Edenbridge drive

redshoes · 13 Mar 2003, 13:45 (Ref:535050)

For all of you who asked how much a season in the BTCC would cost see p84 of today's Autosport. Due to the last minute loss of a primary sponsor Edenbridge have a vacancy for a driver of one of their Production BMWs. Yours for £145k

racingdick · 13 Mar 2003, 13:48 (Ref:535053)

show me the contract...
I wish, back to reality

Super Tourer · 13 Mar 2003, 15:16 (Ref:535109)

Oh dear - bit late in the day...

speedy king · 13 Mar 2003, 15:40 (Ref:535124)

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
KKKKKKKKKK
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
KKKKKKKKKKK
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Ther's my 145K Now give me that car!

Alfa Fan · 13 Mar 2003, 16:29 (Ref:535178)

So thats Tom Ferrier lost another drive!?!

Super Tourer · 13 Mar 2003, 17:53 (Ref:535249)

For loss of sponsor, do we read driver who couldn't come up with the cash?

We're into nitty gritty time of year folks, when eyes bigger than pockets start to kick in....and marketing men that thought a deal looked great in November, go a bit cool when parting with the money time arrive's.

Been there , done that, go the T shirt, book, pen, keyring - you get the idea!

**touringlegend** · 13 Mar 2003, 18:15 (Ref:535263)

£145k is much cheaper than any other BTCC drive I've heard of. The lowest is £200k from what I know.

Super Tourer · 13 Mar 2003, 18:28 (Ref:535272)

Not surprising it's cheap - only a month to go before the first race - it's a 'buyers' market !

**touringlegend** · 13 Mar 2003, 18:40 (Ref:535280)

Do you reckon it could end up going for more? After all, it is cheap in relation to other drives and is probably a seat that a lot of drivers who can't quite get the normal budget will go for - so we could maybe see a rush.

outcast · 13 Mar 2003, 19:28 (Ref:535326)

The price is very similar to other available Production class seats.

kristof14 · 14 Mar 2003, 01:08 (Ref:535610)

i say john buys the car to replace the accord!

the king · 14 Mar 2003, 09:02 (Ref:535788)

Quote:

Originally posted by touringlegend
£145k is much cheaper than any other BTCC drive I've heard of. The lowest is £200k from what I know.

Cheap? are you kidding? It may be cheap for a touring drive but not for production. Drivers were paying less than that in 2001, when driving in production class meant something.

Super Tourer · 14 Mar 2003, 09:34 (Ref:535815)

Could be a tough year for Edenbridge if they don'tget any takers - one car team is barely financially viable.

KPC · 14 Mar 2003, 16:26 (Ref:536193)

Gravett did it without sponsors... and won the championship.....

racing4real · 14 Mar 2003, 18:47 (Ref:536300)

I read somewhere John B and Q offered his drives for free. He finds the sponsorship and that's what the other teams like Edenbridge should be doing so they can choose the best drivers, then hey presto we get the best racing. £145,000 is a

joke for 10 minutes on television.

Super Tourer · 14 Mar 2003, 18:59 (Ref:536310)

KPC

Slight difference between running a race team as a business, and being an owner driver, and doing your upmost to stay out there. Fixed, transport and core personnel costs remain the same whether you run one car or two. Spreading them over two cars makes the team more viable, having one car pick up the bills is tough.

racing4real - If only it were that easy, sponsorship doesn't grown on tree's, I've raised sponsorship for a BTCC team so I'm speaking from experience. You've also kind of answered your own point in your last sentence, which is often how a potential sponsor views it as well.

ST

sceptic · 14 Mar 2003, 19:17 (Ref:536319)

Ask the potential sponsors how much it would cost them to have a 30 second TV commercial made, and shown on the UK's most popular channel two hundred times...

...I'll give you a clue, 145k is a bargain in comparison.

KPC · 14 Mar 2003, 19:37 (Ref:536328)

Perhaps it is, but how big an audience does the BTCC attract compared to an ad in the middle of a soap or any other deadhead TV? Egg can afford it but obviously found out that it isn't ultimately economically viable. TAK - never understood that one. In fact, how many sponsor's stick around for too long...? None that I remember, bar those involved in the auto industry in any capacity. Do Halfords and B&Q really need to even bother, must be small fry to them. And Halfords are a bit of a pressure group anyway. For example, you need a window wiper and it's 1930 on a Saturday evening... where do you go?

Perhaps the way the Beeb handled viewing times dissuaded some sponsors, who knows? After last year's coverage you'd maybe think that they'd be eager, but as with the series all round at the moment, no one's really interested or got the dosh....

Super Tourer · 15 Mar 2003, 07:22 (Ref:536684)

Quote:

Originally posted by sceptic
Ask the potential sponsors how much it would cost them to have a 30 second TV commercial made, and shown on the UK's most popular channel two hundred times...

...I'll give you a clue, 145k is a bargain in comparison.

This is a premise many teams approach potential sponsors/advertisers on and it's the wrong one. As I said before, I've worked in marketing in the BTCC and as a director of a media company.

Sure motorsport can fire a scattergun message of a brand name, but this is not what marketing costs and success are measured by.

Marketing managers quantify media by OTS(opportunity to see) and CPT (cost per thousand impressions). Buying a 30 second TV advert makes it your space, to put over your message in the way you want to. Don't forget TV airtime is also subject to negotiation on rate card prices, in the current climate TV airtime prices are falling.

Media buyers are also more interested in pin point targeting with their message, hitting a tight market range with a specific message. A brand name on a car is not a call to action, take VLR, apart from Halfords, off the top of your head what other brands can you name, what do they do, where would you find them?

There will always be a few sponsors who are receptive to motorsport at this level, but in reality the number of deals based on 'pure' marketing criteria are quite few. Peel back the skin behind many deals and you will find a connection and some sort of other deal somewhere. When I was in the BTCC one of the sponsors we signed joined the team purely because they wanted to build a relationship with another of our sponsors, and could use the race meetings for informal networking.

It's also important to remember that to be used effectively, any sponsorship deal needs to be backed up with other marketing and on event support like hospitality, maybe a roadshow and adverts cementing the racing and the brand together - this will potentially double the real cost.

An example of how hard it is to attract sponsors take 888, they were unable to replace EGG despite being a championship winning factory team, guaranteed to run at the front in every race and offering a link with Vauxhall.

A final point - marketing budgets are spokne for many time over, buyers can always spend their budget and some. TV, press and posters are generally their core acitivty and there is no way this would be cut to spend on motorsport, which marketing people still view as difficult to quantify.

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