MARKETING STRATEGY & EVENT PROFITABILITY

How to make profitable a consolidated project

Formula 1 is obviously a business. Having the opportunity of organising a Grand Prix assumes the opportunity of doing business in many scopes. There are many questions you should ask yourself when planning the Marketing and Commercialising Strategy in this type of events: is it possible to increase profitability in a consolidated project? How we can manage it? How much more can the Event Organiser make bigger profit from the event?

Logically, these aren´t easy questions to answer and even less to achieve them. These types of macro events have already measured their capacity of generating business: merchandising, facilities, teams, advertising…, because most of the commodities have already closed their marketing contracts, but what can be seen, in theory, as a difficulty, in Always we consider it a challenge and an opportunity, and this is one of our added values.

Always Group received the order of managing and commercializing the F1 Grand Prix 2012 in Valencia Street Circuit.

Before Always joined the Organising Committee, the existing strategy that was set included guidelines maintained during the last years and, obviously, they were going nowhere.

• The price policy was focused, exclusively, on reducing prices year over year, creating bonuses…
• The actions planned and undertaken added no value to the purchasing itself, so it was unexpected to wait for an improvement of the event that would increase its value.
• Commercialization was focused mainly on local market, with little commercialization outside Valencia.
• Non – existent international commercialization of the event, beyond the already established channels, due to the fact the internationality of the event
• Local communication policy mainly based on the Region’s TV. The rest of national media where at the mercy of the criterion of the own TV, radio or press
• No Social Media strategic plan

The strategic objective raised by the client was very clear, ambitious and complex:

REVERT THE SITUATION OF A CONTINUOUS DECLINE OF SPECTATORS AND INCOMES.

Always Group designed a strategy focused on maximizing commercialisation actions to attract spectators, as the client wants “to see the stands full.”

The tactical actions proposed by Always were very clear; to obtain the higher profit with the existing resources and creating new commercialisation formulas:

1. An own commercialization offer was designed
2. An own sales channel was created
3. Renegotiation of the contract with the principal sponsor
4. New trade agreements were managed with national business
5. Socialization of the event to get commercial involvement of local business