THE SPORTS ENTREPRENEURS
PODCAST
EPISODE 11
Jim is taking us on a great journey through the commercial world of motorsports from his humble beginnings in UK motorsports to his career in Formula 1 to Formula E now. He is one of the most creative and talented commercial guys in Motorsports I know. His thinking and approach for how to create stories and sponsorship programs works for any sports. As a “commercial guy”, I love this talk. Anyone can sell a hot property, like the FIFA World Cup, the Team or athlete that just won a big Championship. In that space, it’s less about creativity but about managing the demand and getting top value for the client/property. When you sell a back/mid-table team or a new franchise, you have to be a whole lot more creative and come up with new angles. Jim is a master of that. Enjoy the lessons and give us your feedback.
Key Highlights
- His passion for motorsports from his teens and how he got into it step by step
- His knack for the commercial side of the business
- His Williams F1 racing days under Sir Frank Williams, incredible learning
- BMW and Williams F1 team deal, the learning and stories around it
- Hundreds of Millions of Dollars of deals but even the little deals count
- Learning how people treat other people
- Switch to Formula E, difficult start but as usual staying focused on the end goal always works
- Difference in budgets between F1 and Formula E
- How to sell Formula E, the story book, do your home work on the client
- Andretti Autosport, going beyond traditional motorsports revenue
- The difference between selling commercial rights for a Winning team vs others (Mahindra Formula E story)
- How to sell sponsorships in the new world after Covid-19
- Current plans to get Formula E back on the track
April 19, 2020, 9:08 pm
It was truly inspirational and a good learning experience listening to the podcast.