Have McLaren’s Marketing Department Lost Their Way?
Prior to the Turkish Grand Prix the McLaren team managed to humiliate their number one driver by having him dangle from the rafters while a folkdance troupe performed below. Now say what you like about that particular fiasco, but at least it was original.
Unlike say, the idea of encrusting a racing drivers helmet with some expensive diamonds, just in time for the Monaco Grand Prix, which, for some reason has something of a familiar ring to it.
Diamonds are Forever
Oh yeah, they’re pulling that old trick again. You know, two drivers, two helmets, one Monaco, add some shiny rocks… that’s bound to create some headlines. McLaren did the same thing last year when Alonso was driving, and that’s after they’d already pulled the same stunt back in 2005 with Kimi and Montoya.
At least when Jaguar had a deal with Steinmetz they put diamonds on the nose of the cars. Admittedly the big cat did lose one of them, but at least that was something worth talking about. This year Lewis has to stand up in front of the cameras and again wax lyrical about his “bling” in a way that makes him sound like a second rate rap star, and again we’ll have to sit through it all during the pre-race television coverage.
The thing is you can’t really blame Lewis for any of this, he is after all just doing what he’s told. The real problem is the PR department, they’re not giving him anything to work with.
Life’s a Beach
Just look back to the first race of the season. Guess what, two racing drivers are taking part in a Beach Kayak Challenge, where have I heard that before? Yup, same as last year, same team, same idea.
Vodafone should take some of the blame for this, the Troy disaster was their idea, and so was the kayaking, but the Steinmetz deal is all McLaren, and frankly the people in charge of promoting this team are fresh out of ideas.
Someone call the stormtroopers.
I’m sure we could come up with something better for Hamilton to be doing while he’s in Monaco. How about seeing how fast he can throw a Mercedes S-Class Hybrid around the track, or maybe watch him trying and beat the unofficial cycling record.
If you have any better ideas, let us know in the comments.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:53 pmKeith said:
I don’t think it’s just McLaren, I think there’s a general paucity of good ideas in F1 promotion. That Shell advert Massa and Raikkonen were doing last weekend looked pretty run-of-the-mill.
Best PR stunt I’ve seen recently was Heidfeld lapping the Nürburgring last year. And I think Renault’s city visits with their F1 car is pretty cool (I think they’re doing one this weekend).
May 16th, 2008 at 4:05 pmme said:
that was rubbish too, but mclaren are by far the worst offenders in the pitlane.
look at mallya’s boat party at the weekend, no-one had a bad word to say about it, they had Yamamoto as DJ and even gave away free red socks (not the baseball team sadly).
red bull always manage something original at monaco, but mclaren offer us nothing new.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:54 pmbrendan stallard said:
er, why do we give a cuss about this stuff?
I do not mean to be rude: just most advertising and twaddle of this nature is really zip to do with the sport and I ignore it completely.
brendan
May 16th, 2008 at 6:12 pmme said:
it is important when we all have to read the same dull and repetitive quotes year in year out. watch the same lines being trotted out on tv, same faces, same places.
unlike you, i can’t ignore this stuff, unless i give up watching f1 completely, can i? can’t watch tv coverage, can’t listen to the radio, can’t read web sites.
marketing is necessary, and the least the teams could do is give us something worth reading / hearing. f1 is supposed to be exciting, no?
May 16th, 2008 at 6:13 pmOllie said:
I wouldn’t agree with Red Bull doing something original at Monaco (it’s usually a film promotion of some description) but Horner’s lot did do well with the Faces For Charity thing at Silverstone last year. Unfortunately, McLaren have always been the corporate type (in my memory, at least), and they probably see no need to change it. But as Keith said above their arch rivals BMW do a much better job; the traveling theme park, driving in the factory, Nurburgring, driving on ice…
May 16th, 2008 at 6:21 pmme said:
one word… stormtroopers.
or another… superman.
i haven’t seen either of ‘em back since, have you?
corporate, i can deal with. it’s repetition that’s doing me head in. every-freakin-year, more diamond helmets.
