Jim Wright, The Commercial world of Motorsports

Published: April 19, 2020, 4:05 a.m.

Jim is taking us on a great journey through the commercial world of motorsports from his humble beginnings in UK motorsports to his career in Formula 1 to Formula E now. He is one of the most creative and talented commercial guys in Motorsports I know. His thinking and approach for how to create stories and sponsorship programs works for any sports. As a \u201ccommercial guy\u201d, I love this talk.\xa0 Anyone can sell a hot property, like the FIFA World Cup, the Team or athlete that just won a big Championship. In that space, it\u2019s less about creativity but about managing the demand and getting top value for the client/property.\xa0 When you sell a back/mid-table team or a new franchise, you have to be a whole lot more creative and come up with new angles. Jim is a master of that.\xa0 Enjoy the lessons and give us your feedback.\n\xa0\nKey Highlights\nHis passion for motorsports from his teens and how he got into it step by step\nHis knack for the commercial side of the business\nHis Williams F1 racing days under Sir Frank Williams, incredible learning\nBMW and Williams F1 team deal, the learning and stories around it\nHundreds of Millions of Dollars of deals but even the little deals count\nLearning how people treat other people\nPower of B2B part in sponsorship\nSwitch to Formula E, difficult start but as usual staying focused on the end goal always works\nDifference in budgets between F1 and Formula E\nHow to sell Formula E, the story book, do your home work on the client\nAndretti Autosport, going beyond traditional motorsports revenue\nThe difference between selling commercial rights for a Winning team vs others (Mahindra Formula E story)\nHow to sell sponsorships in the new world after Covid-19\nCurrent plans to get Formula E back on the track\n\xa0\n\xa0\nAbout\nA marketing professional with a proven and quantifiable track record for sponsorship sales, particularly in motorsport, Jim Wright is a sports fan with a finely honed talent for creating mutually beneficial opportunities and making partnerships happen using strategic vision techniques.\n\xa0\nHaving started his career upon completion of a Business Studies degree, Wright moved from team management and logistics in to the commercial side of motor sport working for the fledgling ATS F1 team in 1980/81 before accepting an offer from Eddie Jordan to help grow his eponymous team.\n\xa0\nThrough the acquisition of team sponsorship and trade partnerships, Jordan was able to hire race winning drivers and move his team to the forefront of international racing below Formula 1. Wright was the driving force behind this strategy and he also worked with the ebullient Irishman on driver management, starting the Eddie Jordan Management business.\n\xa0\nAfter five years with Eddie Jordan, Jim was recruited by Cellnet, then Britain\u2019s fastest growing mobile phone network to set up and manage a strategic motor sport division of their marketing department aimed at creating awareness and commercial opportunity for Cellnet as the mobile phone market emerged in the UK. Alongside this commitment, Wright developed his own agency to service other motor sport clients including drivers, championship promoters and car constructors. This business was a great success, particularly in Japan where Wright delivered the single biggest sponsorship of the booming Japanese F3000 championship with the Promise financial services company and Reynard Racing Cars.\n\xa0\nWright\u2019s exploits were noticed by Frank Williams and in 1994 Jim Wright was offered an opportunity to head up sponsorship sales for the Rothmans Williams Renault F1 team, an opportunity that he could not turn down. Having landed his first deal within 10 days of joining Frank\u2019s team, Wright quickly emerged as a real force and within 14 months of joining Williams he was asked by Frank Williams to be the Head of Marketing & Sponsorship, a position that Wright held for the next 11 years. During this term, Williams created the Senior Management Group \u2013 a core of five key executives who reported to t