Sponsors Focus on Consumers At Cowes Week

Oman Sail continues to combine professional sailing with savvy marketing. This is long-term, grown-up strategy meets great execution of tactics. While Leigh McMillan was winning the Cowes Round of the Extreme Sailing Series on Muscat the Wave, the sponsors were making the most of the crowds around the corner in the main Cowes Week entertainment areas.

Cowes Week might have a reputation for being stuffy or old fashioned. Some might say that it is the epitomy of the ‘Flintstone generation’ approach to sailing. That might be true for the classes and teams sailing out of the Royal Yacht Squadron, but demographics in the Yacht Haven and the beer tent is the kind of audience that brands like Aberdeen Asset Management, Oman Air, and Talisker Whiskey want to talk to. Chances are – if you can afford a pair of Dubarry boots and the ability to take a week off to sailing, you are the kind of adventurous traveller who might want to experience travelling to somewhere like Oman.

The advantage that Cowes Week has over some other sailing events, is that the audience is a known quantity. They are not a mythical social media community or some trendy marketing segmentation – they can be well defined by their age, gender, geography and social standing. It might not be millions of (unqualified) TV eyeballs, but that’s the point – some brands don’t want to be mass market.

While the new title sponsor of Cowes Week, Aberdeen Asset Management played to their B2B VIP Guests through closed door hospitality and some flags, Oman Sail and Muscat the Wave, who have a more ‘consumer’ focus, were activating in tried and tested pavement level ways – competitions for data collection mixed with banners and other visual awareness methods which combined with good results on the water.

Oman Sail Renew Offshore Program with MOD70

The MOD70 is gaining momentum. With politics and increasing costs plauging the IMOCA 60 class, the one-design multihull is being looked at seriously by many offshore teams. Now Oman Sail has announced that the MOD70 will be part of the team’s offshore campaign.

Sidney Gavignet, who has skippered the Oman Air Extreme 40 this year will head up the MOD70 program. Sidney joined Oman Sail team in 2010 to skipper the 100 foot trimaran Oman Air Majan in the Route du Rhum. Gavignet, skipper and project manager of Oman Sail MOD70 said:

“For me the MOD70 is the most attractive boat on the water currently. The boats are quick and although I always enjoy racing around the planet, it’s better when it’s quick! Also it’s absolutely one design, similar to the Extreme 40, so racing will be extremely close amongst the six boats from New York to Brest.”

Sidney will step off of the Oman Air’s Extreme 40 after Act 5 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Cowes to manage the MOD70 project and the all important crew selection process. The team will be made up of four top international crew and two top Omani national sailors for the offshore legs with an additional international and Omani sailor joining the crew for the inshore legs. A rigorous selection process will start in October.

One of the main deciders for Oman Sail’s participation in the MOD70 circuit was the destinations the boats will visit in the World and European tours, the majority of which are key markets for Oman with direct flight routes to Muscat with the countries national airline, Oman Air. The programme will continue to promote Oman as a unique luxury tourist destination around the globe.

David Graham, CEO of Oman Sail said:

“The MOD70 will take the Oman Sail project to another level. It is a very powerful boat whose crew will need to have the skill base to perform against some of the world’s best sailors. It will be crucial to recruit the right people to the project and I know we have a number of great sailors in Oman that will earn their place onboard and make Oman proud. It is a truly inspirational project that will provide a platform for our current top sailors compete and develop their sailing skills and inspire a whole new generation of Omani’s into sailing.”

• More Sponsorship Activation News
• More Travel & Tourism News

For a few years now, Artemis has sponsored an event within an event at Cowes Week. The Artemis Challenge invites Open 60 yachts to sail around the Isle of Wight to win £10,000 for a chosen charity with some celebrities brought in for the day to help generate interest amongst press that otherwise might not care too much.

For sailing fans, the Artemis Challenge is a rare opportunity to see the Open 60s race in British waters and with wind in excess of 25 knots yesterday, the offshore boats were in their element.