May 16th, 2008 at 6:40 pmmy FA fantasy said:
Yeah, it’s more or less the same every year, it’s getting kinda repetitive, like tapes and loops, maybe they like trip hop?
Anyway, I would suggest something like this: drivers and VIPs competing in a powerboat race on a Finnish lake dressed in gorilla suits. HK is Finnish so why not? They could even imitate gorillas or call the band of the same name to play at the event. It would be Nº1 video on YouTube. And then to round it all off they could throw a wild party - let everybody get drunk on Johnny Walker and show what’s not a very responsible behaviour. Maybe Lewis and Heikki can form a band: LH on turntables and HK on drums, that would be cool, McLaren could save money on that - why invite expensive artists if the drivers can produce a good entertaining musical show?
May 16th, 2008 at 6:54 pmme said:
that’s the spirit
have a good mind to fax that to macca HQ.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:34 pmLadySnowcat said:
I think Kimi thought up the gorilla stunt all on his own….and as he was already at Ferrari by then Macca couldn’t possibly go there….
He probably would never have done it as a PR stunt…
Ferrari should just ask him to do something a bit mad and dangerous and see what they get?….
On second thoughts they don’t need to ask… just sit back and wait….
May 16th, 2008 at 7:39 pmme said:
i’m glad they give him the freedom.
he’s been pretty quiet on that front this year, i wonder what he’s planning?
May 16th, 2008 at 8:48 pmbrendan stallard said:
“we all have to read”
Me,
Have to read?
You don’t have to read it, any more than I do: you have a choice.
I see it, mark it as a stunt and completely ignore it.
brendan
May 16th, 2008 at 8:57 pmChristine said:
Well, that’s half the argument right there. If the marketing department were doing their job properly, you would find it interesting enough to not skip it.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:43 pmbrendan stallard said:
“If the marketing department were doing their job properly, you would find it interesting enough to not skip it.”
Christine,
LOL, absolutely.
However: truly, this stuff is fluff, innit?
It might, at times, be moderately engaging, but the reason we watch Raikkonen, Massa, Woods, Ronaldo, Federer and the others is that watching them do what they do really well is exciting and entertaining.
Watching them on bicycles in the rain, surfing or at the theatre is nothing more than celebrity BS, fluff and twaddle completely unworthy of the time spent to consume it.
In nutrition terms: it is carbs, zero protein:)
brendan
May 16th, 2008 at 9:56 pmChristine said:
I’d hesitate to encourage celebrity status on them, but it’s always good to see sports stars with personalities. Otherwise you might as well have robots driving the cars.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:00 pmLadySnowcat said:
And your definition of personality is….
May 16th, 2008 at 10:04 pmChristine said:
Is it different to others then?
“Personality: Distinctive qualities of a person, especially those distinguishing personal characteristics that make one socially appealing”
May 16th, 2008 at 10:07 pmme said:
as i’ve said before, i really liked coultard on the mr & mrs show. it’s good that drivers do things like that, gave me a new perspective on the man.
trotting out the same claptrap year on year about how lovely and pretty diamonds are, isn’t really the same thing.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:41 pmSteven Roy said:
Everybody wants to listen to Martin Brundle nowadays but wouldn’t it have great to have been exposed to it when he was driving. I hate to think that there are similarly interesting drivers on the grid today and we will have to wait ten years to hear them say anything other than platitudes.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:26 amme said:
axis notes that bmw have a lot to answer for in this dept too:
axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/2008/05/cruel-cruel…
May 17th, 2008 at 1:35 pmOllie said:
No, but my point being that they’re both films. The first time around the idea was original, but not the second. Going by your logic, it would be acceptable to replace the diamonds in Lewis and Heikki’s helmets with some other precious stone.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:55 pmme said:
in the first instance the storm troopers were the pit crew. in the second the driver was the superhero. nothing like the same thing. plus a darth vader didn’t jump into a pool naked.
