Agreed. I think it's better than ANY of us could do. That, and somehow, in Chile, Eliseo Salazar is a national icon.... Yeah, I suppose being (feebly) soccer-kicked by Nelson Piquet for taking him out while he was leading would earn icon status for a lot of so-so drivers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV0aQPLJNvA
Well, we are not the yardstick. I'm sure 25th place is better than ANY of US could do. Comparing to "us" is actually devaluing the achievement.
Like her or loathe her, Danica's got you all talking about her and in the world of advertising, that's: "Job done!".
You are not, but others are. I may not buy something because someone endorses it, but I can tell you I DO avoid stuff endorsed by people I don't really care for, or stuff that is advertised to the hilt. I avoid anything Nike. I had a friend that sponsored a car once, he told me they were fully aware that the driver/team attracted about as many potential buyers of product as it pushed away.
If you often work in advertising then you already know that its primary purpose is to make make people aware of the product, not force people to buy it. As Whisky has said, you may not be buying the product Danica is advertising but someone will be and now you are aware of the product because of her advert. I had no idea what "Go Daddy" did for a business but I do now because the advert has got people on this site talking about it, therefore the advertising has achieved it's primary function. And the reason for getting Danica onboard?, well that's two fold really: 1) Whether people like her or not, she generates interest in the advert and therefore the business. 2) By being linked to the business she gives the company a certain amount of credibility. Celeberities are very cautious not to get caught up with shonky businesses as they have an image to protect, so by having Danica in their advert, Go daddy get the credence they desire. Lets face facts here, you don't have to work in advertising to understand it, afterall, if you did, it wouldn't really work would it?.
I'm not in advertising, but I recall something about the rule of 7, whereby it takes 7 times for people to hear/see your name before it becomes ingrained. With Danica, it's as much or more about the indirect marketing you receive due to all the coverage she gets wherever she goes. GoDaddy can pay for commercial spots, but their name also appears in all the Sports page articles, news reports, ESPN highlights and magazines. Brand awareness is definitely the name of the game, but creating buzz doesn't guarantee an ad will translate into sales. Racing fans are historically some of the most brand loyal consumers. And while they have been accused of being sheep to advertisers, the reality is it's payback to the companies who invest in the sport they love. Voting with their dollars.
It's a fair bet that the pressure is on for Danica to perform at Indy this month as NASCAR would like nothing better than to have their new marketing tool to have "Indy Winner" in her bio. Danica has tasted the NASCAR Kool-Aid and the over the top press coverage she got in a simple test (where her every move was documented by TV, internet and print media) and her sponsors no doubt loved it. A lot of Danica's future is pinned to her results at Indy. So far, her times haven't been impressive and the hype has been minimal. Will be interesting to see how she does. RM
Danica is on the cover of Indianapolis Woman's magazine this month. Better-half picked up the issue, but neither of us have read the article yet. All part of the marketing machine that brings in fans and sponsors.
last saturday i spoke with a nascar insider. we spoke of the danica experiment and his opinion was that she was a serious disappointment and coming back to finish her contract races could put her in further jeopardy of losing her sponsorship. i was not sure of the loss in sponsorship but i do agree that essentially her last races in nascar this year will likely be her last. we also talked of the jpm indy car (open wheel) to nascar transition comparison that had been made by the tv commentators and he thought that was laughable and said jpm is top 3 best drivers in nascar period! interesting to hear straight talk from a nascar marketing guy. pcb
Indy 500 Danica Prediction: She'll wreck out, early. See ya'll after the race! Oh, it'll be someone else's fault too, and we'll see the Big Pout LIp..... You heard it here first!!!
It could be that if Danica washes out in her remaning NASCAR events her option won't be taken up. Let's not hold our breath though because, as we see with Earnhardt, Jr., success in NASCAR isn't necessarilly tied to winning. RM
True, you put any other driver in that car and with those results, he would be long gone by now. If Jr. didn't bring in 20-40 million in ad budget, he'd be behind the counter selling AMP at kwikie-mart.
Oddly enough, he was better at DEI than he is at Hendrick which is a far better team. Small fish in big pond? I dunno, the kid can drive, that much is for sure but for some reason he doesn't have it with this team.
What's the motivation to push and take chances to win races when a pretty face can clear $20+mm annually in t-shirt, trinket sales and endorsements? RM
not a surprise to me. this is starting to get funny. i really look forward to her return to nascar. she is going to get her head handed to her!!! strangely, i will probably miss her when she's gone. pcb
For Danica to say "This is the worst car ever" once to the TV interviewer is one thing, to repeat it to the track PA and again in a press conference is over the top. The thing is, they've been running this Dallara-Honda package in the IRL now since 2003 or 2004 (?) now and it just seems amazing that some of these drivers and teams can't come to grips with the setups and they just seem shocked that the later the day gets, the temperatures go up and all of a sudden the cars don't run the same way they did in the morning. Don't know how adepth Danica is at relating to her engineers what the car is doing. Some drivers are good at it, others have no idea. But, in this case, she's compromised her relationship with her team and done herself no favors. RM
she's like cole trickle...she needs harry to help her set up the car cause clearly, she can tell anyone what the car is doing or needs. days of thunder baby!
