IZOD is Spending Millions on the IRL but RHR Has no ride!

[Lemmy-Boy]

As reported by Robin Miller, IZOD is poised to launch one of the largest advertising and promotional campaigns in IRL History.

In a few weeks, "millions of dollars will be spent on national television ads, promo trailers in movie theaters, major magazines and newspapers and in-store promotions at Macy's stores across the country that will also include a special Indy 500 clothing line".

Unfortunately, the face of IZOD in the IRL (RHR) has no ride for the upcoming season. ""I'm told that I don't have to worry, although I don't know what that means yet," said Mike Kelly, the president of marketing for Phillip Van Husen, the parent company of IZOD. "I know the IRL is as concerned as I am and we speak about it daily".

""We want to create as much hoopla as possible. It's our first venture into motorsports and we want it to be a success." But getting the star of IZOD's promotions into a competitive car is front and center right now. Asked if IZOD considered being RHR's sponsor, Kelly replied: "No, our spend is outside the car space because our role as a partner is to leverage the sport into mainstream culture."

Given the downfall of the world economy and the lack of new Major sponsors with the IRL, I hope they don't screw up this opportunity by leaving RHR without a ride. It would be a pity to ruin a viable relationship with a new and very prominent sponsor, especially when most Tier 1 corporations would rather see their logos associated with the NASCAR juggernaut.

Source: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-izods-rideless-driver/

[SportscarBruce]

While his results could have been better, RHR earned a ride by displaying a willingness to fight tooth and nail for position. He's an American driver in the mold of 1960's Dan Gurney. What a shame.

[Chamoo]

RHR will be in a car by St. Petersburg. The IRL will not let him waste away, especially with all the marketing they will receive from him in these new ads. They have been working on it for a while now, and while I know it has been taking time, if nothing comes out of it, the IRL will sponsor him. They aren't stupid enough to let their main actor in each of the advertisments sit in a TV booth.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

The IRL is in a delicate situation. I think they will sponsor RHR if he doesn't come up with anything but they don't want to commit too soon because they don't want him to rely on that promised help and give up on finding sponsors.

[Chamoo]

The IRL is in a delicate situation. I think they will sponsor RHR if he doesn't come up with anything but they don't want to commit too soon because they don't want him to rely on that promised help and give up on finding sponsors.

Exactly, I would be willing to bet that in their own offices, they have already committed to funding him, or to help fund him. However, they will wait until the very last moment to do so.

[NickFalzone]

A Vision entry is possible I suppose, considering they're only a 1-car commitment at the moment. BUt I wouldn't count on this definitely happening. TG has a way of doing the minimum amount of work on these things, and I could see a deal on this falling through the cracks and Izod deciding to give it a half-ass effort and then ditch the IRL by next season. We will see.

[call_me_andrew]

I'm starting to get a little confused by all this. Is the series supposed to promote the sponsor, or is the sponsor supposed to promote the series?

[Chamoo]

I'm starting to get a little confused by all this. Is the series supposed to promote the sponsor, or is the sponsor supposed to promote the series?

Actually, both. However, iZod is doing their promotion outside of the car, as a IRL sponsor, not a car sponsor.

At this point and time, the IRL should be doing anything it can to please the few sponsors they have, especially if they will be activating their sponsorship with a multi-million dollar budget across North America.

Plus, throwing some cash towards RHR will only benefit the IRL on race weekends anyways.

[IMSA]

Chamoo have you ever been to an IRL race??

It seems like in most of your blog (and comments) are assumptions on your part stated as fact.

At least know how to spell all the players names correctly.

[EagleEye]

While his results could have been better, RHR earned a ride by displaying a willingness to fight tooth and nail for position. He's an American driver in the mold of 1960's Dan Gurney. What a shame.

Bruce, you are turning out to be one of the smartest people here!

RHR will be in a car by the start of teh season, but it should have been done earlier. At the very least he could have been in a second Vision car at the recent test.

I know times are tough, but to keep him one the sidelines and potentially create an issue with a new sponsor is not too smart.

There are some positives going into the season. This is not one of them.

[Chamoo]

Chamoo have you ever been to an IRL race??

It seems like in most of your blog (and comments) are assumptions on your part stated as fact.

At least know how to spell all the players names correctly.

No, I have not been to an IRL race. I have not had the chance seeing how I live outside of Toronto and the IRL has not raced in Canada until last year. I plan on attending the Toronto race this coming season.

