Hardcore VS Fringe

[pete55]

After reading Mark Larkhams interview in MN this week where he says they need to attract the fringe viewers and spectators to the sport, it left me wondering.
Do the fringe viewer/spectator give the advertisers and sponsors value for money?
Does the fringe viewer/spectator even know or are they even interested who the sponsors of the cars are? If you asked them after the meet would they be able to tell you.
If they can't tell you, are the sponsors getting value for money.
What interests me is that AVESCO don't seem to care what the hardcore fan thinks, they seem hell bent on attracting the fringe viewer/spectator; note the Adelaide and Indy events. These events would be made up of 90% fringe race goers.
My own personal opinion is that if the sponsors looked closely at it, they would be disappointed at brand recognition by these fringe fans.

[Zinger]

But that how you bring more hardcore fans in to the sport, they start on the fringe and get addicted like all of us. If no more people start watching V8's it will start to die off.

[GTRMagic]

There are likely more blowins than hardcore fans in the target market. And the true hardcore fans will rock up regardless of the way they are treated.

Its sad but true....

[barra]

fringe viewers, just look at HRT in previous years and SBR this year. And this is nothing against anyone, but fringe viewers still buy the merchandise etc so the sponsors still get exposure and all works and some become hard core fans.
Hardest thing for Larkham is that most fringe viewers seem to only wanna be associated with the winning team at the time.

[jetsetter]

The biggest danger with fringe supporters is as barra stated they are usually fair weathered supporters who only support the team that is currently on top as well they only attend when the weather is good & don't stand out in the rain & wind like the hardcore fans do.

[Onlooker]

Originally posted by jetsetter
The biggest danger with fringe supporters is as barra stated they are usually fair weathered supporters who only support the team that is currently on top as well they only attend when the weather is good & don't stand out in the rain & wind like the hardcore fans do.

But who cares if it pours rain the promoter takes a lick and if it is sunny he makes a huge gain.That is regardless of the dedication of the team.Mark my words I'm as big a fan as anyone but standing at Winton in the pouring rain don't even get me out of bed.I've seen enough races live to miss a couple so I tend to avoid the unplesent ones.

[Wizzby]

It's all about potential markets. There's no growth in the current hardcore fans, they're already going to the races and spending their bucks. If you want the sport to grow bigger, without waiting for the kids to grow up, you need to attract the lesser interested people, and hope they will become interested.

As far as Larko's concerned, yes they will go for the top teams to start with because that's what they see, so he has to start offering something they don't to pull them in. I'm suprised there hasn't been a team jet over to China and do some promotional stuff already... first in best dressed

[RRR]

Yes, I agree with some of you guys that AVESCO are more interested in getting the fringe dwellers in through the gate than your normal, average race fan.

The V8s have enourmous potential, yet seem to always fall short of the mark ...

[Hybrid]

Originally posted by pete55
After reading Mark Larkhams interview in MN this week where he says they need to attract the fringe viewers and spectators to the sport, it left me wondering.
Do the fringe viewer/spectator give the advertisers and sponsors value for money?
Does the fringe viewer/spectator even know or are they even interested who the sponsors of the cars are? If you asked them after the meet would they be able to tell you.
If they can't tell you, are the sponsors getting value for money.
What interests me is that AVESCO don't seem to care what the hardcore fan thinks, they seem hell bent on attracting the fringe viewer/spectator; note the Adelaide and Indy events. These events would be made up of 90% fringe race goers.
My own personal opinion is that if the sponsors looked closely at it, they would be disappointed at brand recognition by these fringe fans.

There seems to be two different questions here as advertisers and series sponsors make there money from different sources.

Advertisers welcome any showing of their car on TV. A fringe viewer will know a car by its sponsors not drivers for example ,the Kmart car,The VIP Petfoods car ect.

A Series sponsor makes his money from a multitude of different angles including gate take,entry fees ect.

The fringe fans are extremely important to the sport as they, in my opinion, would make up the bulk of your spectators.

[racer69]

Isn't the ultimate aim for the fringe supporters tom become diehard, watch anything fans?

There is always a need to attract new fans, but do we want fringe spectaters at the moment to become diehards thinking the way V8s are at the moment is proper motorsport?

[Gaz170]

Originally posted by racer69
Isn't the ultimate aim for the fringe supporters tom become diehard, watch anything fans?

There is always a need to attract new fans, but do we want fringe spectaters at the moment to become diehards thinking the way V8s are at the moment is proper motorsport?

Depends, Is your name Tony Cochrane?????

[Wizzby]

Why not? Gotta get em on the hook somehow... and with a bit of luck if they watch enough races they'll start to learn more about motorsport in general.