F1 most marketable drivers

Details of the study here: http://repucom.net/m...formula1-driver

 
Details of the study here: http://repucom.net/m...formula1-driver

I would swap Felipe Massa with Kimi Raikkonen. How can Felipe be more marketable than Kimi? Who did they ask that question?

Brazil is quite a market with population over 200 million. 

Not even Button on there?

He seems to be the most marketable driver of the past ten years.

I would swap Felipe Massa with Kimi Raikkonen. How can Felipe be more marketable than Kimi? Who did they ask that question?

Massa has done quite a few tricks for sponsors (as shown by awkward press photos) while Raikkonen is notoriously unwilling in that regard. The iceman persona goes down well with hard core F1 fans who appreciate some genuine personality after too many p.r. fakes but it hardly helps sell product in a marketing sense.

Surprised Massa is number 3. Yes Brazil is a big country with history in F1, but surely Alonso has more of the Latin American audience sewn up? Not sure how a nearly man and perpetual number 2 driver can be more marketable than a 4 time German WDC at a team with one of the biggest PR operations.

Kimi is probably down in 5th because he is pretty aloof and not particularly interested in PR, coupled with his sabbatical and couple of quiet years, jumping between teams a bit and not speaking English or other languages particularly well.

I find it very interesting, that Kimi does not make it to the top ten in domestic rankings? As a Finn I thought everyone in Finland recognizes him and there are drivers listed in top10 with only 50% awareness.

Strange.

EDIT: Kimis Global DBI score is higher than his domestic one based on this...

Edited by DriveFastLiveSlow, 11 March 2014 - 09:56.

Not even Button on there?
 
He seems to be the most marketable driver of the past ten years.

Kimi is probably down in 5th because he is pretty aloof and not particularly interested in PR, coupled with his sabbatical and couple of quiet years, jumping between teams a bit and not speaking English or other languages particularly well.

His English is perfectly fine. He just doesn't use much of it.

I find it very interesting, that Kimi does not make it to the top ten in domestic rankings? As a Finn I thought everyone in Finland recognizes him and there are drivers listed in top10 with only 50% awareness.

 

Strange.

I would bet that they didn't do a domestic research in Finland as Finland is such a small market that it really doesn't matter on global scale.

Edit: The disclaimer actually says it straight up: "scores exclude Kimi Räikkönen as Finland is not covered as tested country".

Edited by Wander, 11 March 2014 - 09:58.

Brazil is quite a market with population over 200 million.

Massa's a surprise! I would've expected it to be Hamilton on top followed by Raikkonen.

Surprised that Alonso is ahead of Hamilton.

Not even Button on there?

 

He seems to be the most marketable driver of the past ten years.

If Global then all Ferrari drivers will always score high, Button albeit a former WDC does not 'ring' with the casual fan, same reason Raikkonen is lower than Massa. Vettel as current dominat WDC will always score, hard to avoid knowing of him, and Hamilton is the first minority driver, WDC and former boyfriend of a Pop idol.

Nothing on the list surprise me.

Massa has been a Ferrari driver for years, so in that sense his rating is not such a surprise- he has also fought for the championship and had a fairly high profile accident.  Kimi is obviously  very popular among F1 fans, but less well known outside of the world of F1.

Top 5 UK Celebrity DBI Score/Awareness

1. Lewis Hamilton 81.69 – 90.74%

2. Jenson Button 82.87 – 88.58%
3. Fernando Alonso 67.21 – 70.02%
4. Sebastian Vettel 63.80 – 64.79%
5. Felipe Massa 62.66 – 62.32%

Surprised about Vettel in the UK with all the PR push Sky and BBC did for him last season.

The article is not very clear: "Domestically, these scores are slightly different. Remarkably, in Massa’s home country of Brazil, he is known by 99.2% of the population, illustrating the highest levels of awareness of any driver based on domestic results. Massa actually only ranks as the 40th most marketable person in the world based on Brazilian perceptions."    The last sentence reads almost like a contradiction to the one before.

Finally Fernando wins something! 

Interesting stats, genuinely surprised Massa is up there even given the size of Brazil. 

Who cares? Having a "marketable" or popular driver may well sell merchandise, but it may not necessarily win you races. Pretty clear which is more important in the grand scheme of things.

Who cares? Having a "marketable" or popular driver may well sell merchandise, but it may not necessarily win you races. Pretty clear which is more important in the grand scheme of things.

You need money to win races though so its equally important IMO.

Top teams like Red Bull/Ferrari/Mercedes/McLaren have by far enough money to go racing, that they don't really need to sell any merchandise at all. And away from the 4-5 top teams, most fans don't pay that great attention to anyone else anyway.

