike and yourself, does this help break down the barriers between the teams and the fans?

“When used effectively Twitter is a fantastic tool for breaking down barriers – but it’s the same as having a conversation with your friends – say something interesting and relevant and you will get complimentary responses. Say something bland or banal and people will very quickly turn away and listen to someone else. That’s the challenge – to make it interesting. We’re lucky that we have a number of Tweeters in the team who are all interesting personalities, and that’s what fuels our Twitter strategy:

@h­_kovalainen gives insights every day into what the life of an F1 driver is really like. He seems to play a bit too much golf, but at least I know what he’s eating every day is healthy……..

@mikegascoyne definitely leads the way in F1 technical people, giving such detailed information about the team, on and off track, that some members of the media have already given us the title of Twitter Team of the Year

@mylotusracing is a source of general news from the team, again on and off track. There are a few people in the team who have access to that account, and they use it really well to give updates about what’s going on at the factory, show inside, for example, our new race trailers, and give timing updates throughout each on track session

@tonyfernandes is mine, and I’ve been an avid user now since late 2008. I love the fact I can tell a load of people what I’m doing and where I am in one message, and even more important to me is the fact people can respond to me directly and tell me what’s going on with them in their lives, what they think about AirAsia or Lotus Racing, ask my advice or tell me something amazing – it’s such a democratic tool, with no geographical, social or religious boundaries, it’s honestly one of my great loves.

Your website is very interactive, what was the thinking behind this concept and are there any developments in the pipeline?

“Thank you! The site was pulled together very quickly by a very talented team who worked extremely hard to get us online at the same time as we were putting the whole team together. The site is the gateway to everything we do as a team, it’s the door to all the content we produce, the conversations we have with our fans, it’s where our partners can create communities with our fans and it’s where we tell the world what we’re up to. It is being developed further now and we will very shortly be unveiling version 2 – keep clicking to find out what we’re up to next!

What can F1 learn from other sports…as a keen West Ham supporter do you have any football related experiences that can be transferred to F1?

“I’ve already said above what F1 needs to do to increase fan numbers and stay ahead of the other entertainment choices consumers have. The relatively recent explosion in interest in football is both down to the fantastic, interactive coverage it has around the world, and the way the brands involved in it use it as a platform for globally relevant, innovative marketing activities. Nike, Adidas, Coca Cola, Sony, Microsoft and all the other brands involved at club and international levels keep driving up awareness and fan loyalty, through amazing campaigns and great products. F1 must do the same, and the very nature of the sport, cool cars, amazing athletes and jaw dropping locations, give our sport the perfect platform to promote ourselves. This will see us replicate the success football has had in attracting new fans, particularly in Asia and India, and that’s the key lesson we can learn.” 

What does Formula 1 in 2010 stand for and what benefits can brands derive from an association with F1?

“F1 still stands for what it always has – speed, passion, glamour, risk, excitement, innovation, excellence and international cool! Any brand that counts these words amongst their own brand values can derive huge value from association with our sport, but the key is to embrace the sport and support the naming rights they purchase with fully integrated activation plans. There are too many brands in the sport who see the benefits of awareness, but, perhaps because their expectations were not fully managed, are somewhat blinded by the range of other opportunities that their investment can provide. We have a number of partners with Lotus Racing who are already showing what can be done with a well thought out strategic plan – Maxis, the leading Malaysian telco, have already created and launched an iphone application that within a week was the top application in Malaysia. This creates a dialogue with a new fanbase who will keep coming back to Maxis for more content, more access to the team, and this is a great use of their sponsorship. I think that shows what can be done, and what should be done by brands who come into the sport for the right business reasons.”

A resourceful group of MotoGP fans, fronted by Gadget Show presenter Suzi Perry, failed to let the Eyjafjallajökull volcano put a cloud over the cancelled Japanese MotoGP race last weekend. Instead, they turned to the power of Twitter to establish the world’s first ever virtual race, #TwitGP.

