Williams has announced a new partnership deal with London-based financial newspaper The Financial Times.
A multi-year contract has been signed by the two which will see the ‘FT’ branding feature on the inside of the rear wing endplates of the FW42 from this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.“In only a few short years, the landscape for marketing and brand exposure has changed significantly for all sports, including Formula One,” said Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams.
“The opportunity to collaborate with the FT to embrace these new forms of media and digital opportunities is hugely exciting for both our team and our existing partners, and I am looking forward to seeing how the partnership develops.”
Williams finished last in the 2018 constructors’ championship and has had a difficult start to the new season. it failed to complete its FW42 in time for the start of testing and the car has been consistently over a second slower than the rest of the field.
However the team reported strong financial results for last year, part of which was due to its fifth-place finish in the 2017 season.
The Financial Times has never previously sponsored an F1 team. It has over one million paying readers and is owned by Japanese financial newspaper The Nikkei.
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Shimks (@shimks)
25th April 2019, 9:14
Great news. Amazing they are able to secure new sponsors during this very difficult period.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
25th April 2019, 9:16
+1
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
25th April 2019, 9:15
And in Next week’s issue: Claire Williams on turning a profit while completely failing to deliver in your core business
Coanda (@ming-mong)
25th April 2019, 9:33
It makes sense to invest in this team right now. They get so much media exposure through bad press and poor results it is a smart deal.
stefano (@alfa145)
25th April 2019, 10:32
fair point @ming-mong, that’s why I’ll never be good at this marketing thing
tony mansell
25th April 2019, 10:28
That’s part of her job. She employed Paddy Lowe who came with a great track record. He utterly failed. That is of course partly her fault but its not through lack of trying
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
25th April 2019, 10:36
What an interesting partnership.
Jokes about using the cars between races for doing a paper round come to mind, or one of the most boring papers joining the most boring team?
Whatever – good to see any sponsorship so hopefully a long and productive partnership :)
Witan
25th April 2019, 10:43
I can’t imagine the rate sheet makes this a very high cost for the sponsor. If you are down you can’t command top dollar. More like, “If I give you a tenner will you put my logo on your car?’
A bit risky for all the sponsors as they might be linked with a total failure this season. A good choice for a company just wanting to get its name known (eg ROKIT ) or for the RSPCA or the Red Cross as they would be understood to be a sympathy vote but for a well known business newspaper it might just reinforce any other concerns about their probity and nous.
BlackJackFan
25th April 2019, 11:26
“… on the INSIDE of the rear wing endplates…”
What’s that worth…? About 5Gs…?
“… hugely exciting for both our team and our existing partners…”
Purleeze…!
I realise they have to do the BS stuff these days but can’t they come up with something new…? Just once…?
Grego (@francogrego)
25th April 2019, 11:40
I’d like to know what companies get when they sponsor a last-placed team? Is it cheaper and can they choose where they want to be placed?
rpiian (@rpiian)
25th April 2019, 13:35
Correct me if I’m wrong, but am I right in saying Williams is getting FOM coverage during the races, where commentators are trying to understand why they’re so slow? I feel like I’ve seen more of Williams than midfielders, full stop.
jmlabareda
25th April 2019, 11:55
Inside sources indicate they wanted to put actual FT Weekend newspaper articles in the car, and for people to be able to read them they had to go with the slowest team.
Lee H (@stopitrawr)
25th April 2019, 12:23
Oh damnit, just beat me to the joke.
I was going to say that Claire Williams announced this with the following:
“The FT is known for their in depth, detailed articles and being on the Williams cars allows fans the time for a long read.”
rpiian (@rpiian)
25th April 2019, 13:30
Whooiee! Are they loaded? A newspaper sponsorship sounds about as dry as inhaling a dust cloud from a passing car.
Hope it works out for them.
Dale
25th April 2019, 13:58
Most likely a barter deal partnership.
kpcart
25th April 2019, 14:21
Williams is is no trouble financially, paddy Lowe just designed a rubbish car, he should not have been hired. Williams has had a lot of bad lack with designers and team principals and people in charge. Sam Michaels i remember, oh god what a sorry sad sack he was, and team went bad straight away with him onboard. Frank needs to remove his daughter, it is not working sorry.
Duncan Idaho (@didaho)
26th April 2019, 3:32
Did Claire hire Sam Michaels?
Yaru
25th April 2019, 14:30
Good for them, they need any good news these days.
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
25th April 2019, 18:07
They got 10% off a subscription provided they put some stickers on the car?