The article is not very clear: "Domestically, these scores are slightly different. Remarkably, in Massa’s home country of Brazil, he is known by 99.2% of the population, illustrating the highest levels of awareness of any driver based on domestic results. Massa actually only ranks as the 40th most marketable person in the world based on Brazilian perceptions."    The last sentence reads almost like a contradiction to the one before.

Did you read the sentences that followed? "Indeed, levels of awareness are not everything. The overall DBI scores are based on eight metrics and although awareness does play a vital role, accounting for 60% of the overall score, how the driver is seen publically by those that know of them produces a final indication of their marketability."

Basically, people in Brazil know who Felipe Massa is, but if you asked them if he has influence over their purchasing intents, for example, this article indicates that a lot of people would say no. Basically, the fact that he hasn't been hugely successful in over 5 years lowers his stock.

Gutierrez in front of Hulkenberg and Button? 

I;ve seen ads like that all over airports in Singapore, Malaysia etc.

You'd be stupid to think that the top 5 most marketable drivers aren't Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Vettel and Button - the champions. Massa just doesn't have the look to be the manly man F1 driver promoting manly man things. 

Massa is well known in Brazil, yes.... But as Alonso's muppet he's known. How does that make him marketable? I don't know. This year, he could well change the perception about him though.

Exactly. The report does not say how well-liked or followed the drivers are globally. It talks about whether people know them. Knowing a driver is quite different to palpable fan-following.  So I think the list would look quite different to drivers F1 viewers like. And both those lists would be different to drivers with dedicated fan-following.

Not surprised to see Massa high up. After all he's been a Ferrari driver for years. Very well known and supported at home also. Don't forget that the Asian market is huge, this is mainly where Alonso's success comes from. I guess the same could be said for Massa in a way too. They seem to be very popular there.

When I ask some of my friends and family (who don't follow F1) which drivers they know. They always seem to come up with 'someone called Massa'.

Gutierrez in front of Hulkenberg and Button? 

 

 

I;ve seen ads like that all over airports in Singapore, Malaysia etc.

 

 

You'd be stupid to think that the top 5 most marketable drivers aren't Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Vettel and Button - the champions. Massa just doesn't have the look to be the manly man F1 driver promoting manly man things. 

I expect 'Marketable' to mean, how many people know the drivers. A pretty picture in an Airport does not mean anything, it could be a model for all the traveler know. Marketable equal name recognition, and sorry Great Britain, Button is not really a 'known' name outside the more casual viewers and non-viewers.

James Allen doing some spinning of his own...

http://www.jamesalle...n-in-uk-stakes/

ALONSO IS F1′S MOST MARKETABLE DRIVER, BUTTON HEADS HAMILTON IN UK STAKES

 

I wonder how Rossi and Senna would compare to those guys. And Schumacher, despite his condition.

Rossi is still a very popular figure and Senna's legend remains. The Schumacher and Ferrari association must remain huge, I suppose.

Massa has done quite a few tricks for sponsors (as shown by awkward press photos) while Raikkonen is notoriously unwilling in that regard. The iceman persona goes down well with hard core F1 fans who appreciate some genuine personality after too many p.r. fakes but it hardly helps sell product in a marketing sense.

Still, simply following Eurosport, there's no driver I've seen in so many TV commercials anywhere as Kimi.

Lewis really is dropping the ball here, if he was better managed he'd be worth squllions. 

Most marketing of drivers is done by their team sponsors. So the Kimi ads are probably Rexona/Clear. Infiniti uses Vettel, etc. Of course you're going to use a world champion if you've got him on your team.

Lol, what a joke to have Massa as 3rd most marketable driver in F1. To be marketable you must be well known and have a good image. Even in Brazil, good part of the population has quite a bad opinion of Massa. It's not coincidence that TNT would rather have a commercial break with Fernando Alonso or Tony Kanaan than with Felipe Massa in Brazil.

I'm pretty sure most multinationals would prefer Vettel, Kimi or Button in one of their commercials instead of Massa.

So the Kimi ads are probably Rexona/Clear. 

Last year you could see him day-in day-out in Renault commercials. Pretty much directed (on Eurosport) at a European audience as a whole.

Maybe the RepuCom people miss that kind of perception in their analysis. It's telling that they didn't look for his Finnish marketability as they find Finland being too small. But all those non-researched smaller countries as a whole (say all the Scandinavian countries, the Benelux countries, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland etc.) have together a population of a pretty big country. And for inhabitants for those countries, top drivers with a more universal profile (even if it's a rather strangely enigmatic one like Kimi's) are more marketable than someone like Felipe Massa whose only universal appeal is that of a 21st century Sancho Panza.

Edited by scheivlak, 11 March 2014 - 16:54.

Lewis really is dropping the ball here, if he was better managed he'd be worth squllions. 

and the media like to say he is focused on his showbiz life style 

Edited by ZionLH, 11 March 2014 - 16:40.

