Formula Marketing Teams

[Anthony Casson]

I'm curious as to how big or small the marketing groups of different formula teams are.

Is your marketing group big or small? Growing? What are your plans? And have you found success recruiting from different areas of study?

Thanks, and I hope your projects are going well!

[Lorenzo Pessa]

Never big enough!
Last year there was 10 people (out of 45 team members).
They were from the faculty of engineering, economics, law and literary arts.

The main tasks was sponsor searching, communication and of course static events.

[Anthony Casson]

That's interesting, because despite the need for marketing I don't like the idea of having a lot of people in the group -- 15+ in an overall team of 45+. We have about 6 from our US team and 5-6 from our German team.

[RANeff]

Last year we had only 1 Marketing guy, and this year we have 2. They handle all Sponsor Relations and the Business Presentation. On a team the size of ours, we're lucky to have anyone at all (as we had 0 in '09)

[Ben K]

I'd say we have 4 dedicated members and a few floaters.

Right now it is split as one for contacting new sponsors, one for contacting old sponsors, one for newsletters, and one for everything in between. It works pretty well.

Ben

[Anthony Casson]

Thanks guys. Sounds like a similar setup at most places. I'm not surprised based on who usually works on the teams, but I'm surprised there's no greater marketing push.

[Ben K]

Originally posted by Anthony Casson:
Thanks guys. Sounds like a similar setup at most places. I'm not surprised based on who usually works on the teams, but I'm surprised there's no greater marketing push.

We are actively recruiting Journalism and Communications majors, and that is how we obtained our 4 person team this year. We had a non-existant marketing team essentially until this year. The benefits of even having 2 dedicated marketing people is immense.

Our team definitely has recognized PR and Marketing as an important future aspect to the team.

Ben

[Anthony Casson]

That's great to hear! I'm a New Media Comm major (minor in writing), but I used to be a ME and I had a couple years experience with the team. We just brought in two business/marketing people. Like your example, Ben, having the marketing/PR division controlled by non-engineers (mostly) has helped the team. It's so difficult, as I'm sure you know, having to worry about designing/manufacturing the vehicle and marketing at the same time. Having some specific people for the duties is huge.

[Ben K]

Yeah for a while I was doing alot of the marketing and external relations. Kind of detracts from building a car. I definitely recommend that teams get dedicated members who only work on PR and Sponsor Relations.

Ben

[sbrenaman]

0 http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif Working on that one though...

[Umur Selek]

1 main marketing guy
4-5 people to help him out

Just started it this year

[Adambomb]

Yeah, I've got to say it's pretty annoying when reputable posters have to wait up to 3-4 days to get a legitimate post with a link, then you see this crap make it through the admins THREE TIMES. Although I do have to give him some credit, his posts have been closer to on-topic than any other spammers I've seen.

[Terriblewone]

Some of you guys have 15+ members for marketing? Our team is lucky to have that many dedicated members!

In terms of marketing our team realistically just has two people for this year. My friend takes car of all of the financial, events and contacts and I handle all of our print work from photos, books to awards. None the less with a couple of decent projects under our belt, I am looking forward to our first marketing presentation together in 2011.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5285/5272801840_c28bf8f017_z.jpg
http://issuu.com/busato/docs/uoitmotorsports

[Anthony Casson]

GFR has a large group because we operate in two countries. People in America aren't able to give equal attention to the industry in Germany, and vice versa. Many times our group shrinks throughout the year -- a lot like the standard sub-teams.

We have primary people and helpers. I, for instance, handle mostly events and web media; others handle finances and sponsorship.