Who can blame him, given that his boss effectively called Griffin out for failing to promote the IRL's roster of unwanted "stars". Never mind that Angstadt, Barnhart and Cotman gave Griffin Goulash and expected him to compete with cheeseburgers for sales to U.S. racing fans.
Public Relations can not make people like the food. And John Griffin did not forget how to do his job when he left NASCAR to work for the IRL.
I like and respect John Griffin. He did his job well. It is regrettable that his bosses did not and do not understand exactly what that job entails (and what it does not).
The not-so-widely released press release is below in blue.
Roggespierre
For Immediate Release
GRIFFIN STEPS DOWN FROM INDY RACING LEAGUE
INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 20, 2009) - Indy Racing League Vice President of Public Relations John Griffin has submitted his resignation, effective Dec. 18.
"John has been a valued part of our organization and he will be missed," said Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division of the Indy Racing League. "His creativity and passion for the sport brought publicity for the IZOD IndyCar Series to a whole new level. We wish him the best of luck."
Griffin joined the Indy Racing League as vice president in 2002, overseeing all aspects of the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights public and media relations program as well as strategic communication. During his tenure, Griffin developed and implemented public relations strategies for several historic events including the unification of open-wheel racing, Danica Patrick's first win and the series IZOD entitlement announcement earlier this month.
"I appreciate my time here at the Indy Racing League where I have made many great friends and want to thank Terry (Angstadt) and Brian (Barnhart) for the opportunity," said Griffin. "I really think the time is right for me to entertain a new challenge, particularly something that would allow me more quality time with my kids."
Before joining the Indy Racing League, Griffin worked for NASCAR with his professional career also including stops with World Cup USA 1994 and the Major Indoor Soccer League.
A replacement for Griffin has not been selected.
Last one out, turn the lights out.
ReplyDeleteMr. Dickle,
ReplyDeleteWelcome back.
Griffin is a real pro. He therefore was a poor fit within the IRL management structure.
It seems that the salesman and the race mechanic that run the IndyCar Series now believe that they are marketing experts. They think that the next Silver Bullet (a 3-wheeled car) will attract 15 to 18 year-old kids and video game enthusiasts.
This is laughable.
Professional marketers work day and night trying to attract that particular demographic. By and large, they fail. TV programmers can't even get young men to watch television anymore. That would seem to be a problem when TV ratings dictate the value of sponsorship.
In addition, video gamers are not going to become IndyCar fans because they are already busy PLAYING VIDEO GAMES. Yes, they might spend 2 hours going to see a video gamish movie like 2012, but are they really going to watch 16 or 17 IndyCar races? Are they going to get off the couch to attend? If they stay on the couch, will they turn off the video games and turn on the race telecasts?
Notice, too, that Izod is spending a portion of its sponsorship money on ads in the New York Times Business Section. This, of course, has nothing to do with attracting new fans to the sport. I have seen the IndyCar TV ratings for 2009. New York is the 4th worst metered market for IndyCar.
No, this is about attracting even more undeserved corporate money. It's about building an artifice in lieu of building a fan base. It's the worst of CART and the worst of the IRL combined in a single hellish morass.
Godspeed, John Griffin.
Who will The Salesman and The Mechanic blame now? Probably not Tony Cotman.
Best Regards,
Roggespierre
The video game market is a multi-billion dollar industry. I think that you could possibly attract the video game fans, but you will never get them to play a game that consists of driving around in a circle for three hours.
ReplyDeleteI stood in line 8 hours to get a new xbox 360 when it launched and I attend EVERY indy 500 (I am still waiting on the Indy Car Evolution game which has been pushed back over 2 years now). I am not considered normal among either crowd. To attract these kids you need more than fast cars and good racing. Maybe a popular rock band could tour WITH the IRL and draw 30-40,000 concert goers to the track, every race. Some may enjoy the race with 3 wheels OR 4. You really want them to show up? JUST ADD ROCKET LAUNCHERS!
