Marlboro contract for $160M a year ends in 2015 will they renew ?

Honda..

 

How much of the budget are Honda coming up with?

I'm betting its substantial.

 

Of course it is a complete waste of money. Just like AT&T putting their name on the Dallas Cowboys stadium.

Big corporate sponsorships are just a big boondoggle perk for the executives that most likely get unprecedented access to races and the team for themselves and "clients"...

Every marketing class I ever took talked about big branded vs actually targeting your advertising. These old-school monster brands like Coca-cola, Budweiser, McDonald's, just have money to burn. You don't see Apple or Google wasting money on that kinda crap.

I know an old guy that is on the board of several big Fortune 500 companies. He was telling me how his calendar is full of free tickets to suites for most every major sporting event, concert, award show, etc. Photos with all the big stars.

 

Is the engine partner. Dennis continues to say there is no major sponsor of the team. So outside of engine support Dennis must be alluding to the fact that he can sustain the team with Mclaren resources. Reading the press he has no major sponsor and that means Honda as well.

 

Is he? Post your deep knowledge of Mclaren finances. He has a new car on the grid. So post up your intimate knowledge of his issues financially. I dont think its a secret he would like one. Reading the press he has also said he wont give the sponorship away for pennies. I dont sense panic but please educate us.

 

Pretty sure Apple use to sponsor a Porsche at Lemans back in the 80's as Apple was still growing and the CEO was a Porsche fan. In fact it was a Porsche 935 K3 driven by Allan Moffat, Bobby Rahal and Bob Garretson as part of Dick Barbour’s racing team.

I doubt Google or Apple today need brand co-identity with racing, nor the exposure given their size and wealth. Two good reasons they keep their substantial wallets in their pockets.

 

Yes, that's exactly my point. The ceo used the brand sponsorship to tie him closer to his hobby... any additional computers they sold as a result was a bonus.

Coca-cola, McDonald's, Budweiser have comparable size and wealth. They still buy Super Bowl commercials. It's not like they're getting new customers from it.

 

...but they want their sugar water, junk food and alcohol to have a co-identity with sport and the superbowl in particular. Given the sheer numbers that watch that one event and its global reach it is also an opportunity to not only co-identify but showcase new products.

It should escape nobodies attention that both Google and Microsoft have significant new deals with the NFL. Larry page had to have the rules of football explained to him a few years ago and Satya Nadella doesn't strike me as the typical NFL type. This is strictly business to them, using the most popular sport in the states to cross promote.

For the likes of Apple or Google to get involved in F1 they would either need leadership passionate for the sport, see it as an incredible promotional tool or both. Since Apple's one venture at Lemans with Porsche neither seem that interested in racing and its relationship to their products/services if such a thing exists.

 

I'm not too sure about this. Perhaps half the bill..

I did recall Ron said few months ago, that Honda were more than just an engine supplier. The fact that Mclaren and Ron took quite some time just to confirm the final driver lineup, apparently due to Honda's requests, shows in a way, Honda does have some say in the Mclaren team. I doubt a normal engine supplier have that kind of power, especially over a team like Mclaren.

 

It wouldn't be a $160mm shortfall if PM left SF. From what has been stated earlier in this thread, PM is the middleman in getting sponsors on the car by reselling the space. Once PM leaves, SF can sell directly to the companies that want to advertise. Now whether or not they can get $160mm a year in that on their own in today's market is up in the air, but it definitely wouldn't be a 100% ($160mm) shortfall. They can sell all the space for sure.

 

Available smooth billboard space on the car is also shrinking.

 

I'm pretty sure Marlboro is going to stick with Ferrari for a long time. even if they didn't Ferrari could sell the ads for more than the $160M. Plus the $209M they get from the Commercial rights Holder, the Formula One group, etc. the are going to be OK.

 

I'm fully aware of how the barcode links to Marlboro (in a very clever way), but it's still a fact that the FIA banned a graphic design that was not a Marlboro trademark.

Based on their reasoning behind banning the barcode design, they should really also ban the current red/white design as it is obvious as to what it is actually referring to.

If Ferrari were to decide to run with a badge design as shown below, would it be right for the FIA to ban it due to a supposed link with Marlboro? (even though it's nothing like Marlboro's trademark design):
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It's actually silly my friend. Marlboro has two thread marks; the chevron, or the roof as many people call it, and the MARLBORO fonts. Thats all.

Few years back, Ferrari removed the square thing on the engine cover, because people say it reminds them of a Marlboro box, which is absurd, if you asked me. But then again, see the point? People always tend to link Ferrari with Marlboro, not even with Santander or Vodafone for that matter. In fact, mention Ferrari, and Marlboro and Shell come to people's mind.

That is how powerful the so called advertising Marlboro has. Which is why i think they will continue to back the Scuderia for many more years.

 

Yeah and it looks like a rocket. LOL

 

There were complaints about the current livery. FIA declared back in ~2011 that the red and white are traditional elements of the Ferrari livery (or some nonsense to that extent) and gave up on it.

If the team decided to get more aggressive on the red/white triangle it would probably come up again, but it seems like they're happy as-is.

 

Very interesting. Advertising in these remaining / emerging markets is probably huge enough even without USA, EU, middle east, etc. to justify the cost.

 

Ferrari will always use Red as their Primary colors because of the colors assigned to all the racing teams by the FIA during the 50's. They were assigned by what country they drove for and Italy just happened to be Red. This is why we have English/British Racing Green.

Though 70 years on a lot of things, and colors, have changed but Ferrari being the ever faithful will always be Red! But you and many others may have known this already.

 

Oops - Wrong!

If you know your Ferrari F1 history then you'll recall the Ferrari 158 that was entered into the last two Grand Prix's in 1964 as Ferrari NART cars rather than official factory cars (which in reality they still were!), as a protest concerning arguments between Ferrari and the Italian Racing Authorities regarding the homologation of a new mid-engined Ferrari race car (the 250 LM).

This protest resulted in the cars being painted blue and white!:
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Oops - there always exceptions! And thank you for that information for I did not know it! I am just not a complete Ferrari nut; just a Porsche and Buick Turbo Nut!

I feel Proud to be an American if they drove the last two GP's under the NART banner that year.

However I would like to see what would happen if The Sausage Factory tried to run another color(s) besides red in these modern times?! There would be a Ferrari Fan Riot!

 

Not a racing Ferrari F1 car as such but another rare exception is the 1998 F300 Fiorano test car. This car was left in it's bare carbon fibre for the test, making it Ferrari's only ever black F1 car to run on a circuit:
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Sexy.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Loved that car. Beginning of the Rory Byrne era!