If you have issues with my blog, please bring them up via PM and I'd be willing to discuss them, or atleast post your issues in a thread where anything on writen I have actually discussed what is going on.

This thread is not about my blog, nor have I writen anything on this topic on my blog so I don't exactly understand why you would call me out in public on here. Please PM via the boards or contact me via the blog if you have any issues.

[SarahFan]

so TG/IRL is going to place a driver on a team?

[chuck34]

I am a bit confused. Does RHR have some sort of connection to IZOD? Some of the posts seem to imply that, but I have not heard that before.

[SarahFan]

I am a bit confused. Does RHR have some sort of connection to IZOD? Some of the posts seem to imply that, but I have not heard that before.


here's a quick rundown....

Izod is prepareing to launch a six million dollar campaign linked to the IRL with RHR as it's "face".....

the plans have bben in the works and on-going since mid-ohio last year...

now RHR currently is without a ride.... a bit of a problem for the Izod execs...

hence it looks like the IRL will need to "find' a ride for him

[Chamoo]

here's a quick rundown....

Izod is prepareing to launch a six million dollar campaign linked to the IRL with RHR as it's "face".....

the plans have bben in the works and on-going since mid-ohio last year...

now RHR currently is without a ride.... a bit of a problem for the Izod execs...

hence it looks like the IRL will need to "find' a ride for him

Spot on. I believe they are also a personal sponsor of RHR. I think he wore Izod on his visor last year. Can anyone confirm?

[Jag_Warrior]

I am a bit confused. Does RHR have some sort of connection to IZOD? Some of the posts seem to imply that, but I have not heard that before.

Same here. I'm not into fashion or clothes, so maybe I wouldn't know anyway. But it doesn't sound like this "campaign" is modeled after the Tiger Woods and Nike campaign, or even Juan Pablo Montoya and Big Red chewing gum.

But now, could you imagine Lewis Hamilton being the face of Mercedes in F1, and there being some doubt about Hamilton even being in the sport as the campaign launches? Sounds like the left hand and the right hand need to communicate and get their s### together.

[garyshell]

Same here. I'm not into fashion or clothes, so maybe I wouldn't know anyway. But it doesn't sound like this "campaign" is modeled after the Tiger Woods and Nike campaign, or even Juan Pablo Montoya and Big Red chewing gum.

But now, could you imagine Lewis Hamilton being the face of Mercedes in F1, and there being some doubt about Hamilton even being in the sport as the campaign launches? Sounds like the left hand and the right hand need to communicate and get their s### together.

Well there are "campaign launch" and "campaign start" dates. When the campaign was started (i.e. being planned and developed) RHR had a ride, and the ride was sponsored. Then the gas prices fell and the ethanol companies hit a brick wall with gas way undercutting their production costs. That meant the team had no sponsor. About the same time the economy, as a whole, became a hole and tanked. That meant the team could not find a sponsor and announced they would not be in the series this year without a sponsor. That in turn meant RHR was without a ride. Now as we approach the campaign launch date, he still has no ride.

Who are the left hand and right hand in the above scenario and where is the indication they weren't talking? What s### could "they" get together? Remeber IZOD was not sponsoring the ride, they are a PERSONAL sponsor for the driver.

And, yes I could see the exact same scenario playing out in F1, if car sponsor were to go bankrupt leaving a team high and dry, and a driver's PERSONAL sponsor would be left in a similar lurch with an ad campaign for a driver without a ride.

Gary

[Chamoo]

Yeah, but which scenario is it?
1) They are RHR's personal sponsor and that's it.
2) A sponsor for the IRL (sponsorship agreement with same) and RHR, for
a few bucks, is the "face" of the sponsor.

In #1, that's his and Izod's problem.
In #2, well that ball's been dropped big time.

Even if it was #1, the IRL should be scrambling big time to retain an association with IndyCar and Izod.

It's 1 and 2.

[Jag_Warrior]

Who are the left hand and right hand in the above scenario and where is the indication they weren't talking?

Van Husen says that he's talking to the IRL everyday. So I take the quote below to mean that either within his company or from the IRL there is something that is not being effectively communicated to Van Husen.

"I'm told that I don't have to worry, although I don't know what that means yet," said Mike Kelly, the president of marketing for Phillip Van Husen, the parent company of IZOD."


What s### could "they" get together?

When does the season start? Who is the IZOD face in the IRL? Does that person have a seat as we speak?



Remeber IZOD was not sponsoring the ride, they are a PERSONAL sponsor for the driver.

