DECEMBER 5, 2001

Jordan launches drinking glasses

Eddie Jordan continues in his efforts to become the Irish version of Virgin boss Richard Branson, building up the Jordan brand in his native country.

EDDIE JORDAN continues in his efforts to become the Irish version of Virgin boss Richard Branson, building up the Jordan brand in his native country. Jordan already publishes a Jordan magazine which has large sales in Ireland and has added other items to the team's product range in recent months. His latest product is glasses created by the Waterford Crystal glass company.

After the launch he went on to have lunch with the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Aherne.

While EJ will certainly increase his profile in Ireland with such events, it is not clear whether or not the sale of drinking glasses will do much for his F1 budget.

Jordan's aim has long been to build up the Jordan brand so that it eventually becomes a stand-alone business, just as Branson did with Virgin, which was original a record company, but is now simply a brand which trades in whatever products seem to fit the moment. A similar idea is being developed by the Easyjet airline company which has branched out into a variety of other businesses.

The danger of developing the Jordan brand to the extent that Jordan does means that there is a danger that Eddie's commitment to F1 will be questioned. The team has not been doing very well in recent years and part of this is blamed by those inside the team on the fact that Jordan spends too much time on his other businesses.

Jordan insists (volubly) that he is committed to Formula 1 and that the branding exercise is simply a sideline.