Vodafone To Leave 888!

[kittle]

More info will follow.

http://www.v8supercars.com.au/champi...8/default.aspx

and here

http://www.speedcafe.com/2012/06/07/...t-sponsorship/

Telecommunications company Vodafone Australia will not renew its sponsorship of Triple Eight Race Engineering’s V8 Supercars team at the end of the 2012 season.

Vodafone’s move to end the association has been made as part of a major rollback of its sports sponsorships, which will also see the conclusion of its deal with Crick Australia.

Vodafone has backed Triple Eight’s two entries since the start of the 2007 season, enjoying three victories in both the Bathurst 1000 and V8 Supercars Championship with the Queensland based squad

[Sandgroper]

With the money V-Phone have been loosing in recent years no wonder this has happened. Worst network in the country !

No noise of dumping the F1 team? I would think not.

[Average Punter]

Beats me how a company can see the value in annually spending $140m on advertising and promotion and still lose $400m.

Something had to give.................

[thunderbolt]

http://www.speedcafe.com/2012/06/07/...t-sponsorship/
Telecommunications company Vodafone Australia will not renew its sponsorship of Triple Eight Race Engineering’s V8 Supercars team at the end of the 2012 season.

[kittle]

My understanding is Roland has close ties with the UK arm of Vodafone and they helped get the deal done back in 2007.

[PVDA]

Monster Energy Drink is being mentioned as a possible replacement??

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by PVDA

Monster Energy Drink is being mentioned as a possible replacement??

I hear this too and it could just be a bit too convenient. There's no doubt the margin is there in the lolly water and Monster have the relationship with 888 but I can't see them coming up with $4m+ that its going to surely cost to get name rights sponsorship on the Triple-8 cars.

Having Triple-8 on the hunt now you would think could hurt Tekno and possibly even DJR.

[sizzle]

I seem to recall Monster have said all along they were happy to wait until T8 could accommodate them in the main game.

[Umai Naa]

I recall the same thing. They've been wanting naming rights on a car in the main game for a few years now.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Mixer

I hear this too and it could just be a bit too convenient. There's no doubt the margin is there in the lolly water and Monster have the relationship with 888 but I can't see them coming up with $4m+ that its going to surely cost to get name rights sponsorship on the Triple-8 cars.

Having Triple-8 on the hunt now you would think could hurt Tekno and possibly even DJR.

*Cough* $6.5m *Cough*

[GTRMagic]

In reality, what else is there for Vodafone to do in V8Supercar? They have won just about every event in the series, the 2 pilots have achieved Bathursts and championships, they get mega air time in vision and just general chat...

...at some point the marketers look at return on investment (with the help of their beancounters..) and discover they arent getting bang for buck from the placement as they had when it started.

It might be unlikely that Monster Energy would be the brand that Schweppes chooses to promote, if indeed it is Schweppes driving the deal. They are bottlers & distributors of that brand in Australia and from all accounts do not own it. Unless the big bods from HQ are kicking the tin, its hard to imagine it happening.

We shall see...

[Mixer]

Supposedly Monster have only paid $200k per season for the Development Series sponsorship, which by all accounts is a bargain.

But its a quantum leap from 200k per year to multiple millions. While I never say never, its a long shot if you ask me.

Economic conditions are a bit ugly, who's recession-proof?

Normally you'd say alcohol is one but who is out there, hungry for market share and with dollars to spend?

There's no doubt that Triple 8 has the cred, stars and results to snag a top line sponsor that may surprise. Lets face it the Vodafone sponsorship has been one of the best and most prestigious the sport has had and they have had no shortage of results to go along with it.

I know this is probably far from what would happen but imagine if this was the catalyst for a real big fish...

Red Bull - in and around the sport for some time, they have the right profile and the money
Coca-Cola, (Pepsi are in...)
Johnny Walker (Diageo - to counter Beam Brands & Jack Daniels), they clearly have the pedigree, and the money:
http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbu...tch-production

How about someone from the financial sector or FMCG... Would love to see a Team American Express or imagine the lovely colour of a Team Cadbury!

I know I know, but its fun to dream.

[rik]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

In reality, what else is there for Vodafone to do in V8Supercar? They have won just about every event in the series, the 2 pilots have achieved Bathursts and championships, they get mega air time in vision and just general chat...

Are you saying Vodafone are leaving 888 because they've won everything????

Seems pretty clear to me that they are on a massive cost cutting exercise due to losing $400M+ and their credibility shot due to poor service.

It has been mentioned by Roland that 888 were restricted to a 2 car team by the Voda contract. Be interesting to see if they look to expand to 4 cars with multiple sponsors. Or run cars for other REC owners.

[alfacors]

Coincidence that Red Bull are currently looking to hire a Motorsport Marketing Manager?

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by alfacors

Coincidence that Red Bull are currently looking to hire a Motorsport Marketing Manager?

Damn.... If you're gonna pay someone $120k+ to be a motorsport sponsorship manager, surely you gotta be spending up big.

