MW Live - Profile: Dominic Reilly

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 | By Joe Fernandez

Formula 1 has had a sensational start to the year, with British driver Jenson Button dominating newspaper headlines and the sport gaining mass exposure once more. For Dominic Reilly, head of marketing at Williams F1, the attention has helped ease concerns about the recession and open up a new negotiating tool.

Reilly has spent 15 years working in sports marketing and sponsorship and when he makes his presentation at Marketing Week Live, he aims to help his fellow marketers get as much added value and return on investment as possible.

He says the difference between when he first started working in the marketing industry and the environment today is very noticeable. He explains: “Fifteen years ago, sponsorship was a chairman’s whim. Someone would like F1 or another sport or entertainment and they would ask their marketing director to invest in it. Now – and particularly in this environment – everything is scrutinised very heavily. Every last penny is looked at to make sure it is delivering value.”

Like all its grid rivals, Williams is reliant on its commercial partners. Reilly leads a large marketing team dedicated to ensuring that whatever their needs, they are catered for and are seeing a good return on investment for their partnership. His determination led him to being headhunted in 2003 by team principal Frank Williams to join the team’s commercial department before being promoted to marketing director last year.

“Like everyone, we’re well aware of the financial pressures outside. So we’ve been smart in ensuring that despite the recession, we can prove that everything we do delivers great brand value,” Reilly claims.

Marketing partnerships can also help overcome some of the drawbacks of the sport for consumers, he argues, such as the inevitable sporting losses. “We can’t win every race, so we provide added value through other areas such as hospitality, business partnership opportunities and TV exposure.”

The added value has been “absolutely pivotal” to Williams’ success to date and Reilly says he is keen to share his experiences with marketers at the Marketing Week Live and provide them with any assistance he can. He adds: “These all help us deliver ROI to our partners and we work hard to ensure that the very minimum they get back is $5 for every $1 they spend.”

Among the battles he has faced in marketing a sponsored team in a recession is the fear among partners that the rapid decline of the car market would affect F1 and the commercial appeal of working with an F1 team.

“We do have to remind people that we are independent. We aren’t automotive or soft drink-owned and we’re in a better position than our rivals because we don’t sell products,” he states. “We exist purely to go racing, so the appeal for us is to win championships, promote our partners and have some fun doing it. We’re not reliant on a sales cycle; our proposition is what’s seen on the television every two weeks and the associated press.”

Consumer interest in F1 certainly does not seem to have been dented by the economic climate. The first few races of the year have seen TV viewing figures rise by almost 25% globally. Current drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima have yet to live up to the success of drivers such as Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell and Jacques Villeneuve, but the Williams F1 team brand is still viewed highly by potential partners.

The idea of the team’s appeal being more long-lasting than any one driver is something important to Reilly. He claims that the Williams F1 brand is better known in some parts of the world even than Manchester United.

With the F1 governing body making changes to the sport to help keep consumer interest high, Reilly is confident that he and new ad agency Adam & Eve will be able to make his team exciting enough as a prospect to encourage investment.

“F1 is an expensive sport. It costs a lot to invest because it is a global entity. For this reason, we promote ourselves as a Fortune 500 team and look to attract like-minded brands. Part of our success is driven by the company we keep, which is important to us,” he says.

Current sponsors include AT&T, RBS, Phillips and Accenture. Apart from RBS, whose contract runs out in 2010, Reilly says he doubts any other partner will withdraw, though he admits “brands may think carefully about their renewal strategy and how much they need to invest”.

He is already thinking of how he will market the brand in several years’ time, when the partnerships he has on board come to the end of their natural lifespans. He comments: “We can’t stay still. Most of our contracts are long term, so realistically we don’t have to worry about now, but can start planning for 2011, 2012 and 2013.”

Ever a marketer with his eye on a good opportunity, he intends to use the networking facilities available at Marketing Week Live to drum up new relationships. He says: “I hope the marketers attending Marketing Week Live will realise the opportunity this could present.”

Dominic Reilly will be speaking at the “Smart Marketing in a Recesssion” panel debate at Marketing Week Live on Wednesday July 1 2009, 1pm-2pm at Olympia, London.