But first, an ad for Sailing Sponsorship and Sports Marketing

Behind yachtsponsorship.com is a sports marketing agency – Pilote Media.

Pilote has a unique perspective on the yacht racing and sailing market. Since 2008, the company has provided comment and insight into some of the best (and worst) practices in the industry. Many companies and brands have adopted best practice, but a lot haven’t.

You might have noticed that this site looks a bit different. There’s a reason for that. This site ranks on top of Google and Bing for a huge number of valuable sailing and marine search terms. From America’s Cup sponsorship to Dinghy Insurance.

Rather than close it down, we are using it to promote the digital sponsorship activation and digital marketing services offered by Pilote Media. If you want the latest yacht racing and sailing business news – head on over to yachtracing.biz.

Top Yachting Business Stories of the past 7 days

1. Etihad Announce Sponsorship of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Stopover.

2. How do you build a career in Yacht Racing?

3. Oman Sail Launch Women’s Sailing Initiative

4. New Facebook Metric measures community engagement

5. Volvo Ocean Race Village Opens in Alicante

Dont’ miss out on the latest Yacht Racing and sailing business stories as they happen. Sign up for the Yacht Racing Business Email.

If you are reading this, then it’s because you haven’t updated your subscriptions with us.  Yachtsponsorship.com has been relaunched at www.yachtracing.biz – the content is the same, just the name has changed.

If you follow us on Twitter, or Like us on Facebook, you might have caught the top 5 yacht racing business stories last week, but if you haven’t changed over your email subscription or RSS feed, then here are some of the sailing sponsorship and business articles you missed.

There is a New Leader on our Top 30 Yacht Racing Brands on Facebook Chart.

The Volvo Ocean Race has been overtaken by … well you will just have to click to find out. Oman Sail continued to grow strongly and the America’s Cup World Series in Plymouth contributed some new activity on Facebook, but not as much as you might expect. More…

MarinePool Become Official Clothing Partner of Oman Sail.

The brand, which is the exclusive clothing partner of the Extreme Sailing Series will supply Oman Sail competitors and officials with gear. More…

Volvo Ocean Race Online Game Previewed

The new Volvo Ocean Race Game will allow players to play on multiple platforms including Facebook, iPhone and Android. More…

Krys Match Opener for MOD70 Also announces Calendar

The Multi-One Design 70 boats will have a demo race this week, it is part of preparations for the new MOD70 Calendar which has been announced. More…

To keep up to date with the latest Sailing and Yacht Racing business stories from around the world, visit www.yachtracing.biz

TAGS: AMERICAS CUP, EMIRATES TEAM NZ, FACEBOOK, JIMMY SPITHILL, OMAN SAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA, VOLVO OCEAN RACE

TAGS: AMERICAS CUP, BUSINESS MODEL, CHINA, CHINA TEAM, ENTREPRENEUR, ROI, TEAM CHINA, WANG CHAOYONG

TAGS: FONCIA, FRANCK DAVID, IMOCA, MICHEL DESJOYEAUX, MOD70, OFFSHORE, ONE DESIGN, OPEN 60

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

There are some statistics that might be flawed, but nevertheless when applied across time in a consistent manner, provide valuable insights. While the number of Facebook likes a particular brand or athlete has is not a rigorous test of popularity or marketing success, it provides a good proxy for who is managing to engage what one might call – the Facebook generation.

There has been no change in the top 10 yacht racing brands for whom we monitor Facebook likes. Average monthly growth for the properties monitored was 6.02%. The fastest growing property in percentage terms was once again Oman Sail (18.57%).

With 100 days to go, the Volvo Ocean Race continues to grow its Facebook fanbase at about 4% per month. With about 7 days until the first America’s Cup World Series event, the America’s Cup is growing at 11% a month, but off a low base. The real numbers are more interesting than the percentages.

In January, the Volvo Ocean Race had 35,187 likes. The America’s Cup had 3,521. The Cup has a stated aim to make Facebook a fundamental piece of the communications platform for the new format and have invested heavily in marketing and communications for a specific audience. However since January, the Volvo Ocean Race has acquired 9,832 new likes, while the America’s Cup has managed just 6,901. In the same period, Alex Thomson Racing, which also has a stated preference for developing social media, acquired 9,767 likes.

Last week, Grant Dalton said that Emirates Team New Zealand would “live in social”, as a result of the America’s Cup protocol forcing the team to redirect their URL to the official page. The team has partnered with DELL to get their heads around Facebook and Twitter. Last month, the team’s Facebook likes grew at 12% to 2,903, but there is a long way to go to rival ORACLE Racing’s 15,329. In fact, Emirates Team NZ still have to overtake Alinghi and Mascalzone Latino yet.

If the future of the America’s Cup is the Facebook Generation, then marketing people need to get a lot better at talking to them. If the America’s Cup is the F1 of sailing, then Teams like ORACLE need to find another 340,000 or so likes to rival a team like McLaren.