Could we see 2 main game cars, a dev series car (perfect time really), Porsche Carerra Cup, and a Formula Ford... Red Bull driver development program?

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Supposedly Monster have only paid $200k per season for the Development Series sponsorship, which by all accounts is a bargain.

Is it? It would be interesting for a cost benefit evaluation on the development series as I'd be interested to see anyone sponsor getting a return on that.

Not picking on the development series - I'd be interested to see the return on any series outside of the v8s. eg Carerra cup

[Razor]

Can't see Red Bull moving to 888, the most logical thing to them is to move with Kelly/NISMO. Red Bull is a personal sponsor to Rick Kelly, they also can strength their ties with Nissan since Infiniti is a sponsor to Red Bull Racing in F1 plus the Kelly's have had a relationship with Renault before. (ie: That motoring reality series)

In terms of new title sponsors, how's Caltex shaping up these days?

[anthony81901]

Looking back at major sponsorship deals, 4-8 years seems to be the normal length before they feel it time to devote their resources else where. ANZ, Bundaberg, Caltex, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, GIO, K Mart, Ozemail, Pirtek, Telstra, & Wow all fall into this category. The only deals I think that have run longer are Castrol (13 years @ Perkins), Orrcon (11 years @ Larkham & FPR) and Shell (18 years @ DJR).

Being a major player with a big budget can make it even harder to replace, witness Gibson Motorsport going from the best funded team in 1995 when Winfield were forced out to near closure in 1997. And back-to-back Bathurst wins didn't seem to count for much at the Kelly team when K Mart pulled out.

[mountainstar]

I was watching a race the other day and thinking Vodafone had pretty much gotten all there is to get out of V8SC, so no surprise there.

I'm sure the 888 cars are not cheap, so there are not that many companies with that kind of money for sponsorship. We'll see.

[PVDA]

Monster Energy Drink sponsors a lot of sporting events and teams at the moment;

TWO WHEEL DIRT
Supercross
Motocross
Freestyle Motocross
Speedway

TWO WHEEL ASPHALT
MotoGP
Stunt Riding

FOUR WHEEL DIRT
Desert
Short Course Off-Road
RallySprint Car

FOUR WHEEL ASPHALT
Drifting
Formula 1
V8 Supercars
Go Karting
Formula Ford
Drag Racing
V8 Ute

Nate Adams
Craig Baird
Kyle Baldock
Matt Banting
Nick Barton
Ken Block
Troy Brosnan
Danny Brown
Jake Brown
Andy Buckworth
Harley Clifford
Mitch Coleborn
Shane Dorian
Rob Dyrdek
Pierre Luc Gagnon
Jared Graves
Ryan Guettler
Josh Hansen
Sam Hill
Ryan Hipwood
Chris Holder
Billy Mackenzie
Jay Marmont
Bobby Martinez
Jeremy McGrath
Matt Mingay
Dave Mirra
Kade Mosig
Chaz Mostert
Shane O´Neill
Dusty Payne
Nathan Pretty
Scott Pye
Nico Rosberg
Valentino Rossi
Meghan Rutledge
Michael Schumacher
David Sera
Shane Tucker
Shane van Gisbergen
Ryan Villopoto
Daniel Watkins
Jossi Wells
Jamie Whincup
Cameron White
Rob Whyte
Blake "Bilko" Williams
Ben Wilson
Chippa Wilson
Owen Wright
Tyler Wright

So will they simply get a bigger sponsorship bucket or reduce the number of people/events to move into V8's with a greater presence??

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by Razor

Can't see Red Bull moving to 888, the most logical thing to them is to move with Kelly/NISMO. Red Bull is a personal sponsor to Rick Kelly, they also can strength their ties with Nissan since Infiniti is a sponsor to Red Bull Racing in F1 plus the Kelly's have had a relationship with Renault before. (ie: That motoring reality series)

In terms of new title sponsors, how's Caltex shaping up these days?

Despite the Nissan "factory" connection, I think you'd have to be mental to choose TKR over 888. 888 is the gun team in the series and you'd think they are a safe bet to be very competitive in the future.

Given the current market I can't see any petrol/oil supplier jumping in. Caltex and Shell have minimal retail presence due to the buyouts by Coles & Woolworths.

Nothing's impossible and Caltex have prior form, and obviously relationships there too.

[anthony81901]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Nothing's impossible and Caltex have prior form, and obviously relationships there too.

True, but it has been a while since an oil company was the naming rights sponsor of a team. Far cry from 1993 when Ampol, Caltex, Castrol, Mobil & Shell all played.

[Umai Naa]

I personally want to see BP flaunt their Ultimate brand over an entire car. I think some fantastic liveries could come out of it.

[Scrut]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

I personally want to see BP flaunt their Ultimate brand over an entire car. I think some fantastic liveries could come out of it.

Don't see this happening, as they don't use the advertised product.
Maybe CSR sugar could be a possibility.

[peckstar]

saw this mentioned elsewhere

will Roland have a little tanty and start saying nasty things about the sponsor and running dodgy sponsorship like last time he lost a major sponsor?

wonder if his drivers will be?