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

Hamilton Island Race Week must be wishing they had got some sponsorship from QANTAS for their latest PR stunt. The regatta is hosting some of the world’s best sailors, but also some valuable silverware.

The carbon footprint and airmiles of the America’s Cup has been added to, with a flight to Hamilton Island to sit beside the Admirals Cup. It is the first time ever, the two significant trophies from sport of sailing have been displayed together.

The America’s Cup flew to Australia from San Francisco in a first-class passenger seat (cost circa $2400 each way). It is only the third time that the Cup has been seen in Australia, so its presence at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is high recognition of the stature that this regatta now holds on the international sailing scene.

The Admiral’s Cup is currently defended by Australia and Sydney’s Royal Prince Albert Yacht Club after Bob Oatley’s yacht Wild Oats won it in 2003.

While we don’t know if the America’s Cup’s flights are sponsored, the luxury luggage (or box) is courtesy of long-term sponsor Louis Vuitton. Vice Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club Tom Ehman who travelled to Australia, with the Cup and two security officers said:

“The America’s Cup travels in a very large Louis Vuitton box which captures great attention at the airport.”

The America’s Cup visit to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week was organised by Iain Murray, the Commodore of Hamilton Island Yacht Club. Murray is also the CEO and Regatta Director for the next America’s Cup match, which will be staged in San Francisco in 2013. Murray’s direct association with the America’s Cup spans almost 30 years. In that time he has been credited with making significant contributions towards the development of the event, particularly through yacht design and development.

During Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Iain Murray and the Vice-Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, Tom Ehman, will be speaking at forums about the America’s Cup as an event.

While it remains to be seen how many of the America’s Cup teams competing in Cascais will have the funds to mount a challenge for the real America’s Cup in 72 foot catamarans, China Team has announced sponsorship support from a wide variety of partners.

There is no doubt that China has the depth of population and the commercial clout to fund a challenge and China Team might be the one that actually manages to attract the audience that theAmerica’s Cup Event Authority will change sailing forever through their demand for extreme, speed-obsessed racing.

Firefall, a team based action shooter game (very Facebook Generation) has been announced as the official partner for China Team for the Cascais World Series Event.

Firefall is described as the latest online gaming frenzy, created by Red5 Studios, Inc. The online game, is set in the year 2233 (much like the opening sequence of America’s Cup Uncovered), in a world where a cataclysm has occurred and teams of friends across the world join together and fight for the survival of humanity against the army of the Chosen and save the earth.

Red5 Studios CEO Mark Kern says:

“Congratulations to China Team to become the China challenger for the AC34. We are very proud to be the Official Partner for China Team for the Cascais World Series, and will actively follow the China Team successes over the next 2 years.”

Also joining China Team as partners will be Tony Studio and Mbaobao.

Tony Studio, established in 1999, is the leading brand of styling industry in China. Tony Studio provides individual and tailor-made styling services to deliver style and modern sophistication at the forefront of the fashion industry to their exclusive clientele, under the vision of fashion super star Tony Li.

CEO Tony Li says:

“Tony Studio is excited to sponsor China Team, as Tony Studio and China Team share many values, such as sophistication, exclusivity, and success. We believe that China Team is well positioned to bring success to China in this prestigious sailing event”.

Mbaobao is described as the leading B2C handbag company, and one of the top ten B2C online vendors in China. The company sells many brands, and is funded in part by Italian company Vosconti.

The centralized America’sCup.com website rules means that Louis Vuitton will sit side by side with BagsOK.com.

Mbaobao CEO Ye Haifeng says:

“Just as a few years ago, we never thought that we could become who we are today, growing tenfold in just 3 short years, our dream is coming true; we believe that China Team has a dream and we want to be a part of that dream coming true as well, as it is the pride of the whole of China, not just China Team”

Wang Chaoyong, Chairman of China Team says about the sponsorship strategy:

“One of the main goals of the 34th America’s Cup is to extend the reach of the America’s Cup to a whole new and younger generation audience. China Team is delivering on this goal in China by attracting many younger generation entrepreneurs as partners and sponsors who are excited about China’s potential in sailing, especially in such a prestigious event as the America’s Cup.”

“Unlike the traditional sponsors of the America’s Cup challengers, these new generation of companies can relate to the Chinese young sailors, training and getting ready to sail in the races around the world with China Team. Their reach among China’s younger generation is enormous, with millions of younger Chinese fans now getting to know China Team as well as the America’s Cup through these partners”.

More America’s Cup News

If you are going to have an event featuring big cats, you might as well get your sponsors’ iconography to match. The America’s Cup have announced that PUMA will be the Official Sportswear Partner for the next edition which includes the America’s Cup World Series.

It’s a good choice for the Cup, which is trying to reinvent itself to a new audience. PUMA showed during the last Volvo Ocean Race that they can teach the sailing world a lot about sports marketing and activation. If the America’s Cup really wants to appeal to a new demographic, then it is easier to see them walking in and buying a hoodie with the PUMA brand on it over a more technically based sailing clothing brand.

The deal with PUMA gives fans one reason to turn up the early America’s Cup World Series events rather than streaming it. PUMA will bring their expertise in merchandising to the events and operate the e-commerce element as well as ‘pop-up’ fan shops where merchandise will be available to fans exclusively in Cascais. (This is a positive spin on saying, the deal was done so late, we haven’t had time to build the online shop yet)

While PUMA will be kitting out the officials of the America’s Cup, the real stars – the athletes will be wearing other brands. It’s a typical kind of deal, and there will be some who will want to buy non-team related items, but it seems a little strange to want to wear the sailing clothing worn by the guys who do the marketing rather than the guys competing. Neverthless, as the official sportswear partner, PUMA will serve as the exclusive licensee of event-related sportswear for the America’s Cup Event Authority and America’s Cup Race Management teams, including their sailing performance gear.

