Sidepodcast

Quality, Above All Else

Dan Brunell of the website Racing Eagles, left us the following extended comment yesterday and we liked it so much, we turned it into a guest post.

Ah, the new world of the internet. The PR world have finally caught up. Sorry if this is a bigger picture but Stuart's recent post illustrates something interesting happening to new media.

It reminds me of me something I presented at a seminar a few months ago. Where there are so many news outlets and so few news stories, that the commentary takes over the news. It’s the reason why there are ten news channels on American cable TV. It's not because they are ten separate news gathering organizations competing against each other (they let AP and Reuters do the dirty work for them) but they are ten channels of commentary specifically geared toward the demographic of their audience reacting to the news.

It's the same thing that has happened with Formula One. There are so many sites that comment on F1 news, that it makes the job of PR agents and communication staffers with these teams, sponsors, organizers, and drivers so easy. If you want to create a buzz or controversy or PR or whatnot; send a press release and in your words will be Ctrl-A-Ctrl-C-Ctrl-V.

I won’t regurgitate Stuart's points but he is spot on. This sort of manipulation done by agents and teams is stuff that normal F1 reporters and well-informed fans (which I would consider most of the Sidepodcast community) to dismiss the facts from realities. However, it allows for vultures like GMM to prosper. They play off ignorance of news sites like ESPN who don’t know any better and will just cut the check to them.

The thing is; I think the tide is turning a bit against this kind of thing.

See, the one big mistake that American newspapers made with the internet is that they cared more about being timely than playing to their strength of being insightful. It played against the natural competitive streak of journalists who would be in competition to see who can get a story out first. It killed them because everyone had that particular story out there. It was also free because everyone was afraid that if they made people pay for the exact same AP story, they would go elsewhere. They didn’t realize that their strength was the quality of the reporting that the public could not get anywhere else. It’s has killed them as they’ve hemorrhaged the very staff they need to survive to provide this quality. (Thank the lord I didn’t make it a career and went to media relations instead.)

It's something that reminds me of what Joe said in his last podcast to the effect that anyone can tell you the news but it matters when someone intelligent tells you what it means. What the newspapers in America are now realizing, and what the hopefully successful ventures of GrandPrix+, Autosport, and Racecar Engineering into on-line subscriptions will show, is that people will always pay for quality above all else. We may not like having to sign in or depart with hard earned dollars but in order for these publications to keep the quality up, they need our money to function.

I think this is the direction things are going and I think it will work out. There will always be tabloid rags to sit on the grocery store racks, but when push comes to shove and you want to know what is going on, you go to a place you trust. It's why the magazine The Economist cannot keep on the shelf over here.

It is also the same reason why I like Joe Saward. That is why I like Sidepodcast. That is why I like writing to the caliber Stuart showed in this article.

There are things worth supporting... which reminds me I need to set up an automatic donation account with Sidepodcast.

Hamilton, The Media, and the Rest of Us

The usual process of including guest posts on a blog is for the owner to ask some of their favourite writers to come up with a piece or two to be featured. As you well know, Sidepodcast likes to do things a different way. The Facebook Group has plenty of fascinating discussions going on, and we want to bring those to the main site. The idea is for you guys to write your opinions and entries over on the group, and then we pick the best ones for feature over here on Sidepodcast. Sort of self-selecting guest bloggers, if you will. If you want to get your name in bright lights, just join the group and get writing. We read everything and everyone will be considered.

This second guest entry is by Dan Brunell, talking about Lewis Hamilton and the hype.

One of the good things about living on the west side of the Atlantic is that Hamilton-mania doesn't reach my fair ears that much. Sometimes I will read someone lashing out on a blog, the random Telegraph/Times/BBC article or the occasional voice on the SPEED channel with unending praise. I consider myself lucky. The British press coverage of Hamilton is overwhelming sometimes. It's to the point where it frays some nerves. On top of that, there seems to be some deeper resentment of not just his press coverage, but at the speed with which he has achieved his success. Is all this really Hamilton’s fault? Do the people who hate Hamilton hate him, the ease with which he achieved success, or his media coverage?

To give Mr. Lewis Hamilton the benefit of the doubt, let’s go over a few things. First off, he is 23 years old. There is a lot of maturity left to be achieved, as with anyone that age. It just happens that his immature moments are magnified all over the television and the back pages of the papers. With that said, for a 23 year old, he carries himself in front of the media remarkably well. He is a very savvy individual; perfecting that "awwwweee… shucks", batting his eyes and laughing at every bad joke amazingly well. To some people, this is some sort of diabolical front to trick the masses. Whether it is genuine or fake, he puts up a front remarkably well. Is that the "real" Lewis? I don’t know and really don’t care to be honest.