Elsewhere in sailing, smaller events show how different strategies for Social Media are working out with that audience. In April, the Audi Med Cup had 1,681 likes. The World Match Racing Tour had 2,389. At the end of July, the Audi Med Cup has passed the World Match Racing Tour and now has 3,398 likes versus the WMRT with 3,247. The Audi Med Cup grew at 16.13% in July while the World Match Racing Tour grew at 9.47%. Again – the World Match Racing Tour has a stated aim of making Social Media a large part of their communications platform, while the Audi Med Cup is growing more organically.

The phrase – lies, damn lies and statistics should be kept in mind when reading these things. Of course there are other factors and at the end of the day, Facebook is only one media platform. However, all things being equal, it does provide a baseline measure to compare how different marketing folks are performing.

So with months still to run until the Volvo Ocean Race, their fans like what they see. Oman Sail is showing that having strong national ties is also a good way to get people to like you andAlex Thomson Racing has shown that if you actually employ people who know what they are doing, you can get great results.

See the top 30 Yacht Racing brands on Facebook.

The Yachtsponsorship.com Facebook league table of yacht racing and sporting sailing brands has been updated and the Volvo Ocean Race continues to dominate the top of the table with 43,332 Fans/likes. However the fastest growing property that we monitor is Oman Sail which grew by 40.9% to 9,127 fans during June.

Social media can be a powerful tool to engage fans and help deliver sponsors increased value, however maintaining a fanbase requires constant updates of content. Maintaining a fanbase during dips in the news cycle is one of the biggest challenges to properties who have long gaps between activity. The Barcelona World Race Game, which is now over, lost 20% of it’s Facebook following in June, but the surprise perhaps is that it wasn’t more. Once fans opt-in, you have to do something pretty awful for them to then ‘unlike’ you.

The Official America’s Cup page continues to grow, but with just 35 days until the start of the first America’s Cup World Series event in Cascais, 9,315 fans is not going to impress many TV execs. The Top 10 brands in terms of monthly growth are…

We’ve started to monitor some of the teams that will take part in the next Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing currently have 458 fans, while Team Sanya have opened their account with 283*.

And just as a little reminder for some perspective. Last week, Puma Ocean Racing announced a deal with all round waterman Laird Hamilton. Laird is by no means a household name, but within the worlds of big wave surfing and stand-up paddle boarding, he has 41, 824 fans on Facebook. Some use the fact that sailing is a niche sport to justify the low numbers, but plenty of other niche sports do a much better job.

See the Top 30 Sailing Brands on Facebook here.

*Yes – we know that there are issues around using Facebook numbers in association with China, but there is a large Chinese diaspora outside of the country who do have access to Facebook!

When we first put together our Facebook Chart, we were contacted to take a look at Esimit Europa. The yacht racing project has about 4,600 ‘likes’ on Facebook, and this week, the team announced the team that would compete on the yacht in 2011 under the slogan – ‘All Europeans together on the same boat.’

The Esimit Europa project began in  1995, as an idea to use sailing as a symbol of unity and cooperation between two border cities of Nova Gorica (Slovenia) and Gorizia (Italy). The Esimit Europa yacht is the only boat in the world to sail under the European flag, and the project has some powerful political allies including the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso.

The projects shows that sailing as a platform can be used for all kinds of ends. Not just selling products, or entertaining clients, but being a symbol to bring people together around and a catalyst for building long term growth and awareness of programs such as the European Energy online movement.

Esimit Europa enjoys the support of both the worlds of diplomacy and business. The platform is aimed at enabling dialogue about crucial issues for the development of European societies.

Sponsors of the project include Gazprom and Medot Sparkling Wine.

Now, some of Europe’s best sailors have been announced as crew for the 2011 season. The crew was introduced at an event in Monaco attended by Prince Albert of Monaco Albert II and other VIPs.

HSH the Prince of Monaco said in a key-note speech:

“Sailing is a unique and noble sport; it promotes a strong and united team, encouraging dialogue between crew members. As President of the Yacht Club de Monaco I am proud that our members defend these core values of solidarity, friendship and cooperation. Today, on this special occasion of the launch of Esimit Europa 2, I wish the owner and his crew every success in realising their future goals and to them representing a united and successful Europe at the largest regattas all over the world.”

The project has announced further challenges for the future, in sports as well as in the field of diplomacy. Igor Simčič, the project founder and owner of the Esimit Europa 2 yacht, announced:

“Going beyond Europe is among our long-term plans. For the moment, we will focus on doing our best to improve our results even further in Europe’s most important regattas. Furthermore, our efforts to foster collaboration among European peoples in ways other than sports continue.”

The crew features names from the America’s Cup and top level offshore racing.

Jochen Schümann said:

“Sailing has always united peoples and continents. We are Germans, Slovenians, Italians, French, Spanish or whatever, but everyone is driving the same boat, the same Europe, and we are driving the continent together in this global development.”

Sidney Gavignet, who is no stranger to long term sailing  projects involving governments, communities and long term goals, being involved with Oman Sail said:

“Sailing, to me, equals to sharing: each time you sail, you share something with those you are working with and with those who are watching you. Thus, for me it is very important to be on a boat that does not only sail for victories, but also carries a greater message.”

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