Further to his comments about double points, Bernie Ecclestone expanded on a number of issues in F1, especially the chase for a younger audience. We think it’s best if we let Bernie’s words speak for themselves.
Bernie on attracting younger generation to Formula 1:
“Young kids will see the Rolex [watch] brand but are they going to go and buy one? They can’t afford it. Or our other sponsor UBS—these kids don’t care about banking. They haven’t got enough money to put in the bloody banks anyway. That’s what I think.
“I don’t know why people want to get to the so-called ‘young generation’.
“Why do they want to do that? Is it to sell them something? Most of these kids haven’t got any money. I’d rather get to the 70-year-old guy who’s got plenty of cash.
“So, there’s no point trying to reach these kids because they won’t buy any of the products here and if marketers are aiming at this audience, they maybe they should advertise with Disney.”
Bernie on social media:
“I’m not interested in tweeting, Facebook and whatever this nonsense is. I tried to find out but in any case I’m too old-fashioned. I couldn’t see any value in it.
“And I don’t know what the so-called ‘young generation’ of today really wants. What is it? You ask a 15 or 16-year-old kid, ‘What do you want?’ and they don’t know. The challenge is getting the audience in the first place.”
Bernie on Caterham, Marussia and female shoppers:
“These teams don’t need to be in financial trouble. They need to think about what they have got to spend and do the best they can with that… it’s the same problem with ladies and credit cards.”
Bernie and his autocratic style has built Formula 1 into the global phenomenon it is today. Nobody can mistake that. But things have changed and are constantly changing in the new media landscape. Television audiences are falling and, rather than looking at ways to bring new fans to the sport, Bernie is more worried about flogging off tacky watches to 70-year-olds.
Is the future of F1 really best left to a sexist luddite who is 84-years-old?
[Source: The Independent | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
5 replies on “It’s time to go Bernie, it really is”
So how many of these 70 year olds are drinking Red Bull, buying mobile phones in Mexico, using petrol in Venezuela or Malaysia, wearing Oakleys, buying LG TV’s, flying with Emirates, drinking Martini, utilising Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or buying Kaspersky antivirus?
Hot Tip Bernie: Shitcanning existing sponsors isn’t the greatest way to endear yourself to teams who are struggling to get new headline sponsors at the best of times….
Kid’s don’t have any money in their bank accounts; except if you were Bernie’s daughter,
he bought her a $28M house in the US 3 years ago. The walls are likely studded with Rolex watches & USB gold coins.
You forgot to quote the part where he yelled at the young whippersnappers to get off his lawn.
Here’s the full source interview for Bernie’s comments:
http://www.campaignasia.com/Article/392088,exclusive-f1-boss-bernie-ecclestone-on-his-billion-dollar-brand.aspx
It’s worth a read.
Silly old fart.
Thanks for the link above it adds some context to his comments. He’s still massively out of touch in some aspects of marketing though. He has a few more runs on the board than me so I guess I should let him put me in my place, lol.