-indyian
1. Rocket launchers would probably do it.
ReplyDelete2. IF the video game is very good, features "IndyCar" exclusively, and has a very general appeal, you might make a new IndyCar fan from a gamer kid.
Otherwise, are they serious? Designing the car with a primary objective of making it look cool to 15-18 year olds is insane. Someone making a case for targeting that demographic in such a way - surely at the expense of other more intuitively important demographics, like "racing dads" - had better have REALLY good evidence that it will work.
Because otherwise, I think these arguments are much too common-sense.
Guys,
ReplyDeleteDeep down, IRL management knows that it's in way over its head with regards to marketing. That's why it continues with these lame-brained attempts to borrow from the popularity of others. It doesn't matter whether it's Gene Simmons or video games.
IRL Management needs to understand that its product must attract Consumers for its own sake.
This is a thought that scares the devil out of Barnhart, Angstadt and Cotman. They are fully unqualified to develop a successful consumer product. Therefore, they position themselves as the Protector of Drivers and Fans (Barnhart), the Rainmaker Salesman (Angstadt), and the Ladder Development Guru (Cotman).
These are savvy guys who know how to keep a job. Unfortunately, they don't know how to develop a product.
Do they understand that television ratings are the primary driver of team and series sponsorship value? If so, then why are they targeting THE MOST DIFFICULT and enigmatic demographic among all television viewers?
Do they recognize that succeeding with fans of a certain brand of racing will necessarily make IndyCar less popular with those who have traditionally supported the Indianapolis 500? I see no evidence of this.
The best way to attract 15 to 18 year-old boys is to convince their parents to bring them to the races when they're eight or nine years old. If they like the product, then they'll trade their parents for their buddies when they come back as teenagers.
That, of course, would be difficult. Reaching for yet another Silver Bullet is easy.
This Management Team likes easy.
Best Regards,
Roggespierre
The best way to attract 15 to 18 year-old boys is to convince their parents to bring them to the races when they're eight or nine years old. If they like the product, then they'll trade their parents for their buddies when they come back as teenagers.
ReplyDeleteCase study = this guy! That is EXACTLY how it worked for me. And this is the kind of thing that builds deep, lasting product-consumer relationships. Your 15-18 year old that somehow decides he will watch IndyCar because of the flashy backwards-trike look (though I would like to assume THAT idea will ultimately get killed), will likely be a very unstable consumer.
On the other hand, because dad, himself a loyal fan, instilled in me a race-watching tradition, I am going to have a much more difficult time abandoning the product. IndyCar should want me happy, because I will do recruiting for them. They should recognize that my viewership is more valuable than that of a teenager tuning in to check out the new car.
A 3-wheeled design would be a HUGE gamble and is probably very unlikely.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I can't believe that they would commit to such a design when nothing like it has ever been tested at Indy, let alone any of the other tracks. How stable is it? How safe? We're not talking about quirky little commuter vehicles here, we're talking about racing machines that the fans will expect to run at 200 mph speeds.
Also, it seems to have no apparent performance advantage over a 4-wheel configuration. In fact it would most likely have worse performance. That may turn off conventional race fans who see the design as little more than a gimmick to attract attention. What happens when the novelty wears off? Will the video gamers hang around, or move on to something else? I don't think video gamers are known for their attention spans.
Finally, how do you make it look like a serious racing machine? Every 3-wheel design I've seen looks like it belongs at the Wacky Races, not Indy. Not saying it can't be done, but I think the designer will have to work very hard to polish that one.
That said, I sure hope they release the concept drawings of the designs they didn't choose. I can't wait to see what a 3-wheel Indy car would look like.
--Dave
R wrote:
ReplyDelete"The best way to attract 15 to 18 year-old boys is to convince their parents to bring them to the races when they're eight or nine years old."
There's a missing "generation" as since 1996 the fifteen year old of that era is now 28, and has likely written off Indy cars as second-rate. After all, that's what the newspaper and magazine writers told him ad nauseum. By the time "unification" came around, this kid was long gone.