The media center at Cowes Week, which has been relatively quiet all week, was full of photographers, for whom taking pictures of yachts was a bit novel. The reason they were there was to get something for a glossy mag – no real story – just a caption. A bit of a space filler with an ‘A-lister’ or royal in it.

The real stars, from a sailing point of view are skippers like Dee Caffari and Vincent Riou – sailors who can actually justify being called ‘the best sailors in the world’, but during the Artemis Challenge, the sailors, who could sail the Open 60 boats by themselves, take a back seat and put on their brand ambassador hats to act as chaperons for the celeb names used as  bait to bring the photographers who chase royals and film stars.

On the one hand, the presence of people like Zara Phillips and Ewan Mcgreggor, helps to raise awareness of sailing, and helps their chosen charities, but on the other hand, it can perpetuate certain stereotypes of the about the sport.

Take the article that appeared in Hello! which opens:

Newlywed Zara Phillips larks around on yacht with a friend. TV presenter Natalie Pinkham came a cropper when she tried out her sea legs and was forced to beg a helping hand off the royal.

The “article” goes on to inflate the prize-money by 10 times to £100,000 and trot out the cliche about yachts being the F1 cars of sailing.

The Daily Mail does a little better with the facts and even mentions the racing, but opens with:

Two days after retiring her beloved show-horse Toytown, newlywed Zara Phillips fled to the ocean. Despite the emotional course of events, Zara, 30, was all smiles as she was spotted aboard a 60ft yacht on the Isle of Wight this morning.

Luckily, the weather helped put on a show for those who stuck around after the smiley posed shots off the Royal Yacht Squadron at the start of the race.

There is absolutely no doubt that Artemis is a fantastic supporter of the sport of sailing. TheArtemis Offshore Academy, modeled on similar programmes in France, aims to develop British offshore sailing talent to maintain the traditions and successes of names like Ellen McArthur, Mike Golding, Sam Davies and Dee Caffari.

The eminently sponsor-able Caffari is still looking for backers to get her to the start line of the next Vendee Globe. Despite an unequalled round the  world track record, media skills and a strong support team, Caffari is yet to find a sponsor for the world famous solo round the world race.

In the meantime, Dee is working hard to build relationships through working with British charity – Toe in the Water, which is the official charity of Cowes Week and the charity that she and celebrity ring-in Zara Phillips were representing on-board the Artemis Ocean Racing Open 60 in the Artemis Challenge.

In the end, the fifth edition of the Artemis Challenge was won by the French entry PRB skippered by Vincent Riou, in a time of 4 hours, 14 minutes and 1 second, narrowly missing out on breaking the previous fastest time by just 13 seconds, set by Team Pindar (4h 13m 48s) in the 2008 Artemis Challenge.

Although the winning French boat didn’t have celebrity ring-ins on board (at least none that were promoted by Artemis), Riou still had a chosen charity which will benefit from the £10,000 prize. The Foundation Movement for Children’s Village Foundation (MVE) is a major player in child protection in France. It protects children at risk by hosting in his Children’s Villages and Households, children and adolescents entrusted by the courts.

Amongst the noise of Cowes Week, getting your story out amongst the myriad of announcements and prize givings requires something extra. Thanks to the celebrity involvement, the Artemis Challenge got column inches in major media like the BBC and was covered as far afield as Sky News Australia, but the stories do nothing to promote the sailors as world-class athletes or promote the sport in the way that the Artemis Offshore Academy does.

More Cowes Week News

To stream live or not to stream live – that is the question that sailing rights holders are asking themselves in 2011. The Volvo Ocean Race has streamed in-port races, the World Match Racing Tour is streaming up to 2 hours of live racing per day, the America’s Cup is promising a mind-altering sports spectacular live on the internet, and the Audi Med Cup has also proved popular with internet audiences.

Now the Extreme Sailing Series is adding streaming offers to fans. After the Istanbul round was broadcast live on Turkish and Balkan television, the concept of streaming was tested in Boston where ‘On the Water Anarchy’ provided coverage, and now the Cowes round of the event for Extreme 40s will also be able to be watched live.