Surprised to see Alonso ahead of Hamilton and Massa ahead of Vettel.

I have never seen Massa promote a product.

If he did, it would certainly be No 2.

May be suitable for Pepsi.

Or, what's that car rental company that has to try harder?

I think you guys are confusing most marketable(how recognised they are) with most marketed(how many ads they appear in and how often). 

Surprised to see Alonso ahead of Hamilton and Massa ahead of Vettel.

The Ferrari connection obviuously swings perception into Alonso's and Massa's favour. Even people who know nothing at all about F1 know about Ferrari, which is also the basic celebrity automotive darling. It helps.

This is in Brazil. For example, in the USA, that list would be invalid.

I think you guys are confusing most marketable(how recognised they are) with most marketed(how many ads they appear in and how often). 

Plus there seems to be a common assumption that all drivers are equally compelled into doing the most advertising possible.

I think you guys are confusing most marketable(how recognised they are) with most marketed(how many ads they appear in and how often). 

The list is simply wrong on both accounts. I'm pretty much convinced that it's based on questionable data.

Also, I am highly skeptical of the marketability scores and asking people if they buy products based on their teams and drivers. I can't remember anything I bought because my favourite driver or favourite player endorsed something. Most of the advertising play on the subconscious mind and I doubt many can write down their choices that were consciously made differentiating between driver A vs Player B.

It is an absolute fact that this forum and it's members have the brain the size of the universe.

In which case, it's perfectly reasonable for members to state categorically that this data is garbage and should be different.

Apologies to the guy above who started with "Surprised to see...".

All the data is understandable provided you don't put your own slant on what the study was meant to represent.   

Look how diverse this kind of lists can be, this one is from Sportspro last May: http://www.dailymail...le-athlete.html

As far as F1 is concerned the order was

1. Hamilton (7th overall)

2. Vettel (12th)

3. Perez (! - 24th)

4. Kubica (! - 49th, behind Danica and Dale jr)

with Alonso just nowhere in sight....

Pretty strange as well.

Look how diverse this kind of lists can be, this one is from Sportspro last May: http://www.dailymail...le-athlete.html

 

As far as F1 is concerned the order was

1. Hamilton (7th overall)

2. Vettel (12th)

3. Perez (! - 24th)

4. Kubica (! - 49th, behind Danica and Dale jr)

with Alonso just nowhere in sight....

 

Pretty strange as well.

Sorry but that list is quite surreal. Nothing against Djokovic but, 6. Djokovic, 25. Nadal, Federer nowhere?... 24. Sergio Perez?

Talking about the other list, have people here read the article?

“Public perception of Alonso ranks him higher than…”

“In the US, only 12.76% of the population are aware of the driver. However, of the US population who do know of the Spaniard, 84.5% like the driver and 76.74% say that he has some influence over their purchasing intent”

"Alonso’s dominance in the rankings is down in large part to his international deals and association with the Ferrari brand. Despite Red Bull’s recent successes, globally, 59% of F1 fans have an interest in the Ferrari team representing the highest levels of interest in any F1 team”

"Alonso is a very likeable driver and as the global appeal of the sport increases, people seem to be rooting more and more for a new F1 champion and as the results show, Alonso is starting to edge ahead as the fans favorite"

"...Massa’s home country of Brazil, he is known by 99.2% of the population, illustrating the highest levels of awareness…Indeed, levels of awareness are not everything. The overall DBI scores are based on eight metrics and although awareness does play a vital role… how the driver is seen publically by those that know of them produces a final indication of their marketability"

Frankly, it makes all the sense.

If Global then all Ferrari drivers will always score high, Button albeit a former WDC does not 'ring' with the casual fan, same reason Raikkonen is lower than Massa. Vettel as current dominat WDC will always score, hard to avoid knowing of him, and Hamilton is the first minority driver, WDC and former boyfriend of a Pop idol.

 

Nothing on the list surprise me.

 

agree with you on all counts. 

It is Michael Schumacher. And its not even close.

how the driver is seen publically by those that know of them produces a final indication of their marketability"

 

Frankly, it makes all the sense.

Not al all in Massa's case.

Edited by scheivlak, 11 March 2014 - 21:51.

Michael's retired. And in a hospital room. He's not marketable. 

Im gonna ask my mom who Gutierrez is.

Not al all in Massa's case.

Why not? I know that he has received quite a bit of criticism in Brazil, but that would be reflected by the fact that he is the driver with the highest awareness in his local market, yet his DBI score is quite lower than said awareness. In the rest of Latin America I would say that he is a very much liked figure, and the closest thing to a "home driver" that they had for many years (obviously Maldonado and Perez would be similarly regarded now); also, from what I have read and heard I would say that most Ferrari supporters would put his loyalty to the team ahead of other factors when it comes to liking him.