In promoting the series, what positave ideas can you offer?
Obviously, the best thing to utilize is your strongest assetts, from a promotional point of view. Everyone already knows that you don't want to start by attempting to re-invent the wheel, but rather take your strongest publicity points and build from there.
You don't have to be in promotion to realize that at this moment the biggest publicity strong points are Danica, The Dancing Helio, Marco, Graham and the unification.
Again, these are your "Hot points" with the press. Bear in mind that it's the press we want to give stories to that will peak THEIR interest, because if we can't peak their interest, it won't get the publicity we're interested in. In other words, if you want to make headlines, we're not going to try to promote tire sizes, or turbos v/s non turbos, because AP or Reuters just isn't going to be interested one iota.
So, what ideas do you have that may benifit the series from a promotional standpoint?
Something new or building on one of the established.
Remember, think from the perspective of catching the attention the guy/gal at a Reuters or AP desk, not something that you may say to Robin Miller or Curt Cavin.
Put yourself in the promoter's drivers seat and lets see what you can come up with!
Well, I would at this point move Indy back to its old start spot, and offer a guaranteed $150,000 to whoever does the double, on top of nay earnings. I would also say anybody that can win both races in the same day will get $2.5M on top of any earnings.
That would give guys like Stewart a reason to do the double, and the ability to. I know, we should be focusing on our own, but if you want to get the press interested, that will do it.
I suppose one could also circulate a rumor that Danica is pregnant with another drivers' kid, but that might make a few people rather angry......
We need more commercials like the Vasser/Zanardi Target and Barilla ads in the 90's. Then again, part of the problem is you have teams without sponsors or running dummy sponsors (Penske) which you cannot advertise.
Okay. But the idea of this thread is to come up with progressive ideas.
You say toss out "I Am Indy" and that's all fine and good, but you are only taking something away and not coming up with a good, replacement idea that will help keep Indy Car in the public news.
Another thing the series needs is a BIG kickoff event. Homestead doesn't cut it. The ratings get a bump after Indy because people are excited........ no one (other than us) are excited until after Indy....
The first commercial I would produce for Indy would go something like this.
Line up all 33 driver side by side with the "names" in front and have them walking out of one of the tunnels, into the light, with nothing but music playing in the background. The music could be a number of different things.... classical like the old commercials (which were great), "Welcome to the Jungle", any number of things could work.
During the "walk" you could cut to clips of crazy passes, close finishes and some of the more exciting wrecks.
Long term....... I can't say because I am currently trying to sell it!
2. Get the rid of 7-month "summer/autumn/winter" break and start in January. Two months break is more than enough (for silly season).
3. Go to hot places during winter and overseas (Mexico, Australia, South Africa for example).
With these 3 you can promote races. Now you are in sight/mind ALL the year-long... I know that this requires money, but which sponsor is gonna pay for 7 months of doing nothing?
4. Spice up rivalries between drivers. Some hot discussion out of PR bounds wouldn't mind.
5. Tweak the rules to allow teams to own engines and work on them. Some smaller team might come with fresh ideas. Regarding small teams, if some of them are local and interested in couple of races in their area during the year, the better.
6. Fix the TV so that cars can LOOK fast as they really are (well, this should be No.1). Than you can promote skills of IndyCar drivers in comparison with pathetically slow taxi men in tintops.
are you looking for short term or long term ideas?
It doesn't matter.
Anything that you think would grab the press' attention and put Indy Racing in print in a positive vane.
I've found in other threads a fair anount of folks saying "Oh this is bites" or "I can't believe they do such and such", Or "Why does so and so get so much attention?"
It's easy to critize, however coming up with a good idea takes some good gray matter.
So long as it's something that will grab the popular press' attention and put us on the Sports front page, or the just The Front Page, is what we're interested in.
None of us are born a race fan. We are race fans because of exposure one way or another. It's our bet that there are a good amount of folks out there that very might be race fans, if only they had the exposure that's not been there for them.
From a purely comedic standpoint....... kind of like these boards............
Remember the scene in Braveheart when the Scott's were preparing for the battle and the Brit's brought in the Irish mercenaries...........and then they ran at each other and stopped and started hugging and greeting each other! IT'S MYYYYY COUNTRY!
