[TV] TV graphics/sponsorship

[nicanary]

I realise now that my post last night was another of my rants - irrational and a little bit childish. My apologies to all other thread viewers/posters - 10/10thers don't deserve that.

My motor-sport memories go back to the days before sponsorship, and therefore I probably look upon it all with the proverbial rose-tints.I was aghast when Lotus agreed to paint their cars like a fag packet, and things of course got worse from then on. Jenks famously fell out with CC and co. when he continued to call them Lotus in his reports instead of the "required" John Player Specials. And when the GP itself was sponsored, well that was just going too far! I'm fully aware that the cost of taking part today is so prohibitive that backing is essential, and that's why I'd like to see a return to lower-cost racing, like production saloons, to give more folks a chance to prepare and enter a car.

I was brought up by a family of snobs - advertising was considered "trade", and we had no truck with it. My father would routinely switch channels for 2 mins whenever adverts came on if we were watching ITV, which itself was considered a channel for "the common touch". I think some of this must have rubbed off on me.(As for his attitude to Sky - don't ask!). Thus I have this innate loathing of being forced to watch someone's product being advertised for free - like the moment when some flunkey shoves the baseball cap on the winner's head on the podium, just to get product exposure. I know, I know, I'm being totally irrational.

So there you go. I only wanted the graphic to include the make of car, that's all.(Our antipodean mates must have a similar problem, since to me the Fords and Holdens look identical).I promise to take my tablets in future.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by chunder

And besides, I certainly will admit to buying a few products from sponsors simply because they sponsor motorsport. Not many but I do.

No other sport would have that affect on me, but yes I will drink Monster, buy Boost bars and try the odd new thing that sponsors a team or event.

I bought a bottle of Warsteiner from Tesco last week. The advertising power of Smokin Jo Winkelhock did it for me!

[chunder]

Oh believe me I detest adverts, absolutely loath them.

Not for what theya re doing but the way they do it,dressing up actors as normal people and trying to sell you something for nothing.

I relaise its a necessity but some advertisers are very good at what they do, whereas others like Autoglass, banks, insurance companies actually work the other way with me, I would NEVER use Autoglass windscreen services just because their advertising is so repetitive and obtrusive on the radio.

I wrote to them to tell them too!!

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by nicanary

I agree that I'm a bit over the top. The "win on Sunday,sell on Monday" philosophy works if people know what sort of car won the race. At present, with the BTCC, this isn't clearly evident.

But the teams don't care whether you know what car it is. They picked the car because they think it will get them points. But the car manufacturer isn't giving the team any money... they want you to buy insurance/energy drinks/chewing gum/petrol on Monday,so that is what they want to win on Sunday.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by chunder

Lol, thats hilarious coming from someone who lives where you do and the foremost championship for saloon cars is basically a sponsors war!

And their tv coverage refers to nearly everything as the **** start, the **** pole, the **** **** moment of the race!

Originally Posted by nicanary

So there you go. I only wanted the graphic to include the make of car, that's all.(Our antipodean mates must have a similar problem, since to me the Fords and Holdens look identical).

They've made it easy for us. There are only two makes and they use different coloured graphics. Blue for the Fords and red for the Holdens. Also, the commentators frequently refer to the make of car on air.

I wonder what colour they will use for the Nissan graphics, their corporate colours are red, white & blue.

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by sceptic

But the teams don't care whether you know what car it is. They picked the car because they think it will get them points. But the car manufacturer isn't giving the team any money... they want you to buy insurance/energy drinks/chewing gum/petrol on Monday,so that is what they want to win on Sunday.

But surely the TV company should care? They are there to inform the viewer, not to provide free advertising. Their income comes from the ad breaks in between the races, and all sponsorship displayed on the competing cars is getting coverage for free. I'd have thought that the last thing the TV co would want would be to put the backers' names on the viewers' graphics.

Funny old world.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by nicanary

But surely the TV company should care? They are there to inform the viewer, not to provide free advertising.

They are informing the viewer, they are informing them which team is running the car. That team name may or may not include the name of a sponsor.

If they name the make and model of the car isn't that just free advertising for the manufacturer?

[nicanary]

I think that makes and models are what is known in the legal profession as "common knowledge", or some such phrase. It is generally accepted that mention of such is not considered promotion in an advertising sense.

I have a suspicion that the varying attitudes taken by posters to my initial question, is directly connected to their age and experience of the past.To someone of my age, the whole "commercial" aspect of today's sport is anathema. To others, it's all they've ever known.

Each to their own. I can't tell the difference between the Civic and the Focus in long-range shots, that's the problem.I'll have to use the base of a milk-bottle, I reckon.

[nicanary]

I think the legal phrase I'm looking for is "public domain".
Since race programmes always have full info as follows :

Race number
Driver
Entrant
Make/Model
Colour (optional)
Engine capacity

I can't see why ITV4 can't at least put some of this on the screen, such as river Car/Entrant

It's not rocket science. But, as I said, each to their own.

[nicanary]

I've absolutely no idea how Dr. Bunsen Honeydew got onto my post.

I'm having trouble with virus at present. And not just my brain.

[redshoes]

How small would the font need to be to fit all that on the screen and still be able to show more than a couple of cars at a time? If they did that then all the old folks would be complaining about it being no good for their fading eyesight!

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by redshoes

How small would the font need to be to fit all that on the screen and still be able to show more than a couple of cars at a time? If they did that then all the old folks would be complaining about it being no good for their fading eyesight!

Including me! Good point. I can see I'm losing this one.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Originally Posted by nicanary

I think the legal phrase I'm looking for is "public domain".
Since race programmes always have full info as follows :

Race number
Driver
Entrant
Make/Model
Colour (optional)
Engine capacity

I can't see why ITV4 can't at least put some of this on the screen, such as river Car/Entrant

It's not rocket science. But, as I said, each to their own.

I'd have thought that it would be up to the club to inform the TV company and graphics provider on what they are looking for in terms of information shown in relation to ...

a close up/interview Joe Bloggs #27 SBF Racing Class B Fraud Siesta
Grid Line up Joe Bloggs #27 Class B
Results Overall Table Joe Bloggs #27 SBF Racing Class B
Class B results Table Joe Bloggs #27 Fraud Siesta SBF Racing

In the case of the BTCC, Teams take prevalence over Manufacturers, and as such in the Drivers table it only shows the teams names.