... and that's wrong why (if it's true that they do not want to release him)? I know you are trying to get seat for Nick, but it is still wide open as far as public goes. Isn't it?

Nothing to do with Nick.
Everything to do with good PR and other spin.

I am sorry but the way I see it, it's only press who is spinning the Schumacher issue. Nothing in what I read that Fry, Ross or Norbert said was excessive. IMO

Why would Schumacher help shine the light on Mercedes. He could put a stop to the rumours. If he wanted to.

...rather the opposite. Like Brawn denying Schumacher will drive for him next year.

Image wise it makes a lot o sense that Mercedes has someone like Schumacher in one of their cars. Yet, the question is if the team will function better. Schumacher's racing attitude, especially to his no1 status is notorious for the carier development for the second, namely for the Nico in this case. It will be wiser or MErcedes to take someone who does not car about his No1 status in this case, looking at the longer future.


Should Nico be the second Rubens? and how many years should he wait to race on top level?


chumacher to Mercedes can be definitive end to the Nico's carrier...

Do you agree..?

Why not?

Getting beaten by Button, Barichello, Heidfeld or anyone else of that caliber would be a lot worse than getting beaten by the (indisputable) best F1 driver of the decade.

Indeed, Marketingcommunication basic lesson

+1

Tell me what school you went to so I can avoid it.

I think this school rather avoids you instead of the other way around.

Have fun guessing.

Being connected with Schumacher is good for any brand, no matter if in the end someone else joins.

Alot of marketing campaigns involve offering a dream, while this most often isn't the way it ends up in reality.

You are basically saying all those marketing campaigns are ineffective.

How much of McLaren's 2010 car is known by Mercedes?

They may be effective in suckering people in, but those people tend to be pretty pissed off when they find they've been hoodwinked. If Merc are indeed party to peddling a myth they better invent a pretty good excuse for why it doesn't come true; and blaming Ferrari won't cut it because the Italians will get straight on the batphone to their lawyers screaming slander.

I think they'll just say there was never any truth to it and they never commented on the speculation - it was all Eddie Jordan's fault!

And it has to be said this, and the Kimi speculation, have done a great job of knocking Jenson to McLaren down the news pages.

You think Schumacher would enjoy being used like that for free? What's in it for him?

I also would believe what we are talking about is not marketing, rather, this is a matter of public relations. Come to think about it, corporate communication rather.

I agree. Brawn has flat out denied the chance of Schumacher returning next season but since the press isn't having it why keep trying to put on end to it. The speculation generates massive ammounts of free positive publicity to Mercedes. Only a week has passed and nobody's talking about Button's move to McLaren anymore. All eyes are on Mercedes.

I don't think MS has to explain or respond to every rumor about him that is in public domain. That would be not only rather impractical, but also it would be foolish. He didn't started rumors, thus he doesn't have to end those, as no one is getting hurt.

Norbert and Fry are right. "Never say never"! Just recall what happened after Massa's accident. MS's manager made some definite statements that Michael is NOT racing in Massa's seat, only to have eggs all over his face couple of days later, when Michael rented car to train for return. Luckily Michael's sore neck saved his (Webber's) neck, no pan intended. Being witnesses to that, guys are probably now mighty careful not to get burnt.

So, how do you know that no one is hurt by the rumours? What does Ferrari say, what does all other stakeholders in the brand name Schumacher say? This is not an everyday rumour, we are talking about a snowball in motion here.

I am not sure that I understand your point. Is it your theses that monetary funds are moving out of Ferrari's (and other stake holders) bank accounts and heading for Stuttgart?

Heidfeld is a solid driver but I do not think nothing would make him look like an exciting prospect.

No, this has nothing to do with funds. This is about persons and corporations protecting their image and brand values. For instance, some her seem to think that all publicity is good publicity. I argue against that. This is hypothetical, but for Mercedes to entertain this rumour about Schumacher joining them may hurt them in the long run as a lot of stakeholders, external parties, owners, employees, union members, delarships, fans, etc. in the company will be left dissapointed when it turns out that the big surprise Haug has promised is named Heidfeld, not Schumacher. Schumacher is very much his own brand and the stakeholders in that brand may also be worried, dissapointed etc, over the rumours spreading.

My thesis is that there is too much at stake for the parties involved not to quell the rumours more efficiently than what has been done, unless there is some substance to the rumours. As it stands, no one of the involved parties seems to be in control of the information flow. For Schumacher, this rumour could mean a lot of fans will end up dissapointed if he doesn't make a come back, thus hurting his brand value.

My god...

Guys Come on...we're hoping on a comeback of MS? For god's sake...he's 41 years old...do you really think that michael is as fit as when he was 30? Do you really think he even could match hamilton, vettel, raikk,alonso,....

many people here are forgetting that MS brilliance was already done in 2005 and 2006 and now he'll be 4 years older!!!

Thanks for explanation.

Haugh: "No Schumy" (Kaiser out)
Fry: "No 100% german line up" (QuckNick and Sutl out)
Ross: "No young driver" (Kobayashi or any rookie out) "No expensive driver, less money than McLaren"(Kimi out)

+ "2nd driver before Xmas" (waiting for Kubica)

But if Renault is racing in 2010.....

+ "Merc man"
+ "Short term contract" (waiting for Vettel)
+ "Experienced driver"
+ "Not expensive driver"

...take this:

Pedro de la Rosa Explain to me why would they go with him when Nick Heidfeld and Jarno Trulli are on the market, only naming experienced drivers known to be available.



