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Formula One: 2015 German Grand Prix to be held at Hockenheim
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 14, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 14, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Formula One: 2015 German Grand Prix to be held at Hockenheim
Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed today that the 2015 German Grand Prix will be held at the Hockenheim circuit instead of the Nurburgring. Since 2007, the German Grand Prix has been held at both venues in alternating years, but for the first time since 2006, the event will take place at the same venue for two years in a row after financial issues have prevented the Nurburgring from hosting the Grand Prix.
“It’s going to be at Hockenheim, we’re in the middle of doing something with them,” Ecclestone told Reuters, “It can’t be Nurburgring because there’s nobody there. We’ve got a contract in place [with Hockenheim], we just have to amend the years of the contract. It was alternating with Nurburgring so we’ll just take that out.”
Hockenheim held it’s first Grand Prix back in 1970 after drivers decide to boycott the event at the Nordschleife unless changes were made for safety reasons. The event went back to the Nurburgring until 1977 when it returned to Hockenheim following Niki Lauda’s near fatal crash in 1976. Hockenheim stayed on the calendar for every year except 1985 when the event was held at a new version of the Nurburging. From 1995 until 2006, both Hockenheim and the Nurburgring were on the F1 calendar, with the Nurburgring event usually under the name of the European or Luxembourg Grand Prix. From 2007 until last year, the circuits alternated hosting rights.
The Nurburgring has been suffering with financial issues for the last few years. The trouble began in 2007 when the circuit was turned into a large tourist attraction with the addition of an indoor go-karting school, a hotel, restaurants and the famous roller-coaster that ran parallel with the start/finish straight; which was only used once by Michael Schumacher at it’s opening before being ruled unsafe for public use due to technical issues. The facilities after their opening were rarely used due to the fact that the circuit is located in a largely barren area of Germany that people only journey to for either the race events or to drive the Nordschleife.
The problems reached their peak in 2012. The state-owned company that ran the circuit was declared bankrupt, with debts of €350m. The German government awarded it a series of bail-outs totalling €524m, but the European Union launched an investigation into whether the German government broke EU competition rules by awarding these rescue packages Along with that, six people involved in the track’s management, including the region’s former finance minister, went on trial for fraud.
Nurburgring CEO, Carsten Schumacher, hopes that a deal can be arranged to secure the Nurburgring a future on the Formula One calendar, “The Formula One is welcome at the Nürburgring,” Schumacher said. “It provides worldwide television pictures, a positive image and would bring high sales to the region. However, the Formula One has to remain affordable. We don’t comment ongoing conversations. We will communicate this, if there is a concrete result”.
The 2015 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim will be held from the 17th to the 19th of July and it will be the 10th round out of 20.
Emanuele Venturoli
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
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Read MoreWhy choose RTR Sports Marketing
In an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
Save time and money
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
The right information, the right choice
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the beating heart
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Objective measurements for a certain return
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
Sit back, relax, we’ll take care of it
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
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Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
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Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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