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| Ringham |
When Mike Ringham, the Indy Racing League’s new vice president of marketing, came on board in October, the IRL was coming off one of its biggest years ever, thanks in large part to female phenom Danica Patrick. Ringham, who comes to the IRL from the Coca-Cola Co., where he was senior manager of motorsports marketing, is now charged with translating that momentum into more fans and higher ratings, a task that hopefully was made easier last month by a marketing partnership with rock legend Gene Simmons of KISS. Ringham recently talked with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Scott Warfield.
How was the transition from Coca-Cola to the IRL?
Ringham: Probably the thing I found that I had anticipated the least was the amount of opportunities. I knew there was a lot, but there is a whole lot more than I had anticipated. Every avenue is open to us.
What were the major issues you saw in terms of marketing at the IRL?
Ringham: I think there have been a lot of very good things that have been done in the past here, but I’m going to boil it down to one word, and that’s consistency. I think we’ve tended to change too often and not let things run their course and develop. Marketing is not a silver bullet, so it’s something that takes time for people. It takes time for people to get connected to you and your sport. In recent times, we’ve had several different positionings for our brand and we have in fact put a stake in the ground now — we are going to run with this brand positioning that will go indefinitely.
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Gene Simmons of KISS will try to help the
Indy Racing League break away from the
pack after Danica Patrick’s splash in 2005. |
What was the reasoning for the partnership with Gene Simmons and his marketing partner, Richard Abramson?Ringham: We’ve been impressed with their out-of-the-box thinking and also their ability to adapt. We think they bring a lot of entertainment sense and entertainment marketing ideas to the IndyCar Series that we may have been lacking in the past. We can only stand to develop that more.
There seems to be a change in focus from technology to the drivers. Why?
Ringham: Everything that we know, all that our research points to, is that drivers are the primary connection, emotional connection, to the fans. And it’s pretty much that simple. If you’re not playing to your consumer, then you’re not going to play successfully for long.
Obviously Danica Patrick brought increased exposure for the league this year. Why hasn’t she been front and center this offseason? And what are the league’s plans for her in 2006?
Ringham: The league has an obligation to all of its drivers and Danica is one of them. She’s obviously been the princess darling, and we’re proud of her for doing that and serving that role. But I really don’t believe it’s the league’s role to promote one driver over and above another with the exception of our champion, Dan Wheldon.