Don't forget it's a straight swap with Barrichello and Rosberg switching seats, it's only convenient for both teams to agree to release their drivers early.

Which is a part of Marketingcommunication, just like promotion, Public Affairs (government), advertising, sponsoring etc.

Well, what is there to lose for MSC for being implied with a return? Don't forget that he still being sponsored now, and his sponsors will like this attention.

Also, don't be under the impression that MSC calls the shots directly on his emotion. Michael Schumacher is a brand, meaning anything short of racing duties are done by highly educated professionals. To be short: Ferrari isn't letting a marketeer drive, so why should they let a driver do the marketingstrategy?


We also forgot one option: the guy is just so fed up with all the questions about a return over the last 3 years that he is now just playing with the newspaper (beating them at their own game).

What if the unthinkable would happen......

Mercedes sign Heikki Kovalanien to drive for them?

Most of what you wrote points to absolutely no understanding of corporate communications. I don't claim to be an expert myself, however I do know enough to know that you are out of your depth here.

To begin with, marketing, internal communications, etc are part of corporate communication strategy, not the other way around. Then you go on, trying to explain how Schumacher deals with this professionally, while at the same time ending your post with him doing this just to take the media for a ride...

Then we will know that their ambitions are very low.

That would reach Haug's target of bringing a surprise to the German crowd.

In all seriousness though. Mercedes may have intimate knowledge of his treatment at McLaren.

If Mercedes believe there was an unreasonable favoring going on then it would not surprise me.

His true potential may in fact be known by them.

Another scenario is Vettel going to Mercedes in exchange for engines. Kimi to Red Bull. Doesn't quite match with how Mercedes in handling the Schumacher rumours though.

Nick! Nick! It's time for Nick!
Norbert, please don't be a dick!
Give it to the guy who's Quick!
Quick Nick! It's time for Nick!

Heidfeld out: No 100% german line up
Trulli out: Merc man? before no Toyota man and no Renault man either... He is "Jarno_of_his_own man" 100% he is not a team driver, not a "home driver"... Nascar could suit "Jarno style" next year

again wrong quote...seems to be a problem around here

+1

Sure?

"I can confidently say that [speculation] is totally incorrect – Mercedes is an international company,” Fry said. “Clearly a German driver would be nice for them but we don't need two German drivers, that's not the intent."

note: [speculation] is Heidfeld being nº2 in Merc books. Interview by The Guardian.

For a while I thought I must have lost it..... Kimi is a long shot, Michael is a no show.

Nick Fry CEO of Mercedes F1

That's just silly, pie in the sky stuff



Agree. That's not good. Don't see Fry in Mercedes employment for long.

I think metz will send you Christmas present for this.

Internal communications and corporate communications ARE in fact a task of the Marketing department in a company. Just because they seem to be out of the marketing mindmap, doens't mean they are not a part of this department. I will admit, I didn't knew it either before my study. I had the same point of view you have now.

However, I am talking about Dutch international companies.

I am not looking to turn this into some kind of contest, especially concerning the first case (because there are many different theories and models for this subject, so you might be referring to another model than me - I for one am referring to the 'Floor en Van Raaij model')

Back on topic: it will be interesting to see how Mercedes will handle the name and association network of the name 'Silver Arrows'. They will be looking to underline the histroic succes of the name, but it will be difficult to steer away from the Nazi history.

I for one am hoping for a name containing the german word for Silver Arrows and a complete metallic SIlver car, without much disturbance of sponsor logo's

PS: Schumacher might drive for Mercedes........ Ralf that is

My apologies. I shouldn't have expressed myself the way I did. Organisationally, corporate communications can of course be part of a marketing department, but conceptually (for a lack of a better word) it needs to encompass all different departments of marketing. At least the way I understand the concept and from what I have read on the subject. Of course, there might be different takes on this that I am not aware of. However, for a big corporation to take part in the spreading of rumours, as is the case with Mercedes and Schumacher, I don't subscribe to that, especially when all parties would have both the motive and the capability of staving off such rumours - unless. of course, there is some substance to those rumours. All statements I have read this far from Haug, WIlli Weber, Schumachers spokeswoman, have lent themselves to further speculation. I think someone else said, they used a lot of words when a simple no would have made it.

It's nothing new for Mercedes. Until a week ago the McLaren Mercedes cars were generally referred to as the Silver Arrows since 1997. The term Mercedes very publicly brought back when the first West McLaren Mercedes car was introduced.

Honestly I don't think anyone today will link silver arrows with the nazi thing, except those who want to.

There are some ignorant types that do. Personally I view the silver arrows as a symbol of innovation and success given Mercedes' history in Grand Prix Racing (30s) and Formula One.

same here, and it's a good thing

.....maybe because he has been working for Mercedes in the last 7 years and Mr Haug is still trusting in him ?

Unfortunately it is not a great news to have the definitive driver till the christmass, for the techncal reasons. Ross put up his brave faces and said that things has to be settled before to ready racing, but I assume any BIG driver who comein the cockpit wil want tomake changes...

If support and sponsorship by the Nazi regime is a reason to not support or even denigrate Mercedes/Silver Arrows then we all better stop drinking Fanta, buying IBM PC's, using AEG ovens and driving VW's.