But what is the value of the live product versus a highlights package? The Extreme Sailing Series produces a 6 part series that is broadcast widely on channels such as CNBC, Eurosport, Channel 4 (terrestrial UK), Bloomberg, TRT, Starhub (Asia) and Sport+ (France), but with a very similar product going head-to-head with the series on the same dates, a live streaming offer helps keep the Extreme 40s in mind with the internet audience.

The Extreme Sailing Series would be the first to admit that they don’t have the TV budget that the America’s Cup has. The costs of the television production for the America’s Cup World Series are perhaps higher than any other sailing event in history and some believe the TV costs of a single event like Cascais are larger than a Major Golf tournament.

Nevertheless, the Extreme Sailing Series does have the TV production facilities on site to produce the highlight shows, so the marginal cost of streaming is relatively low. The two live products in place for Act 5, WEBcam and LiveTV, are part of a continuous development strategy by the Organisers to discover the most cost-effective way to bring the action to the competing teams’ worldwide fanbase.

Lou Newlands, Media & Communications Director, said:

“We will have two versions of live online coverage during Act 5 – WEBcam and LiveTV – our event is a purely commercially funded one, so we have to choose carefully how to use our constrained budgets and have decided for this Act to take this two-level approach.

“In essence, where we have live TV broadcast in place in territory, we take their feed and broadcast it live over the internet, with multiple cameras, graphics, video inserts and a full commentary team. In territories where we don’t have a broadcast partner or the rights aren’t available, we’ll revert to the simpler form of live video streaming (‘WEBcam’) which is a single camera production, tracking the racing, combined with our onsite expert commentary team.”

The commentary team is the x-factor. There has been no public statement by the America’s Cup as to who will ‘anchor’ the ‘revolutionary’ sports TV from Cascais, but the Extreme Sailing Series has Seb Destremeau, Andy Green and Hannah White lined up for their Cowes event.

In Cowes, from Sunday – Tuesday (7, 8 & 9 August), a multi-camera LiveTV production will be in place, with this coverage streaming live on the official website and other web portals and made available to TV broadcasters. In co-operation with Sail TV, the live output will also broadcast sailing websites that carry the Sail TV player. In addition via the Sail TV set top box the coverage can be seen on TV screens in many establishments throughout Cowes as well as bars and yacht clubs throughout the world.

The Extreme WEBcam will run on the Saturday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (6, 10, 11, 12 August) with live pictures and an audio feed taken directly from the race village commentary.

Watch the Extreme Sailing Series in Cowes Live on the Internet

LiveTV : Sunday to Tuesday (7, 8, 9 August)

Programme starts at 1415 British Summer Time (BST, 1 hour ahead of GMT) with 49er and windsurfing action ahead of the Extreme 40 racing starting at 1500 BST

WEBcam : Saturday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (6, 10, 11 & 12 August)

WEBcam starts at 1415 BST on Saturday with Extreme 40 racing from 1500.

*WEBcam starts from 1500 BST, with Extreme 40 racing coming back in to the ‘Stadium’ once Cowes Week racing has cleared the area, and not before 1500 BST at the earliest.

More Extreme Sailing Series News

Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week has a new website, and it’s pretty good. The site is simple, clean, easy to navigate and most importantly is designed to understand that the event has multiple stakeholders and audiences.

Title sponsorship of Cowes Week has been missing from the event in recent years, and as a result, money has been spent in other areas. With the support of Aberdeen Asset Management, the web presence of the regatta has been given a much needed face-lift.

Organisers have also created a mobile site which is intended to give instant access to results, news, start times, courses and entertainment schedules during the regatta, but using an Android powered Samsung Galaxy II S, we can’t find it yet.

The site also links to the required social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook. So far, 2260 people like the facebook page, which is almost the same as Emirates Team NZ. The social media element is not mentioned in the press release directly, although the site is refferred to as anonline presence which is a trendy digital marketing term that alludes to a brand’s web footprint being more than just its website.

And for those sailors who want to take their expensive smartphones sailing, and have enough battery to keep the GPS on throughout racing, Aberdeen Asset Management have funded a new tracking system trial.

