The Australian View (page 4 of 4)
The percentage of telecast time for all positions varied considerably from race to race. This variation was dependent on program editing and production with producers generally favouring two aspects of each race:
- Machines close to or leading a race; and
- Close competitive racing.
It was also evident that a motorcycle receiving television exposure did not guarantee that any particular sponsors signage received the same coverage. Some of the television footage that was viewed showed motorcycles that were close enough to easily distinguish the bike and its race number (see procedure) but not close enough to distinguish individual sponsors. This problem was exacerbated by poor quality pictures being broadcast from some overseas locations.
The most recognisable of the sponsored bikes were the Castrol Hondas (WSC), Team Kawasaki (WSC), Lucky Strike Suzukis (FIM) and the Repsol Hondas. Each of these bikes had a distinctive naming rights sponsor colour scheme that covered the entire motorcycle and rider. In each case this tied closely with colour schemes used for other promotional media. In particular the Castrol Hondas (WSC) and Team Kawasaki (WSC) stood out as they were painted in the 'trademark' Castrol racing livery manner - a colour scheme used by Castrol with all of their motorsport sponsorship. In the case of the Kawasaki team it was the traditional green livery associated with Kawasaki racing for a number of years.
The Lucky Strike Suzuki's and the Repsol Honda's had their respective logos displayed in a large enough manner and in high exposure areas so as to gain the required high visibility needed to meet sponsors requirements. These tactics designed to create a highly visible association would enable the sponsor to gain an advantage from the sponsored bike receiving television exposure. Without such 'brandstanding' it would be difficult for a sponsor to gain exposure with any degree of certainty.
Footage taken from on board cameras was also included in the results of the study. It was found that, as in other footage, the use of on board cameras was limited to leading machines in that they were mounted on competitive motorcycles and that the footage used was normally of the leading group of bikes. Sponsor signage was still displayed and therefore still enabled valuable television exposure benefit. When on-board cameras were used, they tended to be for extended periods, i.e. longer than the uninterrupted exposure from any other camera position used during the telecast of the race. This extended broadcast also tended to provide single bike exposure only, usually the bike directly in front of or directly behind the camera. This may have led to longer exposure times dedicated to one position than would otherwise be expected. Considering that every race monitored had on-board footage included in the telecast, any extended exposure would not bias the results of the study.
Summary & Conclusion.
The objective of this study was to investigate how much more benefit in terms of television exposure, a sponsor could expect to receive from involvement with a competitive motorcycle/rider combination over a not-so-competitive association. The results of this study indicated that it is important to a motorcycle racing team to be as competitive as possible in order to meet the sponsorship objectives of organizations that see television exposure as important. With the competition to gain much needed sponsorship dollars becoming greater and sponsoring corporations becoming ever more demanding of bottom line results, it would be of great benefit to a sponsorship seeking team to be able to include in their sponsorship proposal detailed information regarding expected television exposure.
Regular appearance within the leading four bikes in a telecast race should but may not necessarily guarantee adequate television exposure. On occasions, to gain maximum exposure for a sponsor, it may be better to be involved in a group of bikes closely competing for minor podium places than leading a race without any close competition assuming that the logo/signage is sufficiently visible. This is however hard to predict or guarantee to a sponsor and a team would therefore be better off striving for the highest placed finish possible.
It should be noted that gaining adequate television exposure will only be of benefit to a sponsor if the sponsor's logo/signage is significantly visible to ensure that the logo/signage is recognised. This race exposure and its subsequent association with a winning/ competitive team can be implemented as an important part of the organization's overall marketing plan along with supporting paid-for advertising, client entertainment etc.
With the more competitive teams gaining more television exposure for their sponsors, they are able to command greater amounts of money to gain sponsorship rights. They are also more likely to simply gain sponsorship as they are more likely to meet a sponsors criteria for entering into sponsorship. With motor racing competitiveness to a large degree dependent on the amount of money spent on machines, riders/drivers, research, engineers etc, this added ability to gain revenue through sponsorship means that the more competitive teams will normally stay that way.
Further research to investigate the relationship between logo design, size and positioning on a rider/bike and its recognition during telecast may prove beneficial as would an investigation of whether increased exposure via the televised sponsorship translates into increased sales.
We are indebted to the authors for allowing us to reproduce this article.