What that means is that Virgin Group has benefited heavily from having their logo printed on the Brawn GP cars this season, $60 million worth. As shown in a report made public by media analysis experts Margaux Matrix, the two Brawns – both cars and drivers – have benefited from no less than 9 hours of international media coverage during the first 15 races of the season (practically all but the last two rounds, scheduled in Brazil and Abu Dhabi).
Although the aforementioned figure might work for Branson, it should really give Ross Brawn quite a headache. And that's because his team's deal with Virgin Group was far less fruitful than the company's brand exposure value. Branson paid the Brawns around $400,000 per race on a 17-race deal, which means almost $7 million per season.
However, according to some reports, the value of the sponsorship deal between Brawn and Virgin Group may have changed during the course of the 2009 season, as the representatives from the two companies have conducted a series of discussions starting May this year.
Despite the huge amount of success recorded by Brawn GP in the 2009 season – who have themselves recorded a $255 million brand exposure so far this year – Virgin will reportedly not extend their deal with the Brackley based team but instead move to newly entrants Manor F1.
However, both the new team and Virgin are yet to issue an official confirmation on the matter in the next few months.
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