The importance of brand!
So with F1 possibly heading for one of the most significant shake-ups to hit the sport in recent years, it would seem that those fans who believe that the sport has already made enough mistakes in recent times to last a lifetime, should turn away now.
Problems | At this stage, it has been well over a decade since F1 has held any real excitement, and a lot longer than that since it has been at its best, with recent years having been plagued by ridiculous rule and regulation changes, the removal of the spectacle that is fuelling pitstops, along with regulations that have resulted in some of the ugliest cars to ever take to a track in anger. It of course can’t be forgotten about the migration away from ‘classic’ race tracks in order to facilitate the introduction of races in either oil rich countries or emerging markets, regardless of the obvious lack of excitement of their track layouts, and in what was the final straw for many fans, the regulation changes which put the final nail in the coffin of the beloved V12, V10 and V8 engines. It’s hard to believe that a sport where the sound of the engine once played such an important role, now has cars which sound like old washing machines which have seen better days.
New beginning | So, with the recent taking over of the sport by Liberty Media, along with the effective removal of the once untouchable Bernie Eccelstone, talk has turned to ways to improve the sport. Of course while this may all sound promising, the problem here is that this is nothing new, and fans have heard it all before. In fact, talk of improving the sport in recent years has usually just resulted in the introduction of more ridiculous rules to add to the long list of ones already established.
However, and perhaps in an effort to show real intent, new owners, Liberty Media, have just taken aim at the iconic F1 Logo, replacing it with an all new version.
Importance of branding | However, in a nod to how important product and brand marketing is today, the new logo was apparently inspired by the likes of Starbucks and Coca Cola, with F1 commercial chief, Sean Bratches, stating that the design revamp was needed for modern digital technologies and merchandise. In fact, in a recent press conference which lasted less than half an hour, Mr. Bratches, along with Marketing Director Ellie Norman mentioned the word ‘digital’ on 10 occasions and the word ‘brand’ a whopping 24 times. Repositioning was another buzzword focused on during the talk. So there you have it, regardless of whether the old logo was popular with fans or not, even to the extent of it achieving iconic status among many fans, it simply doesn’t cut it in the modern digital world we live in today. Its design is simply one from a time when not only was technology more limited, but the whole idea of branding and marketing, while although well-established conceptually, would not have been to the level of today.
Now any fans left standing just need to hope that the new owners make similar swift progress tackling the ‘real’ problems which exist in the sport.