OK. And said driver was linked to a shaky team with a shaky primary sponsor. Maybe time for a Plan B?




And, yes I could see the exact same scenario playing out in F1, if car sponsor were to go bankrupt leaving a team high and dry, and a driver's PERSONAL sponsor would be left in a similar lurch with an ad campaign for a driver without a ride.

Gary


IZOD is poised to launch one of the largest advertising and promotional campaigns in IRL History.

If there was a company launching one of the largest ad campaigns in the history of F1, Bernie (love him or hate him) would not let something like this exist for a NY second. If Bruno Senna was linked to a company that was prepared to undertake an historical ad campaign, I feel pretty confident that Bruno would be getting fitted for a seat (somewhere) this weekend. I don't think it would be a case of the President of Marketing saying that he doesn't know what's going on, but he's being told that he doesn't need to worry about it.

[chuck34]

Izod is prepareing to launch a six million dollar campaign linked to the IRL with RHR as it's "face".....



That's the bit I was missing. Thanks

[SarahFan]

That's the bit I was missing. Thanks

it will be intersting to see where he lands

[millencolin]

As someone who works in Sponsorship and Marketing for a sports organisation (albiet on a much much MUCH MUCH smaller scale... MUCH smaller), the one thing you can't do is leave a sponsor unsure of what is happening. This saga of Ryan being the face of IZOD, yet him not having a ride yet is ridiculous! The fault lays purely with the IRL. In times where sponsors are harder to come by, the IRL should be doing everything humanly possible to keep IZOD happy.

Sponsors like to know that everything is in place, it is essential to keep them worry free and happy. I'm frankly stunned that the IRL or Tony George hasn't just put RHR in a vision car to keep IZOD happy.

The IRL has to pull their finger out and sort this out quick!!

[Mark in Oshawa]

Gee...and I thought Champ Car was dead. This snafu reminds me of some brainstorm that Gentilozzi would come up with.

How can you have the face of a sponsor NOT have a ride before the sponsor starts putting out ads? TONY....WAKE UP!!!

[Rex Monaco]

TONY....WAKE UP!!!

Would it be fair of me to place this in my "why I don't have confidence in TG to lead the IRL" column?

iZod is a brand that a younger (and urban) demographic has rediscovered. And it's this demographic that the IRL needs to reach, IMMEDIATELY!

[SarahFan]

Would it be fair of me to place this in my "why I don't have confidence in TG to lead the IRL" column?

!


YES IT WOULD!!!!!

[SarahFan]

iZod is a brand that a younger (and urban) demographic has rediscovered. And it's this demographic that the IRL needs to reach, IMMEDIATELY!

I COULDN"T AGREE MORE!!!!

[Chamoo]

Miller is reporting RHR to test with HVM, his former team, at the Barber test this coming weekend. Hopefully this means the wheels are in motion to throw RHR into an HVM ride for the season. They have a history together and have won a race together before.

[DanicaFan]

Miller is reporting RHR to test with HVM, his former team, at the Barber test this coming weekend. Hopefully this means the wheels are in motion to throw RHR into an HVM ride for the season. They have a history together and have won a race together before.
You are late, I already posted this in the preseason testing thread. :D

[Chamoo]

You are late, I already posted this in the preseason testing thread. :D

Lol... I figured I was once I posted it. I just scrolled through the forum and figured I'd throw it on here. Couldn't hurt.

[Wilf]

I COULDN"T AGREE MORE!!!!

Because IZOD is going to spend 6 million dollars on an ad campaign which features RHR and since his team has gone kaput, some feel it is incumbent on the IRL, or more particularly, TG to spend 4 to 6 million to ensure that RHR has a ride so IZOD can benefit from the money it is planning on spending.

If the IRL had assured IZOD that RHR would have a ride then, yes, there is an obligation. But, short of that, the league should do what it can to see that a sponsor who made a deal with a possible participant doesn't get embarrassed because they were less than competent when they developed their plan. I believe they are doing just that.

However, the entire IZOD deal is baffling. Can you buy IZOD/IRL merchandise? I haven't been able to locate any even though we are approaching the second year of the relationship. I do know you can buy some sharp NIKE and Reebok Centennial logo'd merchandise at brickyard.com. I know they are doing their darnedest to prove they are two separate and distinct companies but if it is believed they can sell a shirt for 50 bucks celebrating the centennial they should have similarly priced merchandise with IRL logos and that would be in the IZOD price range. Where is it???