It is amazing to me how some in the F1 community break this down and read into the slightest things with Hamilton. For example some in the blogging community broke down his victory celebration and press conference like the Kennedy assassination footage; looking for some nefarious motives behind his post-race actions and speeches. This is all a little excessive, if you ask me. I really don’t think a person who is in the euphoria of winning a grand prix is thinking "If I jump around like a mad man and talk about how good I feel, that will intimidate the competition!" If anything was intimidating, how about the margin of which he won the grand prix?

Second, there are some people who hate Hamilton because they feel he hasn’t "earned" his F1 seat and the ease which he has achieved success. There is no doubt that since a very young age he has been bred to race in Formula One by his father and McLaren. Some even go as far to say that he has been given everything in life and had an easy road to F1. My response is, how is that different than many others on the grid? You only need to look at Nelson Piquet, Jr., Nakajima, and others, how much their rearing into racing has helped them get into F1. More importantly in my opinion, it is hard to deny the man has a natural gift behind the wheel. Yes, McLaren has an advantage over a majority of the grid, but a car alone doesn’t win championships. You only need to look at Fuji last year to look at the god given talents of this man. Is his talent as great as the British press has hyped it up to be? I am not sure but only time will answer this question.

Now, given this talent and natural presence I can see the appeal of media to cover him like they do. Yes, it really annoys people like me who have followed F1 since the days of Mansell, Senna, and Prost. However you must remember who the media produces for. The media at it’s root writes/produces to make people interested in what they are covering. They write for their next paycheck and to draw more readers. Therefore they write what will appeal to the most people, even if that may not appeal to them personally.

After all, if you ask most people at a Grand Prix these days who are the two drivers for Super Aguri, most of the time you’ll get a blank response with some saying “Who are they?” If you ask them about Lewis Hamilton, their kids will get excited and they'll say something like “He’s such a swell guy! I hope he wins!”

This might anger people like you and me who follow this sport, dare I say, religiously. Yes, it is upsetting that the media is fawning all over the guy. Yes, it gets annoying that F1 has turned into “all Hamilton, all the time.” However, you can’t really blame Hamilton for that. It’s not his fault that they show his goofy smile every 15 seconds on the television and quote his generic speech in every back page. You can’t blame the media for it either because they are fulfilling what is a strong public sentiment for the guy. It is a monster which the media help creates, but that's what they are in business for.

With a little bit of luck, Hamilton-mania will birth a new generation of fans who find that there is more to the sport than this single personality. Let’s hope that they glance beyond the surface of Hamilton and look at the deep richness of F1.

Super Aguri: A Sign of Things to Come

The usual process of including guest posts on a blog is for the owner to ask some of their favourite writers to come up with a piece or two to be featured. As you well know, Sidepodcast likes to do things a different way. The Facebook Group has plenty of fascinating discussions going on, and we want to bring those to the main site. The idea is for you guys to write your opinions and entries over on the group, and then we pick the best ones for feature over here on Sidepodcast. Sort of self-selecting guest bloggers, if you will. If you want to get your name in bright lights, just join the group and get writing. We read everything and everyone will be considered.

The first blog entry comes courtesy of Dan Brunell, our guest blogger guinea pig, and focuses on the plight of Super Aguri and what it means for the future of F1.

As “me” and Christine have so eloquently pointed out, Super Aguri is in serious trouble. If they last the year it will be an achievement. If they get someone to buy them it would be a miracle. However, is their slow demise a sign of things to come in F1?

It’s an understatement to say that F1 is an expensive sport. Advertising arrangements with some teams are in the tens of millions of pounds. Manufacturers themselves pour in hundreds of millions of pounds. The strong economy of the last few years have allowed many auto manufacturers and companies to spend their efforts in F1. However, as the economy goes from bull to bear and wallets get tightened; their hefty spending on F1 might be one of the first things to go from the ledger sheet.

We have already seen Toyota, Honda, and Renault question their financial commitment to F1. Many grands prix are having a hard time finding proper sponsorship to pay the amounts demanded by Formula One Management. Plus, F1's own corporate hospitality and advertising business is $3 million in the red for last year. Add to this the uncertainty of F1 beyond Bernie and Max and this adds up to some troubling waters ahead. The last time the sport looked this uncertain financially, there was a massive turnover and upheaval in the sport due to the loss of cigarette advertising. The loss of several of the manufacturers and primary sponsors could have a similar, even more pronounced, effect.

In my view, there is a lot that F1 can continue to offer for advertisers and people involved. For Pete's sake, their estimate world audience for F1 is 6 billion people! However, unless F1 lowers its costs across the board and lower their expectations from advertisers and manufacturers, the long-term finances of Formula One looks very bleak. After all, for all the riches and egos in F1… these people still have to live on a budget and within their means. If Bernie and the F1 conglomerate which he leads continues to ask high prices of everyone involved in F1, the teams, races, and ultimately advertisers will go on to more effective advertising vehicles that are less costly. If F1 starts hemorrhaging advertisers, manufacturers, and sponsors, then the sport is in major trouble.