Racing Legends Join Forces

Whilst doing my research around the 'A Child's Eye' exhibition, I came across another photography project that was run in 2007 by the charity 'Save The Children'.

A collection of racing drivers and car fanatical celebrities were brought together to create a limited edition photographic book. The company behind this idea was a watch company; TAG Heuer, who donated all proceedings made to the charity's recreational and sports projects worldwide. As well as the book, TAG Heuer organised a special racing event at Le Castellet Formula One test track.

Le Castellet - Formula 1 Track

Jean-Christophe Babin, President and Chief Executive Officer of TAG Heuer, says, "Because such simple and natural things as laughing, having fun and achieving physical and mental excellence through developing self-confidence and a team spirit should be a right within reach of all children, TAG Heuer has committed itself to supporting Save the Children in its sports and play programmes."

Having external companies organising events and creating awareness, is great for a charities profile because it gets them known in a wider market, and individuals outside the specific target audience feel they can relate to the issues more. As well as this, the profile of the company rises too because they are being seen contributing to those less fortunate and charitable characteristics are rewarded, which means the potential for more customers. So it benefits both parties. It is a great promotion all round! The fact that well known names within the sporting sector are getting involved, adds a significant amount of credibility to the project and more people instantly want to engage with what is going on. Famous people are always a great advertising tool if you want to draw the crowds in, especially if you can convince those within a related field to help out. On this project, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Olympic gold medallist Katarina Witt to name but a few, were actively seen to be supporting the cause.

Projects such as these allow the charity to provide funding in areas where children will benefit from sports being a part of their lives. Recreation not only keeps them active and stimulated, they stay out of trouble and develop important skills they will need to succeed in life, such as working in a team, learning/and sticking to rules and regulations, confidence, respect for others and most importantly I believe, is how to enjoy themselves.

The article doesn't mention what type of photographs make up the content of the limited edition book, what it was called or how we can view it. Therefore, just like the 'A Child's Eye' exhibition, I am not able to make a personal comment on what has been produced, or develop my own ideas based around the success of these projects. I can only judge by the written articles and concepts initiated, without actually seeing the content.

I have browsed Google to find some sort of imagery to back up the content of this Blog. I have managed to track down a image from Flickr, with images within the photograph showing a selection of the content I assume is in the limited edition book produced.

TAG Heuer Photo Exhibition for Save The Children: 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst having a look through the photographs on Flickr related to the above event, I notice that the event carried out seemed to be a great success with a lot of well known names occupying the snapshots. Having many famous faces all in one place is a great way to raise funds because it is an excuse for the to all get together and socialise, whilst digging into their pockets and getting involved in other ways. The fundraising becomes the by-product of the event.

Event Entertainment

No night-time event would be a complete success without the aid of music; DJ, band, singer, orchestra. The aim is to create a relaxed atmosphere where people are free to enjoy themselves without the pressure of constant reminders about charity.

Just as an additional observation, another way the company TAG Heuer are covertly promoting themselves is through the photos. The photographer(s) responsible for the images has been set the brief to create the portraits in the same style as the photographic advertising for the watch brand. You can definitely link the exhibition to TAG Heuer once you have viewed the image style for both. This is clear from the two photographs below. You get the feeling of metallic finish, which obviously compliments the materials when creating the luxury masterpieces of the watch world. This is a clever way of getting people to remember you and to advertise yourself in additional ways without people knowing directly that you are doing it.

Sebastien Bourdais

Link Calibre 5 Day Date

The reason for the watch company focusing an event around racing and linking it in with encouraging disadvantaged children into sport is because their brand suggests a very mechanical approach to their products and many of their lead Brand Ambassadors are related to the racing scene, two of them being Jenson Button and Alain Prost. Both of which are extremely well known within Formula 1. The contact network between these two sectors must be incredible and this is why a charity event would be a complete success. The right people are invited, the right branding is advertised and the collaboration to organise an event will be perfect! Network, network, network, and ideally link yourself with a brand/organisation or sector and predominantly work with them. If you become a sponsor for a huge following such as Formula 1, you become widely known and you are able to collaborate with charities easily and set up events in their name.

Ambassador Alain Prost - This link shows a short clip of how TAG Heuer and Formula 1 work together. There are many other clips linked to each Ambassador. 

I have found this research interesting because I am big fan of Formula 1, so it gave me the excuse to incorporate it in to my module as well as gaining knowledge on how companies can be drawn in to charitable organisations, allowing both sides to gain a huge amount of success and credibility, whilst doing generating good will and supporting those who aren't able to do so independently. The one question I do have in mind is whether it is the charity that approach the organisations they feel could have an impact, or do the companies propose to the charity what they could do. Or, do the companies go ahead and raise awareness and funds then donate all the proceedings afterwards? This is a discussion I would like to have with Trevelyan when I meet him in a couple of weeks time.

Another reason why this watch brand is so closely linked to Formula One is the fact that it is the "first watch brand to develop chronographs dashboards for sports cars at the beginning of the 20th century, first watch brand to partner with racing drivers, first watch brand to partner with a Formula 1 team, first watch brand to crack and master the time barrier, creating luxurious chronographs with a precision of 1/10th, 1/100th and now 1/1,000th of a second, TAG Heuer has more than any other watch brand a strongly racing-oriented DNA. The brand has built its reputation on the core values and codes of motor sports and prestigious sports cars. Now, through the “Dream Machines driven by Generous Hearts” project and its association with Save the Children, TAG Heuer has the opportunity to use its passion to benefit the children of the world." (2007: 18th July).

At this stage in my career development, I know that there isn't a chance I can create an event as huge as this, and it isn't something I have considered. What I do want to take away from this is using well-known faces to raise profiles and to get more people interested. When it comes to putting on my exhibition/festival, I would like at least one well-known face to give a talk and have a presence throughout the venue(s). I haven't thought about who to get in contact with yet as I need to get more of a organisational structure and firm ideas on what is going to be included within my event. Then I can start to generate a list of potential 'celebrities'.