“The Melbourne F1 Still Remains Australia’s Top Event For Brands”

Despite falling interest, declining tickets sales and Sydney even trying to nick it, the Melbourne F1 remains one of the nation’s preeminent events and arguably one of the top three races on the global F1 circuit.
That’s the view of Steve Madincea (pictured below), CEO of the London-based PRISM (part of WPP), a marketing company that specialises in, amongst other things, hooking brands up with F1 teams and drivers.
Madincea is in Australia for Sunday’s annual petrol-head festival around Melbourne’s Albert Park. One of the main reasons for Madincea’s visit was to announce a partnership between the Red Bull F1 team and famed British marque Aston Martin. Chief technical officer at Red Bull, the legendary Adrian Newey, is to design a supercar alongside Aston Martin rumoured to come with a $US5million price tag and limited to just 30 lucky drivers worldwide.
This year Melbourne celebrates 20 years of hosting the F1 and Madincea – a seasoned veteran of the F1 circuit – says the organisers are “doing a pretty bloody good job quite frankly”.
“When I travel around the world in F1 circles, whoever you talk to be they journalists or captains of industry or the teams, if you say, ‘Pick your favourite three races’ Melbourne will always be in it. Always,” Madincea told B&T.
“And you’re right, in terms of the track itself, it’s nothing special. So it has to be more to it; it’s the city, it’s the event, it’s how well it’s run, it’s the fans, so that’s where you have to give Melbourne a lot of credit.
“For brands and sponsorship, particularly from a global perspective, the F1 remains the top event in Australia.”
But what about F1’s perceived blokey culture? Madincea agreed that it can be a problem but is an image the that the governing body has worked hard to rectify over the past few years.
“But take football around the world, it’s still very male-skewed. But yes, F1’s not as good at other sports like, say, tennis that has far more female fans. Yes, F1 does have more work to do, but I’d say its biggest problem – like most sports – is attracting the new, younger generation of fans,” he said.
Madincea says in these more parsimonious times when brands a looking for more for less, F1 can give the exposure without the price-tag of a worldwide advertising campaign.
“F1’s always been expensive (for brands to be involved with) but I think if you know your way around F1 you can get substantial returns. Do brands want a global advertising campaign and a costly TVC that goes with that? Or you can do it far more efficiently by backing teams or drivers.
“Formula One – because it’s a global sport – allows brands to target key markets. And now with China coming on it’s an even more engaging platform for brands. It can cost pennies and the dollar versus a global advertising campaign. F1 can be a non-brainer for a lot of brands,” he said.
Madincea agreed that data and ROI meant many CMOs – particularly for the big, global brands that pay mega bucks to sponsor F1 – wanted to see how their spends were translating to sales.
“CMOs are far more data driven and ROI and ROO concerned than ever before,” he said.
“So if you can’t bring them a solution that isn’t data-supported and isn’t strategically grounded you can’t even get into their office. CMOs want a business case, that’s their language, that’s what they speak about; you have to give them a compelling argument.”
Love everything sports? Make sure you come along to our Ministry of Sports Marketing conference!
Please login with linkedin to comment
Advertising Standards Bureau Best Places to Work in Asia Deepend Frontier Media New developmentsLatest News

WA Marketing Association Launches Under The Brand “We Are WAMA”
The WA Marketing Association will champion WA’s local marketing community.

diptyque And Like Fire Launch ‘A Scent In Song’ Campaign for New Perfume, Orphéon
Admittedly, B&T's trying a bit of cool namedropping in this headline, but not before Googling who they were first.

Enriching Customer Engagement Through AI And Analytics
Does your customer engagement need a bit of a pep & a spring clean? Read on with this Chux-esque read.

Verizon Fios Teases Gamers With ‘Unbreakable’ Gaming Controller Via McCann New York
Top news today if you're always smashing your gaming controller. Or, there's deep breathing exercises & scented candles.

YoPRO Recruits Ash Barty And Host Of Sporting Talent For Olympic Campaign Via Emotive
The gun has fired on the first of the Olympics ads! Expect a bit of national patriotism mixed in with some yogurt here.

Nike Settles Lil Nas X ‘Satan Shoes’ Lawsuit
Satan now reportedly doing rather nicely out of his Nike & Little Lucifer endorsements and trip to Georgia theme song.

Thursday TV Wrap: AFL Punts Seven To An Easy Win
The couch was the place to be for footy fans last night. B&T has no idea what calligraphy or découpage fans were up to.

Hackers Attempt To Sell The Data Of 500M LinkedIn Users
Hackers offering steak knives plus Kerri-Anne Kennerley's memoirs in desperate attempt to shift stolen LinkedIn data.

WARC Study: Highly Awarded Creative Ideas Are Significantly More Effective
Study finds winning industry awards isn't just great for an impressive email signature, they can actually sell shit too.