The ‘ngTrack’ system uses competitors’ own smartphones instead of expensive dedicated tracking devices to monitor the locations of boats taking part. Position data is transmitted in real-time to regatta HQ and is available to view online through a simple, easy-to-use viewer. The system is being trialed with the IRC Class 0, Dragon and Multihull classes this year, but Aberdeen hope to extend the facility to the wider Cowes Week fleet in 2012.

Commenting on this year’s tracking trial, CWL Chief Executive, Stuart Quarrie said:

”I have been keen to secure a tracking solution for the regatta for some time and this trial bodes well for a total solution in future years. Being able to track the fleet will be a huge bonus from both a spectator and race management viewpoint”.

Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management said:

“The new tracking system is something we’re really pleased to have been able to support in our first year at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week. At Aberdeen we are aiming to help enhance the event and hopefully this cutting-edge GPS tracking system trial will do just that for all those taking part. We are very much looking forward to receiving feedback from these initial trials to find out if this initiative has been the success we all hope it will be so that we can look to extend it to the whole fleet in 2012.”

The Aberdeen Asset Management sponsored Extreme 40 has also taken to the water off Cowes. The team will compete in the UK round of the Extreme Sailing Series, which takes place during Cowes Week.

More Cowes Week News

At times, the Extreme Sailing Series and Cowes Week have seemed like strange bedfellows, but the combination of an event aimed squarely at spectators running alongside an event primarily for participating sailors has gelled a bit more in recent years with the Extreme Series adapting it’s programme to allow sailors to be part of the large crowds that come to watch the ‘stadium sailing’ format.

This year, Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, as the name suggests, has a new sponsor, and Aberdeen will activate that support through a branded Extreme 40 competing in the event ‘around the corner’.

Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, said:

“We are delighted to be sponsoring an Extreme 40. The Extreme Sailing Series is seen as the pinnacle of exhilarating ‘stadium’ sailing and as we seek to deepen our involvement within sailing, taking on such an exciting sponsorship is perfect for our brand development within the sport. We are very excited about all of our sailing sponsorships coming together at the forthcoming inaugural Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week.”

The Aberdeen Asset Management Extreme 40 will be skippered by British Olympic 49er class contender John Pink. Pink is joined on the Extreme 40 with his regular 49er crew Rick Peacock. Pink said:

“I was proud to be asked to take the helm of Aberdeen’s first Extreme 40 entry, and to compete in the Extreme Sailing Series on behalf of the company in the first Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week. The Extreme 40s are incredibly exciting both to sail and to watch and I look forward to hopefully bringing home success for Aberdeen at Cowes. Getting involved with Extreme 40s is a wise move on Aberdeen’s part – the Extreme Sailing Series is established as one of the top events in the sport, now in its fifth season, and is a truly global tour attracting huge crowds and international media coverage”

Smart indeed.

The water off Egypt Point is going to be crowded. The nature of the Extreme Sailing Series means that fleet racing is tight and the chances of collision are high. In Boston, 11 Extreme 40s competed and with the addition of the Aberdeen Asset Management boat, that could climb to 12.

But… America’s Cup teams Emirates Team New Zealand and Artemis Racing have a calendar clash for Cowes. The first round of the America’s Cup World Series was scheduled head to head with the Cowes round of the Extreme Sailing Series which means that the two Cup teams have to make some decisions.

We understand that at least Emirates Team New Zealand will field a boat and team in Cowes. The team, which has a large pool of sailors to choose from across many campaigns has the depth to be able to compete in both series. Artemis certainly has the budget to do the same and if anything, the participation of Cup teams in the Extreme Sailing Series is a great piece of cross-promotion for the Portugal event.

More Extreme Sailing Series News.

Cowes Week means many things to many people. For some, it is a week of racing. For some it is a week of drinking. For others it is a few moments of Oooohs and Ahhhhhhs as the event finishes with a bang of fireworks.

In the good times, the fireworks were taken for granted. No-one really worried too much about who was paying for them. It was tradition. Fireworks were the end of the event, and people came from far and wide to enjoy the spectacle – some of whom have no interest whatsoever in sailing or Cowes Week.

