“Dear Rally Stakeholders,
Warm wishes for a happy and prosperous 2016 to you and your families.
The advent of a new year is always a good time to refresh and set new goals. With Richard Leeke’s resignation as MSA Rally Commission President towards the end of last year, a group of rally enthusiasts started this process when they formed an interim rally working group, which has managed to make great strides in a reasonably short period of time.
A new MSA Rally Steering Committee has now been formalised, under the chairmanship of Chris Andrew, who brings with him a wealth of experience in rallying, motorsport and the motor industry in general. This includes involvement in rallying as a participant for many years and, more recently, as a former president of MSA’s Historic Motorsport Commission. Chris will be supported on the steering committee by a strong team with the following responsibilities:
Member Role
Jackie Schreiber
Operations Manager
Whammy Haddad & Chris Birkin
Technical and Sporting Working Group
Mike Rowe
Sponsor Representative
Chris Coertse
Regional Rally Representative
Theuns Joubert
S2000 Privateer Representative
Jean Els
S1600 Privateer Representative
Elenore Baiocchi
PR and Marketing
OBJECTIVES
These are currently being formalised and we welcome any input from our stakeholders. This can be driven through the respective representatives on the committee or channelled through Jackie Schreiber, who will play an integral role in providing continuity and driving operations going forward.
The steering committee has agreed that this will be a year of restoring stability to the sport and building from there. There will also be greater focus on regional events and club involvement.
Organisation of the first three national championship events is firmly underway, with the first event scheduled to place on 03/04 March in Welkom. This event will mark the return of national rallying to the Free State for the first time in many years, which will bring a fresh challenge for competitors and teams.
TV PROGRAMME
Towards the end of last year, the TV coverage of the championship was put out to tender, with the following key objectives being identified:
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Create a TV programme that will appeal to motorsport fanatics and people that aren’t necessarily motorsport fans (much like Top Gear did for the automotive sector);
Grow the TV audience and attendance at events; and
Provide improved exposure to the partner and sponsor brands to enhance their return on investment.
Four companies pitched for the business and their submissions were strong, making the final decision really difficult. It was felt that some fairly radical changes would be needed in respect of the marketing and PR around the sport to achieve a different outcome and therefore the decision was taken to award the TV deal to Big Shot Media. The key reasons were as follows:
Their in-depth understanding of TV and of SuperSport – they are producers for the Cape Epic, Ironman and Duzi canoe marathon TV programmes (amongst others);
The effective way they handle big events (in some cases producing an episode covering the days activities by that evening); and
Their clear grasp of sport as a form of entertainment.
Big Shot Media is really excited about the potential we have in our sport and we are confident they will be a major asset in assisting to unlock this potential. SuperSport is also really excited about the prospect of having them on board. On this note, SuperSport has offered us a huge amount of additional value, which we will share with you as the details unfold.
So, all in all, we are confident that the television coverage of the sport this year will be fresh, create additional excitement around the sport and offer increased value for sponsors.
PR and MARKETING
The steering committee is currently reviewing the marketing strategy for the National Rally Championship (NRC). Marketing activities will be split between the steering committee and event organisers, with the former providing support to the latter wherever needed.
Event organisers will be provided with a marketing blueprint outlining all activities pre, during and post event. Some activities will be compulsory and others will be optional – implemented only if budget allows. All artwork for collateral will be available from a marketing toolkit to ensure consistency throughout events. The steering committee will be sharing details of these leading up to and throughout each event.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, though it is really early in the year, there is a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm but, most importantly, also activity and action already underway. This can only bode well for rallying in South Africa and we hope you soon see the benefits of all this effort.
The intention is that the steering committee will evolve during the course of 2016, with a formal MSA Rally Commission being revived for 2017 and beyond.
MSA is looking forward to a very exciting rallying season and is counting on the ongoing support of all involved to make it a success.
Kind regards,
Adrian Scholz”