So, while I don't believe there is any reason to fund a ride for RHR, the IZOD/IRL partnership appears to have been poorly managed by both IZOD and the IRL.

[Chamoo]

Because IZOD is going to spend 6 million dollars on an ad campaign which features RHR and since his team has gone kaput, some feel it is incumbent on the IRL, or more particularly, TG to spend 4 to 6 million to ensure that RHR has a ride so IZOD can benefit from the money it is planning on spending.

Word on the street is that the IRL hand picked RHR for the IZOD campaign. I'm not sure if they guarenteed he'd have a seat, however, IZOD went to the IRL and had them pick the person they wanted to represent the league, and they picked RHR.

[garyshell]

Because IZOD is going to spend 6 million dollars on an ad campaign which features RHR and since his team has gone kaput, some feel it is incumbent on the IRL, or more particularly, TG to spend 4 to 6 million to ensure that RHR has a ride so IZOD can benefit from the money it is planning on spending.

If the IRL had assured IZOD that RHR would have a ride then, yes, there is an obligation. But, short of that, the league should do what it can to see that a sponsor who made a deal with a possible participant doesn't get embarrassed because they were less than competent when they developed their plan. I believe they are doing just that.

However, the entire IZOD deal is baffling. Can you buy IZOD/IRL merchandise? I haven't been able to locate any even though we are approaching the second year of the relationship. I do know you can buy some sharp NIKE and Reebok Centennial logo'd merchandise at brickyard.com. I know they are doing their darnedest to prove they are two separate and distinct companies but if it is believed they can sell a shirt for 50 bucks celebrating the centennial they should have similarly priced merchandise with IRL logos and that would be in the IZOD price range. Where is it???

So, while I don't believe there is any reason to fund a ride for RHR, the IZOD/IRL partnership appears to have been poorly managed by both IZOD and the IRL.


Apparently you can buy Izod IRL stuff: http://thescore.ibj.com/content/?p=511 There are references to it on their web page in the "spotlight" section. (Their entire website is a rather lame Flash interface, with no substance to it at all!)

And while the IRL itself may not have a contractual reason to make sure RHR is in a car, they would be really stupid not to make sure someone get him a ride. Talk about wasted opportunities!

Gary

[Chamoo]

And while the IRL itself may not have a contractual reason to make sure RHR is in a car, they would be really stupid not to make sure someone get him a ride. Talk about wasted opportunities!

Gary

Agreed Gary.

If they IRL spends 5 million to get RHR a ride, they would be getting any exposure RHR provides through races, adding another car to the field for all race weekends, adding an american to the field, and getting another 6 million worth of marketing.

If they don't get him a ride, they get 6 Million of marketing that probably really equates to 1 or 2 million since RHR isn't actually driving.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Word on the street is that the IRL hand picked RHR for the IZOD campaign. I'm not sure if they guarenteed he'd have a seat, however, IZOD went to the IRL and had them pick the person they wanted to represent the league, and they picked RHR.

If the IRL picked RHR they should have made sure the guy had a contract somewheres. My god with all the drivers in the IRL they couldn't find ONE who as signed that would be suitable?

[Jag_Warrior]

I think they were looking for an American driver, of which there's precious few.

What about Marco? Unless Michael was an investor in a Madoff fund, or forgot to have W#3 sign the prenup, Marco probably has about the safest seat in the entire IRL.

[garyshell]

If the IRL picked RHR they should have made sure the guy had a contract somewheres. My god with all the drivers in the IRL they couldn't find ONE who as signed that would be suitable?

Mark, I am pretty sure that at the time the campaign was started (not rolled out mind you just started), he did have a contract. And a sponsor that, again at the time, seemed rock solid. Who would have thought, then, that gasoline prices would drop by over 50% and that corn base ethanol would no longer be cost competitive? Fast forward a year latter as the campaign is being rolled out and the sponsor has evaporated along taking down the team with it.

Gary

[Jag_Warrior]

He may be a tad young for the demographic they are trying to reach.

I admit, I didn't even know the brand was still around until I saw this thread. I thought it died with the 80's. So it sounds like its made a comeback. What group makes up the current market?

[SarahFan]

..............

[Lemmy-Boy]

I admit, I didn't even know the brand was still around until I saw this thread. I thought it died with the 80's. So it sounds like its made a comeback. What group makes up the current market?

Izod has always catered to a demographic similar to my age group or a higher end Abercrombie & Fitch crowd (College, Young Professionals, etc). Cheesy as it may sound but I really like their clothing, despite the over bloated price.