Emirates flies with McLaren Mercedes F1

[El Peligroso]

"Emirates Airline has entered the high-profile Formula One circuit, signing on as Partner of Team McLaren Mercedes in the days leading up to the opening race of the 2006 World Championship in Bahrain.

The announcement was made today by HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed AlMaktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group, and Ron Dennis, Team McLaren Mercedes' Team Principal and Chairman and CEO of the McLaren Group, alongside the International Tourism Fair (ITB) in Berlin, Germany.

Starting from the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend, the distinctive "Fly Emirates" insignia - one of the most recognizable brand signages at top global sporting events - will prominently feature on the Team McLaren Mercedes MP4-21 Formula One cars at race events across Europe, Asia, Australasia, and North and South America. In addition, it will also be on the uniform of drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya, and in the team's pit interior.

Sheikh Ahmed said: "Formula One and Team McLaren Mercedes are at the pinnacle of a sport where success is determined by having leading-edge technology, quick responses to strategy changes, ambition and teamwork - all of which resonate with Emirates' own practices to stay at the top of our industry." He added: "Grand Prix racing attracts millions of followers around the globe, and we believe it will be an excellent vehicle to further Emirates' brand awareness. We are very pleased to partner with such a prestigious team as Team McLaren Mercedes, and wish them every success for the upcoming season."

"Today's announcement makes the start to the 2006 Formula One World Championship even more thrilling for Team McLaren Mercedes - said Ron Dennis - Emirates is globally recognized as a world-class airline and a leader in its field. We are proud that they recognize the mutual benefits of an association with Team McLaren Mercedes. The 2006 Formula One World Championship promises to be an exciting season and with support from a company like Emirates we are off to a good start. Everybody at Team McLaren Mercedes is looking forward to the opening race this weekend and a successful relationship with Emirates."

Emirates Airline is an established supporter of sport around the world, as it believes that sport provides a platform to reach out to its customers and share in their interests. The airline also reflects many of the values embodied by top sporting events and teams - an ambition to be the best in the field, international appeal, and an unwavering commitment to its fans and customers.
About Emirates: Dubai-based Emirates is amongst the fastest growing airlines in the world and has received more than 280 international awards for excellence since its launch in 1985. It serves over 80 cities around the globe with a young and technologically advanced fleet of aircraft that are equipped with industry-leading comforts in the air."

I thought Ferrari was the Red team?? :\

[Check 'Six']

Ferrari were definately more expensive!! Discount as usual!

[max AB]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but has EK made a habit of announcing sponsorship deals just before announcing staff profit share....Maybe I'm just being paranoid, please forgive me...

[Zomp]

s**t everytime I watch the F1 races now I'll be pi**ed off

[uplock]

Sorry the reason for this years profit share is the High Cost of Sponsorship Deals..Oops I meant High Cost of Fuel

Last year it was a Dh 130 Million deal with Fifa to sponsor this years Footy and also a 15 year Deal with Arsenal's new stadium for around Dh 700 Million


The Government paper Emirates Today has a small article in todays edition (http://www.emiratestodayonline.com)Thursday March 9 2006 on page 2.

The deal takes Emirates total sponsorship deals close to an estimated Dh 1 Billion (converted on today's rates 1,000,000,000.00 AED United Arab Emirates Dirhams = 272,279,190.29 USD United States Dollars

Can hardly wait until they start sponsoring the wet T-Shirt (http://www.t-shirthumor.com/Merchant2/products/nbam.html?Category_Code=sanr) Competition .:E

[bear11]

A bit of background from www.grandprix.com below. Maclaren were white and red in the Senna/Prost days when Marlboro were the main sponsor. The colour scheme this year is chrome with some red, mainly on the wings and the Emirates logo will go on the front wing. The new colour scheme is a transitional one before they go to a corporate Vodafone red in the next year or two. If Emirates do actually go down the team route, you're talking minimum 100 million USD per year for even a middle-ranking team!


Emirates finally arrives at McLaren

It has been four years since the first serious rumours of an involvement from the Dubai royal family's airline Emirates in Formula 1. The first stories were from Germany where an investment banker from Bremen called Oliver Behring had big plans to buy Arrows with Emirates money in order to start a company called German Grand Prix Racing GmbH. The plan never came to fruition. It was in June 2004 that the stories emerged again, with Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, the chairman of Emirates, issuing a statement announcing that he was negotiating to buy control of one of an existing Formula 1 team with a company called Grand Prix Investments. By September that year there were stories that McLaren partner Mansour Ojjeh, DaimlerChrysler investor Prince Khaled Al-Waleed and Sheikh Ahmed had agreed to start a secondary McLaren team called Team Dubai.

Now finally we have a sponsorship deal between McLaren and Emirates which will see branding on the McLaren front wings. It remains to be seen if there are bigger plans down the road.

[scanscanscan]

Dear Staynes......Going back to 1980ish...Gulf Air decided it would improve the airline if they had their Falcon on a Uk football teams shirt..... exactly where Emirates is now...I was told it cost Gulf Air £350,000 per season...After these sponorship wet dreams came the accidents.

[Fish]

With the hype surrounding the sponsorship of McClaren, did anyone notice that we are also sponsoring the German Bundesliga team Hamburger SV?

[sirwa69]

Can someone enlighten me?

I am not an accountant but even I can work out that Emirates airline is just not big enough to justify it's marketing budget.
McLaren will not come cheap, then you have the world cup, Arsenal's ground plus the cricket and football teams etc etc etc where on earth does the money come from :confused:


On On

[uplock]

Easy answer to that one 69

Emirates is a marketing tool to promote Dubai .

The Boss has numourous Hotels and Real Estate deals cooking amogst other things and the airline is a great medium to get that message out. After all its all about the big bucks....

I recall something written along the lines of the Airline being set up for the purpose of marketing Dubai , Im sure some one else can fill in the blanks.

Any one else wondering how the airline will now leverage the Yanks in regard to the Dubai Ports Saga??