An interesting article on the Guardian this morning looks at the failing F1 brand and how its disregard for social media may (eventually) lead to its downfall.
F1 is in crisis with Caterham and Marussia just in this last week going into administration. The Guardian reports that there are other teams - the most famous and high profile being Williams - all teetering on the brink as the gap between the rich and poor teams widens.
Owner of the F1 commercial writes, Bernie Ecclestone, has called social media no more than a passing fad. Of course he's wrong on that front (although there are many more faces to social media - and they way it is yet to be used - still to emerge.
Applying the social model everywhere
What has motor racing got to do with landscaping?
There's nothing to link it except for the grass and landscaping around the circuits, but that's not the point I'm making.
The failings of F1, as a big brand, to grasp the social concept is one I see constantly across brands of all sizes throughout landscaping and horticulture.
Some brands are erroneously using social media just as 'buy our products' platform, with no added value attributed to its use.
The biggest barrier to F1 is Bernie Ecclestone. His obvious talents for building an empire worked during the era of traditional media by selling advertising and commercial rights but that method is not sustainable and no longer viable.
I'm watching the F1 business model and how its incumbents deal with the near future as closely as I am watching the racing.
What I do know is that the landscape industry won't be the same as it is today in five years time for some brands. On the other hand there are some brands yet to emerge that will be top of the tree.
In both scenarios the linking factor is social media (or lack of it).
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Interesting that the growth in F1 is all from new and emerging markets: exactly where young, entreprenurial businesses will also be using social media in clever ways.
I don't think Ecclestone's to blame though. The teams all have their own job to do promoting their brand in the market place, and hopefully attracting new sponsors as the old one's fall away (tobacco for instance).
F1 is in trouble because of cost, pure and simple. You can't move forward from the back of the grid with a budget of only £60 million, and catch up with the top teams spending 4 times the money. Conversely, you can't start at the back with a £200 million budget, as sponsor's want to be with a top team. It's catch-22, and the small teams struggle for a couple of years, then fail. How many names have Caterham and Marussia had over the years?
The only option is a budget cap. £40 million was suggested, but never agreed to by, guess who, the top teams. The expensive new tech has pushed costs up massively, engines alone by 3 or 4 times last year's prices.
If you look at a formula designed around social media it fails totally. Formula E is new, but the first race was shockingly bad. Vote by phone during the race for your favourite driver to get a turbo boost, that sort of gimmick ruins the spectacle.
What does that have to do with our industry? Well, I wonder if people actually want something so rooted in time and the earth, stone, water and trees, to be turned in to fast-moving, instant 24-hour access, gimmick-laden social media?
I think people would rather trust experience than the new guy on the scene. Landscape projects are long-term, have a lot of thought put in to them, and have to be got right. Social media might get your name across, but it could also send the wrong signals if you aren't careful. It's a craft, and craftsmen/women need to be as careful with new media as other professionals. I don't see my local heart surgeon tweeting pictures of his working day, or offering 2-for-1 deals if you share his status on Facebook!