Poet Amanda Gorman, 23, Stars In Powerful US Vogue Cover
Poet Amanda Gorman stuns in latest Vogue cover and not a brown cardigan or matching corduroy as far as the eye can see.

Val Morgan: Easter Brings Biggest Cinema Audiences Since Pandemic Began
Easter certainly proved 'bums on seats' for the nation's cinemas; ironically, less so for the nation's churches.

Ryan Reynolds’ Satan Returns In Hellishly Fun Work For Mint Mobile
Once again Satan proves he's got the best heavy metal bands, the best virgin sacrifices and now the funniest ads, too.

Dentsu Italy Releases ‘The Women’s Body Issue’ White Paper Into Gender Equality In Adland
Dentsu Italy taking a lead on gender equality in adland. Which, let's face it, doesn't exactly sound like the Italians.

Publicis-Owned Epsilon Announces Support For Unified ID 2.0
Sure this headline doesn't make a great deal of sense, so let the cookie in the lead image be your guide.

KWP! Launches Brand Identity For Adelaide’s Winter Festival, Illuminate
The brand identity and website created by customer experience agency, KWP!, in collaboration with South Australia’s new annual winter event, Illuminate Adelaide, went live on Thursday as part of the launch of the event’s program highlights. The work is the result of months of close collaboration with Illuminate Adelaide Co-Founders and Creative Directors Rachael Azzopardi […]

Hype DC Celebrates Sneaker Culture In New Campaign
Is there a greater supporter of sneaker culture than adland? Aside from rap musicians & illegal ecstasy distribution.

Women Leading Tech: MiQ’s Annie Marendaz On The Importance Of Listening To Women In The Workplace
Annie Marendaz talks the importance of listening to women in the workplace. No mention of a staff singalong, however.

DoubleVerify Snares Doug Campbell As New Chief Strategy Officer
Doug Campbell joins the DoubleVerify team. Confirms plans to bring his stand-up desk & 'Big Dawg' nickname with him.

How Marketers Can Get Tricky Digital Transformation Projects Off The Ground
Are your digital transformation projects still stuck on Post-It notes in the boardroom? Clear the wall instantly here.

Pinterest Launches Creator Code To Keep Content Positive, Safe And Inspiring
Pinterest unveils a creator code to keep content "positive, safe & inspiring". We have no plans to introduce it on B&T.

Yorkshire Tea Appoints Zeno Group Australia
When it comes to dunking our Scotch fingers here at B&T, Yorkshire Tea is only surpassed by Gordon's Gin.

Tourism Australia Launches First International Campaign In Over 12 months
Kiwis targeted in new Tourism Australia campaign. And mercifully no sign of the pavlova, Russell Crowe or Crowded House.

Yes! It’s Finally Happening: Cannes In Cairns Is A Go
Joined advertising or marketing for the rosé-fuelled boat parties? Maybe it's the Texan BBQs? We've got you covered.

Are Media And Bonzai Introduce Dynamic Carousel Advertising Format With Launch Partners Combined Franchise Services
Are Media has partnered with creative management platform, Bonzai, and real estate giant Combined Franchise Services to launch a first to market advertising format which empowers advertisers to create engaging and effective campaigns that showcase multiple products in one ad unit.

Spoof Bunnings Ad So Good People Thought It Was A Real Bunnings Ad
A trip to Bunnings is always a sensorial feast of smells - one part sausage, one part paint thinner & one part manure.

Optus Launches Program Allowing Customers To Pause Notifications Across All Devices
Optus has introduced an australia-first innovation ‘optus pause’, giving customers the ability to pause notifications and connectivity distractions. Whether it’s study time, bed time, dinner time or personal time, Optus Pause means users can temporarily pause connectivity on all, or some, of their Optus home and Optus mobile devices simultaneously. Optus Pause is free and […]

‘Byron Baes’ Is Coming To Netflix As Look Into The Lives Of Aussie Influencers
A trip to Byron just became quadruply more expensive as Netflix unveils plans to set up camp to explore its cliches.

Logitech Strategic Workshop Spotlights Expert Digital Direction From Webprofits
Webprofits was recently invited to join Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) sales and marketing teams at their annual Logitech ANZ S+M Conference. The conference was an opportunity for the digital marketing experts at Webprofits to share the approach they have taken driving growth for Logitech in Australia. “Having Webprofits take our team through a custom […]

Pizza Hut Hong Kong And Restaurant Yung Kee Release Elaborately Named Goose Pizza, Via Ogilvy
Pizza Hut has worked with Hong Kong restaurant Yung Kee to launch the ‘Pizza Hut x Yung Kee’s Superior Exquisitely Handcrafted Victorious Best of the Best Flawlessly Exclusive Special Charcoal Roasted Flying Goose Pizza’. The pizza was inspired by the creative custom of Hong Kong restaurants who are known to come up with over-the-top elaborate […]

Adorable Dog Steals Reporter’s Microphone During Live Weather Report
Further proof not to work with animals or children. You could even add homophobes & Collingwood supporters to the list.