The Great
Indian Grand Prix, Austin GP, Alonso, ESPN and all that jazz were some common
words that echoed this Tuesday 20-11-12 in SIMClairvoyance (An SIMC initiative).
The day long process involved fabulously outstanding speakers from the Prestigious Sahara Force India Formula 1, ESPN, Nimbus and Neo Sports. One of the
prominent starters was Kunal Shah
who is designated as the Deputy General Manager, Sahara Force India F1. He and his
flamboyance about the race added thrill to the existing-exciting Grand Prix.
He, taking into account a lay man started off with meagre questions as ‘What is
Formula 1?’ etc. Taking from this level he picked up to talking about revenues
and the Marshals and the Pit Crew of the race.
A very enthusiastic speaker with
extravagant basket of knowledge invigorated the whole interest of a race in a
lot of students and yes many turned into “Purists” (People who are fanatic
about their favourite Sport, as said by him). His discussions lurched from
Hamilton to the Jay Pee group generating Television revenues to FIA (Federation
of Automobile) and FOM (Formula One Management). A very informative session
that dealt with taglines and facts that JPSI paid about 28 Millions for just
the tagline of the Grand Prix which apparently formed 28% of the total revenue generation
and the Indian adaption of the race forma involving no say of the Government
unlike all the races in the World. Also, He talked about how a Brand is
maintained and a minor example of the same person distributing hats to the Winners
in the races in the entire world (obviously increasing overheads) but
streamlining ‘the’ Brand. All in all an interesting session provoking interest
in the masses to adopt F1 as the ‘Staple’ sport like Cricket which apparently is
still to achieve. So go out, indulge in Brand Management and as they say ‘Raise
the Flag’!
-Aditi Khare
