The Grand Prix of Edmonton proves it can be done
By Kate Shaw
Photo courtesy Champ Car World Series

EDMONTON, Alberta (July 17, 2005) – Welcome to the brand new world of the Champ Car World Series.

For the past ten days, the Grand Prix of Edmonton has been the biggest show in Canada. The drivers in every series, Toyota Atlantics, Trans Am and Champ Cars, have been greeted by jammed grandstands, crowded paddocks, eager fans and joyful press; whenever anyone has asked them about this, they have said to a man and woman that they can’t believe it – that it carries them back to what Champ Car races used to be like and they love it. What brought all these people out? How did the City of Edmonton get all these people out to the events, and not only to come to the track but to stay til the last dog was hanged? Why did they stay through a rainstorm, why did 56,000 of them leave work, skip a weekend at the cottage, abandon the air conditioning, to sit shoulder to shoulder in grandstands or crowded together in the paddocks on a Friday – not only of the Canadian drivers, but of every driver from every country, in every kind of racing car? And what’s all this about a Champ Car Store in the West Edmonton Mall? Have we been transported back to 1996 by Professor Peabody’s Wayback machine?

The undeniable success of the Grand Prix of Edmonton in its first year has renewed confidence in the current management’s grasp of that which has been obvious to the capitalists among us for a long time: if you want to sell a product, you go where the customers are – and when you get there, you do everything you can to let them know that, first of all, you are there, and second, that in your eyes they are kings and queens, beautiful people to be wooed and won with the product you already know (because you’ve done the research) that they want.

First, you have to go where the customers are, not where you wish they were or demand that they be. You don’t set up a tearoom in a mining camp or a disco in a convent – and if you want to get married, you don’t go to a place where there aren’t any women. It’s very clear that the Champ Car World Series researched their market in Edmonton. “We’ve been waiting for this for 25 years!” said the exultant crowd to anyone who would listen. “We love racing! Any kind of racing! Lead us to it! If you build it, we will come!” Forget putting Champ Cars on an oval in Las Vegas at midnight – you’ll be only one more guy with a bouquet at the back door of the Miss Universe Pageant there. Look around you for more cities and towns where people want what you have to sell. Canada is one of the biggest markets Champ Cars has – remember, the much-trumpeted statistics cover only the United States, and that’s like trying to find out how popular you are by polling your ex-wives.

Once you’ve located your market and set up your shop, you have to let the customers know that you’re prepared to sell them what they want, and by doing this, that it’s not all about you – it’s all about them.

The Molson Indy Toronto is a successful race by any standard. However, they have lost track of Part 2 of this formula for success. Everyone who participated in last weekend’s race here commented on the lack of promotion. There’s no big secret to promotion. We do it every day of our lives. When you fall in love with a girl, how do you convince her that you are the man for her? Do you lay out a campaign to make her aware not only of your charms, but of what a good time she’ll have if she throws in her lot with yours? Do you wine her, dine her, send her poetry and bouquets, cater to her lightest wish – and welcome her to the world you’d love to have revolve around her? Above all else, do you put your finest wares on display for her approval? Do you introduce her to your friends? Are you friendly, kind, eager and generous? And are you confident that, if you woo her, she will be yours? Every bit of this behaviour is ‘promotion’. You have to make her realize that she’s your queen. There’s lots of competition out there.

We’ve all heard enough about what won’t work. Away with the continued pounding at square pegs in a vain attempt to force them into round holes; never mind standing on the doorstep of your ex-wife with bouquets while beautiful, desirable, eager women vainly drop their hankies and call “Yoo hoo!” The West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton has proved in ten days of festival, jammed paddocks and grandstands, mobbed drivers, overwhelmed parties and a brand new Champ Car Store that we do know what will work. Find out where the parade is going and get in front of it. If they tell you they’ll come – BUILD IT! And then make them glad they came.