In what was arguably the first of its kind in recent sporting history, a postponed sporting event was salvaged and transformed into an online gathering of loyal enthusiasts and web junkies. The result was a bizarre yet intriguing fan-led celebration of MotoGP past and present which underlined the sphere of influence within the Twittersphere and the sheer appetite for online sports campaigns.

The concept for #TwitGP was started within hours after the official cancellation of the Japanese Grand Prix, as Suzi explained to me on the phone from her #TwitGP HQ: “We were all so disappointed that Motegi was postponed, that we started this as a bit of fun, just to see how far it would go,” she said. “We were amazed that in less than 24 hours we had almost 2,000 people on board, including riders, mechanics, teams, press, IT and even a few celebrities, including Ross Noble.”

Day-by-day, the #TwitGP phenomenon spread quicker than a volcanic ash cloud and in less than seven days, the @TwitGP account had close to 6,000 followers – not far from the 7,302 spectators who physically attended the actual season-opening Qatar Grand Prix just a few weeks back. The initiative also attracted the interest of top bands Stereophonics (@stereophonics) and The Prodigy (@the_prodigy) and genuine MotoGP racers Jorge Lorenzo (@lorenzo99) and Nicky Hayden (@nickyhayden69).

The rules of #TwitGP were deliberately loose to allow fans and contributors the chance to shape the next development, but the skeleton format replicated an actual race weekend with free practice, qualifying and the race itself from Friday to Sunday. Contributions ranged from MCN Sport editor @guyprocter producing a mock-up magazine cover to promote the race to @madmark99 acting as a virtual Photoshop advert with his creation (and admitted oversight in not copyrighting) of the TwitGP logo. 

Racing driver and TV star Tiff Needell took it upon himself to design the virtual ‘Twitegi’ circuit (Motegi being the real name of the Japanese GP circuit for those not well versed in motor racing venues!), while racing legends Max Biaggi, Mick Doohan and Kevin Schwantz all ‘virtually’ dusted off their leathers to join current superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner and the aforementioned Lorenzo and Hayden in Twitegi battle.

As the sessions progressed with live updates from @TwitGP, contributions came in from actual MotoGP presenters and team members giving the public a rare opportunity to converse with those in the paddock’s inner sanctum.  The race unfolded on Sunday afternoon with Kevin Schwantz taking an unexpected and unlikely victory ahead of @Lorenzo99 and Rossi.

Once all the race day celebrations had eased off, Suzi gave us her post-race debrief:

“The anticipation for race day emulated an actual GP!” she said. “Messages came flooding in all day; people asking about the weather so they could wear the correct clothes, to questions about how the riders were feeling! It was as if it was actually happening. Of course it was all just a huge amount of fun and wordsmith daftness, which everyone seemed to love and relish, to the point of tweeting their thoughts and tech/bike mash vocabulary! We broadcast the event live, uploading appropriate pictures and it was a wonderful experience to be covering a ‘race’ again…and of course, to see “Revvin” Kevin Schwantz on top of the podium!”

It was a completely bizarre end to an utterly unpredictable week in the world of MotoGP and Twitter. But should we really be surprised by the power of Twitter?

As Suzi herself sums up: “Twitter is such an amazing medium and its power never ceases to amaze me.”

The 2010 MotoGP World Championship gets underway at the Losail International Circuit this weekend after an agonisingly long off-season period. It has been five months since the curtain fell on the 2009 championship in Valencia, but the Qatari night race will literally put motorcycle racing back under the spotlight once more.

There have been few big name moves over the winter with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo resuming battle in the divided Fiat Yamaha garage, Casey Stoner partnering Nicky Hayden at Ducati, and Dani Pedrosa alongside Andrea Dovizioso at Repsol Honda for a second season.

However, there has been a serious injection of fresh blood into motorcycling’s premier class this season with the arrival of a batch of enthusiastic 250cc graduates in the shape of Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki), Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda), Hector Barbera (Paginas Amarillas Aspar) and Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda). The youthful composition of riders in this year’s championship makes 30-year-old seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi look positively, well, veteran in comparison.