From my obsevation the 500 generally has an aging demographic. With that missing generation, it has a tough row to hoe in regaining relevancy. Frankly, I see the entire auto biz in deep stuff over the next few years, whether consumer autos or competition. NASCAR's issues are, IMHO, symptomatic of a larger occurrance.
It ain't dead yet - but three-wheelers and an X-box quality will hasten the demise as the old timers will be next to check out.
Rocketman53,
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right about the Lost Generation of IndyCar fan. Your larger point regarding the life cycle of auto racing as a product is profound and, I fear, correct.
Your $25 million purse for a stand-alone Indy 500 seems to become more attractive with each passing day.
Best Regards,
Roggespierre
Roggie,
ReplyDeleteRead today that Edmonton's Indy Car Festival of Speed lost 3.8 million bucks this past year.
Yet, these losers are the future of Indy Car Racing? I don't get it.
They are terrible races. They are money losers. They don't create new fans to the sport (they are just "event" fans). They aren't drawing flies for TV ratings.
Help me understand this, Mr. Angstadt.
Trick Dickle wrote:
ReplyDelete"Read today that Edmonton's Indy Car Festival of Speed lost 3.8 million bucks this past year. Yet, these losers are the future of Indy Car Racing? I don't get it."
These events are staged as community "loss leaders" - ballyhoo the city, bring folks to hotels and restaurants, sales, gasoline and amusement taxes, etc.
The "event" may have lost money, but IRL got its sanction fee, which is all it gets and moves on, while the local taxing authorities skimmed off their part from the top.
If the promoter took a "loss", it is made up from some community-minded deep pocket, like the symphony or opera. It's all a civic shell game, but one that will continue because it really is, in a sense, cheap entertainment that generates commerce and positive tax revenue. That's where ovals, which are generally privately held, are at a significant fiscal disadvantage. Street courses are owned by...yes, the tax collectors!
Hey, Milwaukee Mile, wake up!! See how this works?
How about Potato guns? A fun, but novel way of bringing interest to the "lost" generation. It certainly won't be the racing product. That died when they took out the little guy years ago. So I say we blast a Boise in to the wild blue yonder!! Bring plenty of hair spray and see who can send his or her spud the farthest! As for the IRL, it just will be another side show!
ReplyDeleteWrench...you could put an eye out with one of those!!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Robin Miller's report (speedtv.com)? He says TG is trying to buy the IRL--heck I'd give it to him if I was on the IMS board!
ReplyDeleteHe also reports something about the new chassis being done and he has seen it--but by agreement he is sworn to secrecy---but he will be able to tell "all" in about two weeks. He also inferred that Ganassi has something to do with it!
osca
Osca wrote:
ReplyDelete"He also inferred that Ganassi has something to do with it!"
Not so, Here's what he said in SpeedTV's Miller's Mailbag.
"RM: Well, first of all I have seen the car and the plans but I signed a confidentiality agreement so I cannot comment except to say that the said chassis is NOT being designed in that Pennsylvania tunnel. And, no, it's not a conflict of interest but I'll explain more in a couple weeks."
So I guess we will have to wait and see what transpires.
re: the rumor TG wants to buy IRL, and run events in China, and likely elsewhere. I'd sell that sucker to him in a minute, discount for cash. Of course, if true, he's no doubt looking for a sweetheart deal that includes an obligation to run the 500 with this albatross league...on that, no deal.
ReplyDeleteGreyMouser,
ReplyDeleteRobin Miller has given mixed messages on Ganassi being involved, but he DOES SAY IT WON'T BE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
If the IRL continues to exist in it's current form---does it really matter??
osca
Sounds like the same type of deal Penske had to aquire Saturn. Only the manufacturing companies wouldn't bite!
ReplyDeleteGiven the Motegi and now Brazil deals, maybe with a race there the new cars will be made "inexpensively" in China...a Changfeng-Honda-Firestone configuration.
ReplyDeleteA1GP surely found the Chinese and Middle East markets a fertile ground for economic growth and increased fan support. Oh, wait a minute, that was an alternate timeline...damn quantum physics!
ReplyDelete