Things have been quietly gathering steam at M+C World Headquarters recently.  At the risk of repeating myself, life at M+C has been an exercise in perseverance and patience for the greater part of 2009, but there’s a lot of truth in the idea that we’re defined more by how we conduct ourselves in bad times than good.  It’s particularly rewarding to see large, long-term, complex arrangements start to take shape, particularly so when they seemed like long shots at the outset.

M+C has happily, proudly been representing Patrick Long since 2005, and working with him literally from the time of his first professional race in America.  From an objective (okay, not entirely objective, but at least external) perspective, he’s an interesting mix of talent, charisma, and good fortune.  Racing professionally for Porsche, he gets opportunities to go places and drive cars that most racing fans only ever dream about.  He handles it well, and more importantly, he carries himself well.  At this point, we’re in contract negotiation with a company that’s square in the middle of the wine-and-cheese demographic that Porsche occupies; when we get the deal finalized, it’ll be the culmination of more than 16 months of talks, patience and a whole lot of shifting targets.  Patrick has a very good mindset about the entire process – rather than stomp his feet about a lack of immediate sponsorship dollars, he gets the value in building long-term relationships and slowly accruing influential and powerful businesspeople in his network. It’s definitely hard as an entrepreneur to take the long view (particularly in regard to getting paid!), but for Patrick to have the foresight and ability to take on such a deal is a testament to his business acumen.

It doesn’t really hurt that much that he and his teammate Jörg Bergmeister have won 5 of 7 races to date in the American Le Mans Series thus far; with three races to go they’re sitting pretty in the championship.  Anything can happen, but the future’s so bright at the moment, they’ve gotta wear shades.  So to speak.

Speaking of Jörg Bergmeister, he’s made the transition from friend of M+C to client of M+C.  We’ve been representing him now for just over a year, and similar to Patrick’s deal, we’re in the closing stages of discussions with a very, very nice potential sponsor for him.  It’s all on the DL for now, but in the event that it comes together, it’ll be a very nice deal financially for Jörg and more importantly, a big deal professionally for M+C. In racing, it’s like what Janet Jackson said: “what have you done for me lately?” Having a couple of public successes will help M+C grow its future business.

PLong / Bergmeister en route to victory @ Mid Ohio. © Rick Dole 2009

Racing is a funny business.  There’s so many people that drift in and out of it – drivers, money guys, crew guys – that it sometimes feels like a revolving door.  Add to that equation all the detritus – the scammers, used car salesman and pyramid schemers – who pop up from time to time, and it can start to feel like a pretty sketchy place to do business.  Keeping that professional momentum thing going is really key to a company like M+C.  The simple concept of ‘face time’ – showing up to a race and walking back and forth up and down the paddock – is the only way for people to really remember you exist, outside the few key relationships one builds.  It’s staying top of mind with stakeholders, customers and potential clients that all of us could bear to spend more time working towards.

Speaking of staying top of mind, I was forwarded a really interesting article lately about a musician who I’d heard of, but had never paid much attention to: Imogen Heap.  The article details how, nearly at the beginning of the Twitter phenomenon, she grasped how it might be used by her to connect with fans, gain new ones, and truly interact with them.  The article is most definitely worth a read, and is continuing to give me ideas about how to think clearly and creatively about growing a brand or fanbase.

On that tip, fans of Sam Benjamin (author of Confessions of an Ivy League Pornographer) take note: that shit’s about to drop in print form.  Thanks to the late nights and long hours pulled by Nate Luzod and Anna Tes at Grid, LLC, Confessions is about to be ready to be purchased in real, tangible form. M+C is readying the next phase of the PR for the project, to be launched with vigor and determination in very short order.

For no reason other than it’s an amazing photo from an amazing place, here’s a shot courtesy of Art Gimbel of Mavericks breaking on November 30, 2008.  Thanks to @kjbeadling for not getting upset that I used the photo without permission.  It’s meant as a tribute.  And on that note, the Mavericks 2009/10 contest period is opening soon!