Wasserman Media Group has signed a deal with Madrid-based Dorna Sports to sell the global marketing opportunities for the MotoGP World Championship motorcycle races.
The annual MotoGP series consists of 18 races on four continents. The total audience in 2006 tallied to more than 5.2 billion people. Television coverage reaches more than 200 countries with an average audience of 304 million viewers per race.
But the sport is virtually unknown in the U.S. and has a spotty record attracting brand-name sponsors. That’s an opportunity in the eyes of the Wasserman Group.
“For marketers and audiences alike, MotoGP is categorically one of world’s most valuable yet untapped global platforms,” said Jeff Knapple, Wasserman’s marketing president.
Motorcycle manufacturers such as BMW and Ducati sponsor race teams, and some of the races have nation-specific sponsors like Telecom Italia (races in France and Italy), Cinzano (Spain) and CommercialBank (Qatar).
Last July the sport returned to North America after a 10-year absence, thanks to a race at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey. The event will repeat this July, sponsored by the energy drink Red Bull.
Advertisers can reach their customers through TV broadcasts, on-track signage, the MotoGP Web site, or through indirect promotions. According to MotoGP, the sport appeals to adults in the 18 to 34 age demographic on a global scale.
Wasserman, based in Los Angeles, is a sports talent agency with more than 400 clients in basketball, baseball, soccer and action sports. The company also owns the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League.
Pod People
Podcasters around the world have planned an assault for March 22. On that day, they plan to simultaneously buy the same song online, thus propelling it up the iTunes chart and demonstrating “the power of social networking and new media,” according to organizers.
The campaign, called Bumrush the Charts, represents a viral marketing experiment and a poke at established media conglomerates.
“Major labels use their resources to mass-market their product in a unified effort,” said podcaster Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff. “We’re going to show that our community can do the same.”
Podcasting allows users to load audio files from the Internet onto their iPods for a fee.
This isn’t the first time a small group has tried to use a sales chart to gain legitimacy. In the old media sector, high-profile corporate executives occasionally encouraged employees and clients to buy books in an effort to make the New York Times best-seller list. Some desperate authors have placed bulk orders of their book with the same motive.
At least on the credibility score, established media still have the edge. The Times and similar list-gatherers have complex systems in place to avoid the manipulation of sales numbers.
In contrast, the online lists support the direct sales of music (in the case of Apple Inc.’s iTunes site) or books (in the case of Amazon.com Inc.). As for the manipulation issue, “I do not know of an instance where this has happened,” said Sean Sundwall, a spokesman for Amazon. He added that the company does not comment about systems in order to prevent manipulation.
Apple representatives did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The song chosen by the podcaster posse is “Mine Again” by Black Lab, a band that champions podcasting as a distribution model.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project already estimates that 17 million people currently download podcasts, and the Los Angeles Business Journal publishes the top iTunes downloads every week. For marketers, how much more recognition does a medium need?
Alternative Beginning
Former OC Weekly editor and publisher Will Swaim is founding an alternative weekly newspaper in Long Beach called the District. Several staffers from the OC Weekly, which like the LA Weekly is owned by Village Voice Media Inc., will join Swaim. The new paper is scheduled to hit the streets on April 11.
Agencies & Accounts
Huw Griffith, chief executive of M & C; Saatchi Los Angeles since 2003, will now run both the L.A. and New York offices under the agency’s new name, M & C; Saatchi North America. 5W Public Relations Los Angeles has signed six new clients. They include celebrity and medical aviation provider Helinet, record label Twin Spin Music, rap music publisher Jaded Entertainment, cosmetic surgery Web site MakeMeHeal.com, the Babylicious line of infant products, and the ocean-based skin care products called C’Watre.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at
[email protected]
, or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