The age gap has certainly not flustered Rossi, whose pre-season form has been scintillating. His position at the head of the timesheets has been threatened only by a resurgent Casey Stoner aboard the Ducati who took top honours in the recent night test at Qatar. Not that seeing Stoner’s name in first place is any shock, particularly at Qatar where he remains unbeaten since 2007. With Jorge Lorenzo still in recovery mode following an off-season hand injury and the Hondas struggling for outright pace, it looks as if 2010 will be another Rossi/Stoner double act.

Off-track and MotoGP’s Spanish rights holders Dorna have been busy evolving the sport for the new season with some notable announcements in recent weeks. First of all, there is good news for armchair fans with the confirmation that MotoGP will go HD in 2010. Formula One fans are still patiently waiting for HD broadcasts, so MotoGP has stolen something of a march on its four-wheeled counterparts.

A word from Dorna’s Manel Arroyo on the subject: “Working alongside the most recognised sports broadcasters worldwide and being one of the leading motorsports championships, we have a duty to stay abreast of all the emerging technologies which help us to capture the speed and adrenaline of MotoGP”. Enough said.

A lot of MotoGP’s other developments appear to stem from a ‘home is where the heart is’ approach. Of those rookie riders we mentioned earlier, two are Spanish, bringing the total number of Spanish riders to five out of a field of 17 (note, there are also five Italians). MotoGP is unsurprisingly popular in Spain. The Jerez MotoGP event on race day is something akin to Mecca for motor-racing fans – whether two-wheeled or four.

One of Dorna’s recent agreements revolves around promoting Spain as a tourist venue. When the 2010 calendar was unveiled – with the three existing Spanish races all in situ as expected – there was the introduction of a fourth Spanish venue as a back-up should any particular race not proceed as planned. Lo and behold, when the already postponed Hungarian GP could not progress due to track development complications, the position on the calendar was duly given to the Aragon Motorland, an impressive looking facility in northern Spain.

So five riders, four races and ‘Visit Spain’ logos adorned wherever there is blank space, the MotoGP world championship is the world’s fastest moving Spanish postcard. It is a shrewd deal and makes sense for both parties. Certainly Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta is pleased: “For years, the three Spanish GPs, now four, have already served as an attraction to foreigners to visit Spain, and with this agreement we hope to continue to draw more people, not only to watch the races but to discover everything the country has to offer,” he said.

However, it is worth asking whether an overwhelmingly Spanish championship character puts off other brands looking for truly international exposure for their brands. Or does its Spanish flavour give MotoGP a distinctive character and appeal that sets it apart from other worldwide sports? If the objective is simply to “Visit Spain”, then Dorna’s job is done.

Last year I did some work for a client who declared the press release to be dead. Instead I found myself working on an ‘e-newsletter’, which to my mind was a press release by any other name.

Marketing professionals have to change their approach to suit the tools of the moment, and certainly the likes of Twitter and Facebook are very ‘now’. But is the press release really dead? Has the need for it gone away? Probably not; it’s merely become unfashionable. And, crucially, you already know how to do one properly (or at least – you may think you know). It has no mystique, no magic. You won’t find features in marketing magazines on “5 Essential Tips For A Great Press Release” or have digital agencies banging on your door to offer consultancy services in Press Release Optimisation. It’s, like, so done.

I wonder, though, if in our eagerness to embrace new channels we’re forgetting how to service the essential existing ones; and that the press release can play an important (if unsexy) role in an integrated marketing strategy.

When I work with motorsport clients I dread the arrival of the word “lifestyle”. It signifies a conviction that the core audience is too geeky by half, and that it is already aware of the sponsors’ branding. We don’t need to speak to them, do we? No, we need the lifestyle audience. We need to shake it up a bit. We need to do something… different.

In the run-up to last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, my inbox filled with communications of varying quality. Some of the teams had clearly fallen prey to reinvention syndrome. Red Bull’s race preview release was just a load of flim-flam about where to go for a good meal and a fun night out in Manama; quirky and on-brand, maybe, but not very useful to anyone outside the cloistered environment of the F1 paddock. Or perhaps they hoped the Sunday Times magazine might think, “Wow! What a great destination! Clear six pages in next week’s issue! Is Michael Winner available? Does he drink Red Bull? I know he’s got a dicky ticker but will he do a bungee jump?”

