I think a big part of the dislike some folks have for Kurt Spitzner (I can't say I'm not one of them) is that folks in general dislike "marketing types", which Kurt is. It's kinda like the lawyer thing. He's tall, has executive hair, and spoos neuspeak. The fact that his organization has had difficulty making things happen while at the same time seeming to take the membership and organizers for granted has the effect of painting a big target on his chest. "Lookit me! Open season on the yuppie!"
In some respects, it hasn't really been fair for Kurt. Stage rally is not marketing friendly by itself, and hasn't responded well to marketing-oriented management. Videogames and WRC coverage have exposed the general population to rally, but the logistics of stage rally make the actual sport inconvenient as hell from a marketing perspective. So far, no rational package has appeared. I think Kurt and Co. could have made a better go of it, but events have overtaken the program and it looks like Kurt is keeping a low profile and the PRB is working harder and concentrating more on operations and organizational holes -- which is a good strategy. I expect to see more smiles this coming year, solely from having more people involved with the PRB and the new positions opening up. We are definitely stuck with Kurt for a while, but the things he hasn't been doing are starting to be done by others.
Marketing-based policies don't work with stage rally because operational realities keep it outside the marketing/promotion business model. There is currently only one input to the program (privateer hobbyists and their entry fees) and one bottleneck (local rally organizations and the number of events). The rest is hotly debated but largely irrelevant. Hordes of spectaters are not what we need. Beyond a certain point, they become an inconvenience and can cause an event to become unmanageable. For organizers, merchandising is a luxury and a distraction. Concentrating on keeping the hobbyists interested and expanding local rally organizations is the prudent thing to do. That appears to be the direction the PRB and the organizers are taking and I don't see a problem with that.
The marketing-intensive side of things needn't go ignored, though. Stage rallies offer opportunities in concessions and merchandising that haven't been tapped very well. That being said, closed stadium venues with ticket sales, concessions, merchandising, and wheel-to-wheel action would be a comparative gold mine. If Morgan and other marketing types want something to really use their skills on, that would be a better direction to aim themselves. A rational marketing-based business model appears: paid publicity results in physical attendance by thousands of people resulting in rich promoters and lots of TV time, carrying over into future attendance at attendance-friendly events, around and around (so to speak), growing the sport to Nascar-like proportions.
When a healthy spectacle-centric sport is going alongside the stage-rally series, then we will have the crossover and good juju that makes European rally so cool. I don't think marketing is bad, it just doesn't work to base it entirely on stage rally. Super-specials and rallycrosses will need venues, though. Groups of heeled rallyists need to come together (that leaves me out
) and buy land or persuade motorsports promoters to turn over their facilities.
andy
In some respects, it hasn't really been fair for Kurt. Stage rally is not marketing friendly by itself, and hasn't responded well to marketing-oriented management. Videogames and WRC coverage have exposed the general population to rally, but the logistics of stage rally make the actual sport inconvenient as hell from a marketing perspective. So far, no rational package has appeared. I think Kurt and Co. could have made a better go of it, but events have overtaken the program and it looks like Kurt is keeping a low profile and the PRB is working harder and concentrating more on operations and organizational holes -- which is a good strategy. I expect to see more smiles this coming year, solely from having more people involved with the PRB and the new positions opening up. We are definitely stuck with Kurt for a while, but the things he hasn't been doing are starting to be done by others.
Marketing-based policies don't work with stage rally because operational realities keep it outside the marketing/promotion business model. There is currently only one input to the program (privateer hobbyists and their entry fees) and one bottleneck (local rally organizations and the number of events). The rest is hotly debated but largely irrelevant. Hordes of spectaters are not what we need. Beyond a certain point, they become an inconvenience and can cause an event to become unmanageable. For organizers, merchandising is a luxury and a distraction. Concentrating on keeping the hobbyists interested and expanding local rally organizations is the prudent thing to do. That appears to be the direction the PRB and the organizers are taking and I don't see a problem with that.
The marketing-intensive side of things needn't go ignored, though. Stage rallies offer opportunities in concessions and merchandising that haven't been tapped very well. That being said, closed stadium venues with ticket sales, concessions, merchandising, and wheel-to-wheel action would be a comparative gold mine. If Morgan and other marketing types want something to really use their skills on, that would be a better direction to aim themselves. A rational marketing-based business model appears: paid publicity results in physical attendance by thousands of people resulting in rich promoters and lots of TV time, carrying over into future attendance at attendance-friendly events, around and around (so to speak), growing the sport to Nascar-like proportions.
When a healthy spectacle-centric sport is going alongside the stage-rally series, then we will have the crossover and good juju that makes European rally so cool. I don't think marketing is bad, it just doesn't work to base it entirely on stage rally. Super-specials and rallycrosses will need venues, though. Groups of heeled rallyists need to come together (that leaves me out
) and buy land or persuade motorsports promoters to turn over their facilities.andy
