Murray, Marvin and Marketing

The passing of Murray Walker at the age of 97 released an outpouring of wonderful memories about the man who was affectionately known as ‘the voice of Formula 1’. It was his love of motorsport, knowledge, excitement and of course the gaffs or ‘Murrayisms’ as they became known which endeared him to fans all over the world.

There is much debate about what attracts and engages sports fans today. No doubt my early interest in Formula 1 was formed by the sound of The Chain by Fleetwood Mac, Murray Walker’s infectious enthusiasm and the on-track performances of James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell. And, yes, I checked all the race stats in the newspaper before and after every race. At the 1976 Dutch GP in Zandvoort we followed the cars lap by lap writing down the order trying to work out who was in the lead. An early form of user generated content, only we did not share it with anyone else. Just being there ‘live’ was already special.

Sixteen years later, working as a sponsorship coordinator at Canon who sponsored the Canon Williams F1 Team, I had the pleasure of meeting Murray Walker on a few occasions in the early 1990’s. It was the height of Williams’ success with Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese and the 1992 championship winning season. They say you should not always meet your heroes, but Murray was just as personable off screen as he was on screen.

Despite all the joking around and stories, Murray understood his job. In a 2011 interview he said: “I always regarded it as my brief not just to inform but to entertain. I knew that 95 per cent of my audience weren’t interested in the diameter of the gudgeon pin. What they wanted was to share the excitement that I was lucky enough to be witnessing.” Such a true statement that many others in sport, media and marketing could learn from.

There are reasons for the growth and popularity of Formula 1 over the last 30 or 40 years. And many of these can be found in the 4 P’s of Marketing as created by Jerry McCarthy in 1958. Often referred to as the marketing mix, they are criticized and modified just because they are old, and times have changed. Like many aspects of marketing, they do not need re-writing as long as they are applied in the right context. As Murray famously said, “there is nothing wrong with that car except that it’s on fire!” They have stood the test of time. Something that Murray Walker was also able to do over a career that lasted 52 years. In my humble opinion, a sign of sustainability and success.

Sadly, this weekend also marks the passing of boxing legend Marvelous Marvin Hagler, aged 66. With a record of 62 wins, 52 knockouts and only 3 losses. Hagler competed in an era that was famous for the brutality of the fights, including Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns in 1985. Perhaps it was my warped interest in sport as a teenager, but Formula 1 and boxing attracted my attention. Setting the alarm clock for the middle of the night to tune in to a radio commentary or a fuzzy black and white TV screen only added to the excitement.  Apart from Hagler’s amazing record, the other point of note was his decision to legally change his name to Marvelous Marvin Hagler in 1982, allegedly due to his frustration at not getting enough accolades from the media. Although we now refer to a sports legend as a ‘GOAT’ the idea of having a more personalized name still appeals.

Whichever direction professional sport heads in the future, the formula of success (excuse the pun) will not be far away from the principles that established sports like F1 and boxing. It would be unfair to suggest the P for promotion is the most important part of the marketing mix. But without people like Walker and Hagler who invested so much passion in their profession, the work of sport marketers would not be the same. What a marvelous time we had with Murray and Marvin. Thank you.