Above all, a press release has to be useful. It doesn’t have to be sexy. The Cosworth pre-Bahrain release (produced by UKSN contributor Chris Hughes) broke no new ground in the art of the press release but it was packed with concise, timely, useful and relevant information. That’s all you need to ensure that the media use it.

In fact, I’d argue that in the present media climate – where there’s a proliferation of new media outlets, often one-man bands or other shoestring outfits – a tightly written press release is going to be used pretty much word-for-word. I certainly read more about Cosworth last week than I did about where to eat in Bahrain…

So there we have it. Fernando Alonso and Ferrari back on the top step of the podium after an impeccable 49 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit. Alonso did not put a wheel wrong for the entire race and was duly rewarded for his performance. The reward for the patient viewer was to witness a jubilant Alonso, relishing in his maiden Ferrari win on his debut for the Maranello Massive. It was a tremendous achievement and a standout addition to an already impressive CV for the Spaniard. But that is clearly not enough to stave off the barrage of criticism that F1 once again faces from the public for the lack of excitement generated by 24 drivers, 12 teams and 49 laps of the BIC.  

Bernie Ecclestone has urged F1 not to hit the panic button over the Bore-rain Grand Prix, as many have referred to last weekend’s race. The reason that there has been such a furore over Bahrain is because of the genuine excitement and build-up that there has been heading into this new season. People involved in Formula 1 are passionate about their sport. Just as football pundits wax lyrical about the beautiful game, F1 aficionados are desperate to talk proudly about their sport and the excitement that it produces. So after a winter of talking up the 2010 season as ‘set to be the best F1 season yet’ based purely on the addition of new teams, the presence of four world champions on the grid, Jenson vs. Lewis at McLaren, the ban on refuelling, a new Korean circuit, the return of Canada, etc. etc., Bahrain was a massive let down. Everybody was watching, not just the die-hard fans, so the post-race analysis has been doubly brutal.   

Bahrain is not indicative of a 19-race Formula 1 season and does not, in my view, provide the same excitement that Albert Park in Melbourne always delivers as the season opener. The lengthened circuit configuration was given the big thumbs down by drivers and the new regulations for this year forced drivers to be more cautious in their racing. The removal of refuelling from the races means that Formula 1 is about playing the long game rather than stringing 49 qualifying laps together. Admittedly, Bahrain felt like a very long game indeed, but that is not necessarily a result of the new rules. As one seasoned observer correctly remarked on Monday, one race does not a season make.

 The ban on refuelling was brought in as part of a raft of cost cutting measures for this season and has served only to remove a strategic overtaking opportunity from the races; it has not changed the fact that some circuits are just not designed to produce a racing spectacle for modern day, aerodynamically advanced F1 cars. Bahrain is one such circuit. And there are many others.

Some people have suggested that Bridgestone, official tyre suppliers to Formula 1, should bring ‘edgier’ tyres, rubber that might perform differently over 30 laps depending on the driving style or car’s handling. Why on earth would Bridgestone want to do that? All that would result from that scenario would be the Japanese brand trawled through the mud on a Sunday evening/Monday morning for being the reason why driver X failed to win the race. That is not why Bridgestone, a premium brand in the tyre industry, has invested over ten years of its resource into Formula 1. The company has already announced its withdrawal from the sport at the end of this season, so perhaps this is an idea to put to Bridgestone’s successors.

German TV broadcaster RTL brought in an average of 10 million viewers for the Bahrain race, DOUBLE the number who tuned in last year. The Michael Schumacher effect accounts for a large proportion of that renewed interest. Will these people be switching off because Michael ‘only’ finished sixth, or ‘failed’ to produce a thrilling show. No, they will come back because they know that there is a chance of seeing their hero return to his glory days.

