New McLaren boss aims for more sponsors and fan base

McLaren new executive director Zak Brown has got two things on top of his agenda - boosting fan base and getting a major title sponsor.
"The brands we have on the cars are fantastic companies. But we need more of them. It costs a lot to go motor racing and we need to deliver value to our marketing partners and we need them to deliver value to us in growing our fan base and economics. So it's critically important that we find a title or a major sponsor. We need some logos on the side part of our car," he said during a media interaction at the Yas Marina Circuit on Friday.
McLaren are without a title sponsor since 2013 as Vodafone didn't renew the deal. Brown is looking at time till 2018 to bag a new sponsor. "I don't have a magic wand. I think having a title partner for 2018 is going to be an easy feat."
Brown said there are three critically important factors to the McLaren ecosystem - ones that will help them to economically go faster.
"We need to be very engaging with the fans and have a massive base. We need more sponsors. The more sponsors we get, the more money we can give to the racing team and the faster it will go. Then we will have more fans. We need to get all three of them right to propel us."
The ones who can win races are the drivers and with Jenson Button out, Brown backed Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne to come good next season.
"We have the best driver in the world in Fernando Alonso and I expect Stoffel Vandoorne to give him a run for his money. Stoffel is a future world champion and they are a great pairing. I am very excited for our driver line-up."
Brown will be responsible for operations, 'both - commercial and success on the tracks'. He replaced Ron Dennis and will work jointly with chief operating officer Jonathan Neale to lead the company. He is confident about a smooth transition in the organisational structure and will put to affect his experience of days at Just Marketing International - the world's largest motorsport marketing agency.
Brown said he held 'accelerated conversations' with Dennis prior to joining the role. He was linked with Liberty Media before joining McLaren. "I have worked with many at McLaren in past decade. Ron Dennis is the person who recruited me. I have a great relationship with Ron, who always left the door open for me. I am here today because of Ron Dennis. He was one of my heroes growing up and I have tremendous amount of admiration for him. Sitting with McLaren shirt is too good to be true." How it feels to be in McLaren t-shirt?
"This opportunity is too awesome. I wanted to be here and truth be known I am sleeping in this McLaren shirt. Luckily they gave me four of them," he said all in glee.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com