In more recent years, without the support of a title sponsor, questions were rightly asked about who benefited most from the fireworks and who was paying for them. A totally unscientific straw poll of the beer tent in 2010 suggested that the vast majority of competitors at Cowes Week couldn’t care if they never saw fireworks again. The answers were even more vehement when the topic of entry fees supporting the funding of the fireworks was raised.

In 2011, the event has a new title sponsor. Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week will benefit from some corporate cash, however event organisers are looking for donations to help fund the fireworks.

For Aberdeen Asset Managemet, the sponsorship of Cowes Week is about international awareness and promoting to the individuals in their hospitality tent and owners of boats. In that sense, the sponsorship funds serve Aberdeen best by reducing entry fees and supporting the competitors rather than the greater Isle of Wight community.

The conflict between the funding of the fireworks and the beneficiaries of the fireworks is evident by reading the copy on the Cowes Week website:

For the last few years, the display has been part-funded by a very generous anonymous donor as well as by contributions from those businesses that benefit from the display and the individuals who enjoy it.

For 2011, we are fortunate to be working with Aberdeen Asset Management as the title sponsor of Cowes Week. Both Aberdeen and Cowes Week Limited will be making significant contributions towards this year’s fireworks display but organisers are once again looking to the community, as beneficiaries of the display, to play their part in securing the 2011 fireworks by making a financial contribution to the display.

If you are passionate about the fireworks, please play your part in securing the display.

But who is the biggest beneficiary? Perhaps not the residents of Cowes who get a ‘Free’ show, but rather – the commercial companies that transport people to and from Cowes on the evening, sellers of food and drink, anyone who has sold hospitality that includes the fireworks.

Who stands to lose the most if the fireworks were not to happen? Not Cowes Week – at least not in the short term. Those who are there to sail all day and party all night will still come. However there is a more lasting impact on the event if it is seen not to be able to afford the fireworks at the end of the event. How can the largest sailing event of its kind in the world not close the week with a bang?

More Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week News

Some product categories always seem to stay with sailing. Sailors are desirable consumers for companies selling financial services, cars (that can tow), clothing and apparel and even accounting software.

Spirits are also closely associated with sailing. Rum and Whiskey particularly seem to accompany many regattas around the world and sailing in some countries is one of the only sports that allows hard liquor to be a sponsor.

Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week have announced that long term sailing sponsor Mount Gay Rum will continue its relationship with the Isle of Wight based regatta in 2011. Mount Gay will be the ‘official Regatta Rum’ and the brand will activate its sponsorship through tastings and events.

Mount Gay Eclipse and the premium Extra Old variants will be sampled at a variety of events and functions throughout the Week and the sailor’s favourite tipple will also be available in bars, yachts clubs and venues throughout the town. With its official Regatta Rum status, Mount Gay will also be supporting a number of special events and functions including the largest and oldest fleet racing in the regatta, the XOD Class who are celebrating their centenary and Toe in the Water, the event’s official charity.

Alvin Saal, Brand Manager for Mount Gay Rum, comments:

“We are happy to be associated with one of the UK’s longest running and most successful sporting events as it is the ideal platform for us to promote the world’s oldest rum. Our connection with the sailing community has helped cement the brand’s position in the golden rum category and after a highly successful regatta as Supporting Sponsor last year, Mount Gay Rum’s status and popularity has increased even more.”

Sailing is one group of sports that provides sponsors with the opportunity to be highly targeted with their messaging. Yacht classes are almost a pre-forma segmentation of the marketplace with different demographics and communities cultures grouping together around specific events. Rather than trying to be everything to everybody, some classes keep their value high by being able to tell potential sponsors exactly who it is they get to market to, where and when instead of bluffing about a gross television audience in the billions who don’t really care.

Aberdeen Asset Management has augmented its title sponsorship deal with Cowes Week by announcing that it will also sponsor the X One Design (XOD) in its centenary year. The class attracts many supporters through being authentic and relevant.