Alonso won, so the Spanish fans are happy. Ferrari won, so the Italian fans are happy. They won’t necessarily have enjoyed the show, but they were not too fussed considering the result. And in the UK, if there had been a McLaren 1-2, would the tabloids have focussed on the dull race or the fact that Lewis had beaten Jenson (or indeed vice versa?)

So what exactly needs to be changed in F1? In the short term arguably nothing. Let’s just see what the next few races hold and keep the panic button on ice for the time being.

Australian racer Ryan Briscoe was embroiled in a thrilling battle for championship honours in the 2009 IndyCar Series season finale at Homestead after a three-way shootout with Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon.

Over on these shores, you would have been hard pushed to find any reference to the championship-decider outside of the specialist motorsport press, even though eventual winner Franchitti hails from Scotland. In the US, though, this was big news in and outside of the racing press and garnered huge coverage for all three protagonists in the run-up to and in the aftermath of the race.

Now recall, if you will, the equally exciting championship deciders of recent Formula 1 seasons – Hamilton/Massa/Raikkonen in 2007, Hamilton/Massa in 2008 and to a lesser extent Button/Barichello/Vettel last season. The climax to these championship deciders were well documented across Europe and indeed internationally. So what is it that differentiates the popularity and fan appeal of stateside racing from the continued global fascination of Formula 1?

Ryan Briscoe is a man who is better placed than most to assess the differences, having driven in Formula 1, IndyCar and American Le Mans Series, while also having first-hand experience of the ever-popular NASCAR series. I have known Ryan since his early days in Formula Renault and F3, so I picked his brains to get a driver’s perspective ahead of this weekend’s season-opening race in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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We are just weeks away from the start of one of Formula 1′s most open and uncertain seasons for years. Teams have been desperate to get mileage on their new cars with just three official pre-season test sessions prior to Bahrain, but even the Spanish weather has been unusually fickle. Out of last week’s four-day session at the most southerly of Spain’s numerous testing venues, Jerez, two days were a complete washout, placing even greater importance on this week’s Barcelona test.

What can be deduced so far? In truth very little, but in the absence of real facts, we are left with traditional timesheet PR and that has been more prolific than ever before with the seeming eruption of Formula 1 accounts across the Twittersphere. From the most esteemed journalists to the most dedicated fans of the sport to the teams and drivers themselves, there is a veritable feast of F1 on Twitter. For those of us who devour every morsel of F1 ‘news’, Twitter accounts are burgeoning with seemingly endless opportunities to ‘follow testing live’.

This is a real breakthrough for Formula 1 whose fans are used to playing second fiddle to other sports when it comes to access and interaction. You only need to look at the continued frustration from the armchair spectators at the lack of Formula 1 coverage in HD to see just how insatiable their appetite is. With other leading sports not only embracing High Definition but also branching out into 3D and other cutting edge technologies, F1 has to avoid being left behind in the media stakes. F1 is the fastest moving, most technologically advanced sport on TV so it should be similarly ground-breaking and progressive in its adoption of the latest media and communication technology.

Twitter and Facebook have allowed those who work in the F1 paddock’s inner sanctum to do their own bit to bring the fans closer to the sport. Autosport and BBC journalists are among the frontrunners with live test coverage and regular news insights but the teams themselves have really embraced this new found link direct to the fans. McLaren stood out in 2009 for their use of Twitter (@thefifthdriver) while Williams have been lauded in recent weeks with frequent updates from @clairevwilliams, the team’s press officer. The new teams are also helping to breathe new life into F1 with Virgin and Lotus adopting very public and approachable faces. It will certainly act as a wake-up call for the more established teams. Getting a piece of the action will be harder than ever in 2010 with up to 13 teams and 26 cars on the grid.

But let’s get back to the subject of Timesheet PR. In the past, you just needed a rough idea of fuel loads to guesstimate car and team performance in testing, but with the abolition of refuelling during races in 2010, it is now a more intricate job. As a consequence of the refuelling ban, 2010-specification cars have bigger fuel tanks so teams have a much greater window to test in. Lap times can differ by seconds rather than the usual tenths or hundredths of seconds depending on fuel loads, so the fact that Michael Schumacher “languished” in tenth place on the combined times from last week’s test means absolutely nothing without knowing his set-up, fuel loads and tyres. Not that it makes a difference for some unseasoned Twitter commentators for whom ‘you are slow on the timesheets, ergo you must be slow’ is the daily mantra. Testing is more about analysis than running commentary. Finding that happy medium is where the better quality journalists really make a difference.

