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What’s up With the BMW Sauber Sponsors?
ByBMW Sauber has lost 2 major sponsors, Dell and Credit Suisse. That’s a lot of sponsorship money lost with those two companies, close to 20 million euros. Just one look at the car and it’s easy to see a lot of white. Not only is Dell and Credit Suisse missing altogether, but Intel is strikingly hard to see. Last season Intel had their logos on the engine cover, front wing, and side deflectors and now have a look, Intel is only on the side of the rear wing. I haven`t heard anything about Intel`s contract yet, but clearly they have downsized their sponsorship.
Mario Theissen has said all along that the team is in no financial trouble but they do need to fill a few sponsorship spaces on the surprisingly bare F1.09. Timing is everything they say and when the economic crisis hit, it just happened to be the same time some sponsorship contracts BMW Sauber had came to an end.
“I have to say we are absolutely safe on the budget side for this year,”
“We are looking for new sponsors; we have two or three spaces available.
“It might happen before the season, it might happen during the season and I would say it’s business as usual on the sponsoring side.
“When we started at the end of 2005 we got all of the sponsors on board and most of the sponsoring contracts are three-year contracts.”
I believe the team is secure on the grid for the foreseeable future despite (for the time being) fewer sponsors on board. One big reason is success. The short life of BMW Sauber has been an extremely successful one and the attitude they are putting forward for 2009 is one of even more success than in the previous three seasons. Even in these tough times, advertising is still important to companies, they just look for fewer but better investments and what better investment in F1 than a successful team.
4 Comments
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Wasn’t Credit Suisse hit pretty hard by the real estate bubble bursting followed by the rapid downward spiral of the global economy? I’m not surprised if they’re backing off sponsorships.
I still miss the days when cars had no sponsorship whatsoever.
Murphs last blog post..Which snow tires should I buy?
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Indeed Credit Suisse has been hurt that way, but also other suspicions. An internal review found “mismarkings and pricing errors” in their structured credit trading business.
As far as no sponsors at all? If things continue maybe their won’t be
. Seriously though, those days are long gone.
January 24th, 2009 at 5:03 am
This is what Credit Suisse had to say:
“Credit Suisse decided not to renew its sponsorship contract with the BMW Sauber F1 Team beyond its expiry at the end of 2008.”
“In the future, we will be taking part in fewer global sponsorship projects, and instead will be putting greater emphasis on regional commitments. We have been cultivating this approach for several years. Some current examples are: the Salzburg Festival in 2006, the Bolshoi Theatre and New York Philharmonic in 2007, and the National Gallery in 2008.”
“Credit Suisse was a sponsor of the Sauber Petronas Formula One team from 2001 to 2005. BMW’s takeover of the team in early 2006 united a long tradition in motorsports with proven efficiency and innovative ideas. In 2007, the BMW Sauber F1 Team established itself in the top three of Formula One in only its second year of existence.
I however like this bit the best:
“The 2008 season was the most successful season to date, highlighted by the team’s victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. We believe the team is on the right path, and consequently now is an appropriate time to say goodbye.”
January 28th, 2009 at 1:42 am
Credit Suisse was their third largest contributor in sponsorship,
something BMW will have to cover im sure. Shame, although it shouldn’t hit their 2009 car, but maybe it will effect some inseason impro vements