i understand that mclaren have an agreement with a diamond company, and therefore it’ll always be something diamond related, but it’s always names encrusted into helmets.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:43 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Doing something different with the diamonds would be helpful, though to be honest the diamond idea lost its novelty right when Christian Klien predictably lost his nosecone diamond on lap one of the 2004 event. At least the “party-on-a-boat” predictable PR story might leave good memories and a good impression of the product on those involved in the party. And who knew Sakon Yamamoto could DJ?
May 17th, 2008 at 3:18 pmbrendan stallard said:
“i really liked coultard on the mr & mrs show”
Me,
Er, here is where my complete lack of television knowledge ruins any possible counter I could make. It is possible you are making an ironic joke, and I wouldn’t know it, because the ONLY television I watch is F1, and most of that is on Speed TV in Atlanta.
Coulthard could use some sort of make over: most of what I’ve seen of him shows him to be an incompetent race driver and rude sexist pig.
brendan
May 17th, 2008 at 3:20 pmbrendan stallard said:
“the diamond idea lost its novelty”
Alionora,
Are the diamonds placed there by an advertiser associated for the Monaco race by a merchant?
It is probably lacking in originality: but so are the silly dresses and diamonds worn by actresses on Oscar night, isn’t that the same sort of thing?
brendan
May 17th, 2008 at 3:21 pmme said:
no, it was genuinely funny, i liked him, he came across well and won something!
May 17th, 2008 at 3:22 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Steinmetz are a diamond merchant, which does the placing, but that doesn’t mean they have to do the same thing every year. They’re unlikely to convince me while they use the same basic idea every time, though. And the dresses and diamonds on Oscar night don’t do anything for me either (and don’t even get me started on when Mum decides I need to have a pretty dress for some formal occasion!)
May 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pmSteven Roy said:
To be fair to Steinmetz they did let their imagination run riot one year and did diamond encrusted Merc logos on the steering wheels.
It’s difficult to see what else they could do with diamonds.
May 17th, 2008 at 9:44 pmbrendan stallard said:
“no, it was genuinely funny, i liked him, he came across well and won something!”
Me,
Glad to hear it: thanks. I hope the exchange indicates how little I know about the generality of television per se.
brendan
May 17th, 2008 at 9:48 pmbrendan stallard said:
“Steinmetz are a diamond merchant, which does the placing, but that doesn’t mean they have to do the same thing every year.”
Alianora,
I assume this in response to my question, thank you.
If Steinmetz want to do the advertising, the way they want: then they need to beat up McLaren appropriately and tell them what they want.
Having some small experience of what marketing departments can do, when they are pissed: I’m amazed that Mclaren fool with the same toot year after year.
My partner used to take prozac and sleeping tablets when the marketing weasels phoned. I just used to tell ‘em to go **** ‘emselves.
brendan
May 18th, 2008 at 4:04 pmSteven Roy said:
I just realised that this article should really have been called - Have McLaren’s Marketing Department lost their sparkle?
May 18th, 2008 at 4:07 pmme said:
only if we were writing for the daily mirror
May 18th, 2008 at 6:37 pmScott Woodwiss said:
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/080518152356.shtml
This is McLaren related, I guess. Mika Hakkinen’s house caught fire while he was asleep. Thankfully he got out, with two women (one apparently his new girlfriend), but a dog unfortunately didn’t make it
May 18th, 2008 at 6:37 pmlinks for 2008-05-18 » vee8 - a Formula 1 blog said:
[...] Have McLaren’s Marketing Department Lost Their Way? - Sidepodcast McLaren pulling off the same old PR stunts year after year (tags: McLaren PR LewisHamilton MonacoGrandPrix diamonds Vodafone) [...]