The XOD class Sponsors will support the class throughout Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week and in return, the boats will get Aberdeen stickers and branding. The asset management company will also get some visibility on merchandise and in the XOD Centenary brochure and book.

Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer of Aberdeen Asset Management said:

“It was really a very straight forward decision for us to show our support to this historic and prestigious class; with our involvement in sailing increasing this year as a result of our Cowes Week sponsorship, we are happy to align our brand with the XOD fleet.

Aberdeen has a long-standing heritage in sailing having been first involved with Sam Davies in her first single-handed transatlantic race in 2001: we continue to be proud of our affiliation with the Dragon class which has been part of our sponsorship portfolio since 2006 and we are also title sponsor of the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival which takes place in Portsoy, Scotland annually.”

William Norris, XOD Class Captain, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to have Aberdeen Asset Management’s enthusiastic support as our title sponsor for this year’s centenary celebrations. It is an exciting time for the Class with well over 100 boats expected for the year’s main event, which is Cowes Week itself. Aberdeen’s sponsorship, in addition to that which we have received from seven other corporate and many individual supporters, is extremely welcome and will help to make Cowes Week a very special occasion for the Class”

More Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week News

America’s Cup World Series Goes Head to Head with Top Sailing Events.

In 2010, the America’s Cup revisited the Isle of Wight and Cowes. The 1851 Cup, held during Cowes Week, celebrated the origins of the trophy. Now (perhaps as part of the bid to distance the America’s Cup from its traditional base?) the America’s Cup will hold it’s first World Series event in Portugal on the same dates as the historic British regatta. The inaugural AC45 event also competes with a pre-olympic sailing regatta. It’s not all bad news for UK sailing fans though. Plymouth will host one of the 2011 events later in the year.

The first 2 rounds of the America’s Cup World Series event also clash with the Extreme Sailing Series, splitting the catamaran sailing fanbase apart and forcing some media make a choice of multi-hull events to cover.

It’s disappointing that a niche sport, with a limited fan-base, should cannibalise itself in such a way. Perhaps it’s arrogance on behalf of the America’s Cup Event Authority. Perhaps it is naivety. Perhaps it’s just good commercial sense or perhaps it’s deep rooted personal politics. Whatever the reason, the effect of running such events at the same time means that the sport doesn’t grow, but instead eats itself.

2011 America’s Cup World Series Calendar Dates

1. Cascais, Portugal, August 6 -14
2. Plymouth, England - September 10-18
3. San Diego, California - Dates TBD, to be set between mid Oct. and early Dec.

Richard Worth, Chairman, ACEA was quoted as saying:

“We have selected venues that reflect both the prestige of the America’s Cup, as well as can bring the action on the water to those on land. Similar to San Francisco, all of the inaugural AC World Series venues enable spectators to watch the racing live, which will help expose this great sport to more people worldwide.”

Plymouth Wins Right to Host America’s Cup World Series Event.

Plymouth has been steadily building a reputation for delivering great sailing events. Recent editions of the Transat have been praised by sailors, media and visitors and hosting such events had added substantial benefits to the local economy.

Councillor Vivien Pengelly, leader of Plymouth City Council, said:

“We are thrilled that Plymouth has been selected to be a host city for the America’s Cup World Series. Plymouth’s outstanding waterfront, its rich maritime heritage and its many attractions make it a perfect venue for this event. It will be a real opportunity for Plymouth to show off its assets to the world and it will support our ambitions to further develop our visitor and marine sectors. We look forward to welcoming the America’s Cup World Series teams and visitors from around the world to Plymouth in September.”

Plymouth has shown that it can generate local support for sailing events and is also a desirable place to visit for spectators who travel to watch sailing events and be part of the race village atmosphere.

ORACLE Racing’s Australian skipper said:

“It will be fantastic to race in the UK this year. Plymouth has great sailing history hosting the finish of the legendary Fastnet Race and the single-handed trans-Atlantic starts, so it will be cool to race the next-generation AC45s there. With 15 teams now entered, we can be assured of some epic racing on the AC World Series circuit.”

More America’s Cup News.