A couple of weeks ago, there was a Vblog (or Vlog?) on indycar.com which featured Tony Kanaan. I figure that it would be great that in addition to the daily UP2Speed segments as well as quick updates from each race weekend that there be a section purely devoted to drivers, officials, etc. doing their own Vlogs at the site where they get a chance to air out whatever is on their mind whether racing related or not. Speaking of which, is it me or do they not have links to driver websites there? That would be a definite plus. I know it's not a huge thing but it's certainly something that would be a nice addition.
CART and IndyCar has never been front page news, except during Indy. NASCAR is usually only front page news during Daytona. (Unless the race is local then Indy or Nascar make the front page) I don't think we need to worry about what page we are on the news as much as what attracts people to races and makes people watch races.
So, what makes people watch races? Competition, speed and danger. The speed and danger are already there so, we don't need to worry about that. The competition does need some work.
Indycar needs more competitive drivers that are marketable to the US. Marco and Graham do need to work on their image. IndyCar needs a bad guy, in fact, it needs a foreign bad guy. What better way to get people engrossed in watching than a bad guy with a foreign accent? Heck, get a girl from a foreign country to whip up on Danica for a few races and watch the ratings go up real quick. It would help if this driver is a cocky German with a wreckers or checkers type of attitude.
Promotion people, PROMOTION! MARKETING. Yes, a 30 race schedule, starting earlier and changing the start time for the 500 are all interesting ideas but they have nothing to do with marketing and promotion.
Using the current package as it exists today with the races, drivers and start times, what would you to to promote the series?
1. Hire Eddie Gossage or someone he recommends to be the official promoter for the IRL. He knows how to generate buzz.
2. The IRL should take over marketing and promotion of the series and races. I know Curt Cavin poo-pooed my idea about this but I still think it's valid. Some of the teams can't do any promotion due to lack of funds or lack of sponsors. Don't rely on the teams to do it. Ever see some of those NASCAR commercials that are promoting NASCAR and not a specific driver or team? What about those milk, beef or pork commercials that aren't selling any specific brand but the product itself? That's what we need. The IRL should market and promote the product itself. To that end...
3. 1 full page ad in USA Today Friday before the race promoting the upcoming event. 1 full page ad in USA Today on Monday celebrating the most recent event/winner. Radio/television commercials in race markets ALL SEASON LONG.
4. Offer discount tickets/garage passes to anyone that works in any form of the auto industry within 100 miles of the race track. Mechanics, dealers, etc... Show a work ID and receive a garage pass or discount ticket or both. Get a special tour of the track and garages on the first or second day of practice. VIP suite lunch and driver meetings included.
5. Everyone loves a parade. The Circus is in town. Arrange for local grade schools or junior highs to enter floats into the parade. Offer a prize to the school with the best float. Have drivers show up at these schools well before the events to encourage the kids to build floats. Winners get free or discounted tickets and stuff. Then have the parade roll through town the evening before practice. Parade consists of local floats, haulers, cars, drivers, etc... Throw a street festival with booths, driver meetings, etc...
6. Encourage/require top-level sponsors to promote the series in their home town headquarters in some way. Get the towns behind the drivers. When Cummins Engine Company sponsored Gil DeFerran my hometown of Columbus, IN felt like he was our driver. When big Al won in 87 with a Cummins sponsored car, he showed up at Cummins a couple of months later to talk to the fans. Get these sponsors to generate buzz in their HQ's community. Get that community to think "Target's HQ is in my hometown. Dixon and Wheldon are Target drivers. They are OUR drivers representing OUR town." Do the same thing with the drivers hometowns/place of residence.
So, in short, Advertise, Advertise, Advertise. Get the local community involved and behind the team.
The Danica Racing League already has most all it needs.
But, maybe ABC could have an all Danica channel for the races, to focus on just her on-track activity, along with hubby Paul, crazy TJ in turn 4, Bev, Brooke and whoever else we can find, in a split-screen to watch them, watching the race. Maybe show the last few laps of the 2008 Motegi race, in a continuous loop, on commericials. I think Todd Harris could host this channel, with his insightful commentary.
Then those of us that actually want to watch the race, can tune in on the regular broadcast station, and not be bothered.
Marco, Graham and the unification. 
