F1 Fanatic

This has been bugging me ever since the “subliminal Marlboro” advertising story hit the headlines, and seeing as F1 sponsors no want there own association, I thought this was the right time to raise it. My question is: How many F1 sponsor’s products do you have lying around your house/ do you use on a daily basis? I’m going to exclude actual products marketed by the teams (like team t-shirts).

I’d be quite interested to know if any of your purchases were influenced by seeing the names on F1 cars, because mine weren’t. I guess this can lead to a debate on how effective F1 is as a marketing exercise.

My list isn’t all that long. I have an LG TV (an F1 sponsor), an Acer laptop (Ferrari) which uses an Intel processor (ex BMW Sauber), I use Clear shampoo (Virgin), I wear glasses made by Puma (they do the driver overalls for a lot of teams), I have Ray-Ban sunglasses (Honda/Brawn/Button), I do drink Red Bull (mixed with Vodka, mmmm) and I wear Hugo Boss cologne (McLaren).

Any thoughts?

nope, havnt got sucked into anything due to sponsorship/branding in f1, I have followed f1 since 1972 and still dont smoke!!!
“the man” hasnt got to me yet!
sblot

I’ve never bought anything because of a sponsor. All I have is a Lenovo laptop and socks made by Puma. I did have quite a lot of Red Bull at my prom last month.

I don’t really have F1 sponsors products.I have a pair of Kappa shoes (Virgin) and some Puma gear like socks,t-shirts or shoes.That said I have some F1 officaly branded deodorant.

The thing with F1 advertising is that while they do want to gain some market share by advertising, the main goal here is usually brand recognition. If you remember the FIA/F1 Racing surveys of previous years, there’s always a section asking us which brands we recognize as F1 sponsors. We may not necessarily buy into the brand right away, but they want us (as well as casual fans) to recognize it, so that when the time comes, we buy their brand. Not because it’s an F1 sponsor per se, but because we remember it.

Cases in point:
1. Puma – Before really getting into sponsoring F1 teams, Puma wasn’t really so much of a huge brand. It was very large and sizable, yes, but it wasn’t really so popular. By getting into merch deals with F1 and football teams, they’ve built a significant brand recognition which means people will at least wander over to their shops if they want clothes or footwear. Not everyone who goes there will buy, but some would, and that in itself is already a gain.
2. Mild Seven – Before sponsoring Benetton and Tyrrell in 1994, Mild Seven had very little recognition or recall outside its native Japan. But by becoming associated with Michael Schumacher’s championships, Mild Seven suddenly became a familiar name in Europe, and that would’ve sold a healthy bunch of cigarettes.

As for me personally, other than Ferrari or Mercedes merch, I rarely make decisions because of who is or isn’t in F1. But I do have a Lenovo (Williams) laptop running on Intel (ex-BMW) instead of that epic-looking but mediocre-spec Ferrari Acer laptop. I also have some gadgets from HP (ex-Williams, now Renault) and a Canon (ex-Williams, ex-Brawn) camera.

I must guiltily say I did the same as Dan – Monster was tried because JB had it on his helmet.

Well, OK, not entirely, one of my housemates had started drinking it, but I would never have thought more of it if I hadn’t seen the brand somewhere else.

It’s all about brand recognition. I would recognise F1 sponsor brands when I’m out and about. It wouldn’t necessarily make me want to buy them. Infact, nothing in my house is associated with F1 sponsors, but if I was looking for something, their brand would be one I’d at least explore.

i find myself quite often googleing for names i see on cars. the weirdest one in my opinion was “aigo” on the mclarens. i just had to know what it stood for. with Monster it was the same, i had to look it up when i saw it on JB. but i never bought it nor Red bull.
further i am having difficulties explaining my 3year old son that Red Bull is not a car maker…

tw steel on the regie, thought that was some french steel company, saw these fancy watches in a jewellers a while back, the penny then dropped!!