“PR is a subset of marketing”

Interview with Scott Garrett, Head of Marketing, AT&T Williams Formula One

 
Does more of what goes on today, with driver promotion and him being the brand nucleus, demonstrate that PR has a foothold over marketing?
I don’t think that PR and Marketing are in competition. I think that PR is a subset of Marketing and that Marketing has as many definitions as people you ask. But as far as I have always understood it, it is about creating-to-market something that you have yet to manufacture; distinct from sales, which is about selling what you have already manufactured. And I think that with this in mind, PR has a very valuable role to play alongside and in complete concert with all other forms of communication to an intended market – with advertising being the largest of those and with sponsorship also playing its part. I don’t think enough F1 drivers understand completely the principles of brand management and the fact that they themselves are brands – our own Nico Rosberg is very much an exception to that. He has an excellent understanding of what he wants to stand for and how he wants that image to be communicated. The overall objective of any communication is to add value to the brand and this applies to F1 drivers too – they look to safeguard future earnings, which is adding value to their own brand.

Scott Garrett

Scott Garrett is head of marketing for AT&T Williams Formula One. With a background in advertising (Saatchi & Saatchi, J. Walter Thompson), sports (Nike) and pure brand marketing (Heinz) he also maintains a global focus, having lived and worked in London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and New York.