May 18th, 2008 at 6:38 pmlou said:
oh
poor Mika. Thats possibly my worst nightmare, my house burning as i sleep.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:30 pmlou said:
Brundle did well in the Formula Palmer Audi race he came 6th, with his son, Alex, coming 10th.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:53 pmChristine said:
He beat his son? That’s a bit embarrassing.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:55 pmlou said:
poor Alex. I wonder if it will get mentioned during coverage next weekend?
May 18th, 2008 at 8:06 pmSteven Roy said:
When he was on with Chris Evans last week Martin said that the his race would be filmed for ITV’s F1 coverage.
I never doubted Martin was quick enough but givin his weight disadvantage to the regular FPA drivers and their familiarity with the cars and the push to pass button I am really impressed by his performance. It no doubt helped that the race was at Spa. I am sure Alex will be looking for a re-match soon.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:25 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Pretty patterns on some amenable surface? Free (very small) diamond pieces for the journalists (would make them look good and encourage good word-of-mouth press about them)? Show off new jewellery collections (OK, they did that in 2003 with the massive pink diamond, but surely that’s not the only type of diamond they sell?) Diamond/fake-diamond artworks? Offer a gift including a small diamond to the driver who completes some currently-unrewarded superlative (maybe a sponsored trophy set with a Steinmetz product for the pole-sitter or the driver overtaking the most people)?
There are lots of things Steinmetz could have done to add some variety to their marketing, but instead they’ve done the same thing for four years. This is part of the reason why F1 often comes across as dull - because neither the sponsors nor the marketeers have any imagination.
That’s unfortunate. My sympathies to Mika and the other two who were in the house at the time, and glad they’re OK.
He did do well - though notice that Jolyon Palmer, Jonathan’s son, came 2nd. The battle of the pundit families was not won by ITV… It’s bound to get mentioned at some point in the coverage (though perhaps not the Palmer bit…)
Steven, there will be a re-match soon. Martin Brundle’s driving in the next Formula Palmer Audi race as well!
May 18th, 2008 at 8:45 pmlou said:
Really? oh gosh. I mean Martin is great and everything, but i don’t want to watch parts of his race when they could be showing interviews and everything.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:04 pmLadySnowcat said:
A bad time for dogs lately…
May 18th, 2008 at 11:05 pmme said:
damn, mclaren need you. great ideas, all of them.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:50 amPink Peril said:
It might be all a bit Willy Wonka, but what about a competition for a fan to win a diamond encrusted ticket which of course gets you access to the pits or something?
Surely there are a few PR miles to be gotten out of a stunt liek that?
May 19th, 2008 at 11:58 amLynch said:
haha, thats a good phrase: “Its all gone a bit Willy Wonka’ a term used to define McLaren’s PR technique….
May 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Thanks, me
. I like Pink Peril’s idea too.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:22 pmMattw said:
Not the silly diamond helmet thing again - PLEASE!
Does it not compromise the safety of the helmet?
hmmm. Lewis in a glass box, with David Blaine suspended over the harbour? Just in range of a well thrown egg?
May 20th, 2008 at 2:28 pmme said:
umm, not a clue, but mclaren would probably argue that it increases the safety, no doubt due to some complicated technical forumula ron just made up.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:53 pmSteven Roy said:
All helmets and driver overalls have to pass scrutineering when the car does. If the FIA scrutineer doesn’t like diamonds on the helmet he can effectively ban the special helmets. I would have thought the diamonds would be so small that they couldn’t affect the safety of the helmet.
Much more likely that one could get loose and get sucked into the engine. That would make a nice little bonus for the air filter analysis and replacement department.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:15 pmF1 Racing to Recovery | Sidepodcast : Your Weekly F1 Podcast said:
[...] the Bish left. He now works for McLaren, doing a sterling job in the marketing and media department. There haven’t been many visible changes since he left, [...]
May 21st, 2008 at 1:58 pmAlianora La Canta said:
There’ll be a special way of attaching the helmets, I’m sure.