This week sees the final test session of the pre-season period take place in Barcelona. And for those of you who have not overindulged in a pre-season testing binge, the Formula 1 season actually starts in earnest in Bahrain with free practice on 12 March. That’s when we’ll know who is quick and who is not…

An ICM poll suggests that 47% of the British public do not believe John Terry should have been axed as England captain. Just digest that statistic for a second. Almost half of the surveyed public disagree with Fabio Capello’s decision to remove John Terry’s England captaincy in light of alleged extra-marital activities with his team-mate’s former girlfriend. So why on Earth have the red-tops been so keen to make a fuss about Terry’s off-pitch antics over the last week or so if nearly half of us seemingly don’t think it action-worthy? Simple – it sells papers. Everyone loves a scandal.

The world of football is littered with bad news stories and assuming there is a very active and professional PR machine running at full steam behind the scenes, then the stories we hear about must be just the tip of the iceberg. So when a scandal breaks it must be a biggie. The knives have certainly been out for John Terry but it seems like his demotion from the Captain’s perch has been more a case of who he did rather than what he did.

Football is not the only sport to hit the front pages for the wrong reasons. F1, rugby, golf, swimming, there is hardly a sporting boat that has been unrocked by the meddling hand of shame but each for very understandable reasons and with different outcomes.

The start of the Six Nations championship last weekend proves that rugby is as popular as ever before, but just six months ago the sport made headlines for the wrong reasons after Harlequins full back Tom Williams used a blood capsule to fake an injury in order to get substituted at the request of Quins Director of Rugby Dean Richards. The resultant media backlash from the story was to be expected because of the sheer incredulity of what the team’s management had tried to do. Even the most seasoned of Pro’s would find that story difficult to sugar-coat.

There are times when PR spin are just not appropriate for the situation. This month’s Sport Business magazine carries an interesting feature on the power of Twitter in relation to athlete crisis management. Peter Janes, MD of Sportpost.com, says that American swimming sensation Michael Phelps overcame some of the negativity surrounding his drug allegations at the start of 2009 by apologising to fans on his Twitter site. Janes correctly observes that it is all about transparency and connecting to the fan base.

Tiger Woods did the exact opposite when stories of his marital indiscretions started coming to light – he just vanished. Far from connecting with his massive global supporters, Woods did a bunk. The reason for that scandal being diffused so widely was because it was just so out of the blue and apparently out of character. Golf is hardly known for its seedy reputation, so when the Tiger Woods bombshells appeared and continued and carried on and on and on, the entire modern era of golf was thrust into the spotlight. After all, the entire modern age of golf has hinged on Woods in much the same was as motorcycle racing is intrinsically linked to Valentino Rossi and darts to Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, so Tiger-gate sent shockwaves down the fairway. But while Tiger Woods faces an uphill battle to restore his reputation, his return to the stage, whenever that may be, will be a guaranteed PR win for golf as a sport.

Formula 1 is a sport where internal politicking and scandal have become part and parcel of its offering and a large contributory factor to its prolonged presence in the tabloids and broadsheets. The Renault/Flavio Briatore/Pat Symonds/Nelson Piquet Jr race-fix story of 2009 was a case in point. Of course it was outrageous and abhorrent and put Formula 1 under an ugly spotlight, but from the public’s point of view it seems that Formula 1 scandals induce shock but little in the way of surprise. The return of Michael Schumacher, as I wrote here just a couple of weeks ago, has done little to abate talk of on-track shenanigans in the media, but that is the sort of story that feeds the public’s unhealthy and insatiable appetite for scandal.

Scandals will always be part of sport. Sometimes they might even be good coverage for the sport in question. The one thing that seems universal is that they will never be good for the athletes who become embroiled in them.