It’s hard to think of another brand in the sailing clothing space that has the marketing muscle to help the America’s Cup achieve their vision. PUMA has wide appeal, not just in sport, but as a lifestyle brand. Moreover, they understand their consumers, which is something that the America’s Cup has not really demonstrated yet.

One of the guys who will be kitted out in PUMA is Craig Thompson – CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority. He said:

“The new America’s Cup represents a radical shift in the way people will connect with the sport of sailing. We’ve looked at every component of the event from the viewer’s eye so we can create customized experiences for audiences around the globe. We’re committed to providing the ultimate in performance sportswear for our fans, and in PUMA, we’ve found a partner who can deliver on that promise.”

Just as PUMA provided a wake up call to other brands when they took part in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, PUMA has more imagination and willingness to take risks than most other sailing apparel brands. Antonio Bertone, Chief Marketing Officer for PUMA said:

“PUMA’s approach to sailing has always been a little bit different. We’re the mavericks in the industry, intent on shaking up the sport with campaigns, products and partnerships that reach new audiences, dial up the ‘fun’ and push the boundaries of performance technology. America’s Cup embraces a similar philosophy and re-emerged as the hottest thing to happen to professional sailing in decades. We’re excited to come aboard as the official sportswear partner for the Cup.”

More America’s Cup 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.

Emirates Team New Zealand boss, Grant Dalton knows more than most about what’s really going on with the America’s Cup. In a wide-ranging interview with Sailing Anarchy, Dalton has put on the record several issues that have been bubbling away under the surface for a while. Remember that the America’s Cup is not your average boat race. Lawyers and back-room machinations are just as much a part of the process as on-the-water performance – something that newer teams may not be set up for.

Here are some of the issues covered in the 53 minute chat.

EmiratesTeamNZ.com will be redirected to AmericasCup.com?

The protocol governing the America’s Cup requires teams to redirect their URL to the official America’s Cup site. He says that the team were approached by a heavy hitting lawyer with a Dubai address which is why the team went down the route of trying to get some clarification of the rule.

With off the record support from all teams other than ORACLE Racing and Artemis Racing, Emirates Team NZ are looking to try and get the best deal for their sponsors who see online as a large part of the offer. Dalton refers to our article that highlights the improbability of Manchester United agreeing to redirect their website to that of UEFA.

For Dalton, the perfect solution would be a mirrored site. While ORACLE Racing say that all other teams have complied, the fact is that none of the other teams are really active and:

…have bigger problems than where to put their website. Like where they put the wing.

The solution for Emirates Team NZ will be to “live in social.” Dalton says:

In the end, we will give that away and supply it what it needs and live in social, because they are not controlling social. We’ll be on the site, but it will be pretty boring. Half the teams will be gone by the this time next year anyway. We will live in social to the detriment of the site because our sponsors need hight visibility.

The team also know that if the rules were applied to the letter, then they would have to comply, but the organisers have been willing to compromise on other issues.

They can beat us with a big stick over the protocol and they will win… If they roll us, and they can, then we just wont co-operate on anything, and we will just keep chucking grenades over the fence.

Sticking up for the Commercial Teams.

Despite America’s Cup organisers stating that they are trying to create a long term commercial success of the America’s Cup, Dalton believes that with the Defender and the Challenger of Record being funded out of private bank accounts, this will never happen. Emirates Team New Zealand just think differently.

As a (the) commercial team, we represent the commercial teams not the billionaire teams – we just think different. It is an impossible commercial model. The America’s Cup is in no shape or form at the moment a commercial model that is sustainable or even achieveable.

Dalton refers to a situation where organisers tried to take away the right to put the America’s Cup symbol on team merchandise. First they said it was allowed and then that right was taken away. Emirates Team NZ had minutes of the discussion and held their corner, but Dalton believes they are the only team that has the experience and the support to back themselves. This could be because the other teams are so indebted to the organisers for their existence so far. Dalton says:

The other teams are either too small or too timid to be able to fight these corners and we will continue to fight. Many of the teams will be too scared to write to them because they are scared for their own survival and I am sure that many of them haven’t paid for their AC45s in Cascais – if the reality is known.

America’s Cup World Series Vs Extreme Sailing Series.

The America’s Cup has set some big expectations, and they have set themselves against one of the most respected events and organisers in the industry. Dalton says:

Cascais is a pretty important event.The Extreme Series is a pretty good series. It costs a zillion times more to be in the Cup, and they have to get to that level yet. They have to be better, but frankly, they are going to have trouble getting to that level.

It’s fantastic to hear one of the sport’s leaders thinking about sailing as a whole and not just focussed on one little part of it. Grant Dalton knows that all entrepreneurial and commercial events should support each other and by doing so the whole will be increased. This trick has been completely missed by the America’s Cup. Emirates Team NZ have competed in the Extreme Sailing Series throughout 2011 and Dalton knows that relationships are as important as anything else. Emirates Team NZ will be at the Cowes round of the Extreme 40s depsite a (deliberate?) date clash with the America’s Cup World Series. Dalton says:

We are doing the Extreme 40. There are two reasons for that. One is that we want to support Mark (Turner), and as leader of the event it wouldn’t look good if the leader of the event pulled out. I hope that next year they can co-habitate because the Extremes 40 are great. We want to do both.

The America’s Cup World Series still haven’t provided a good reason why two of their events clash directly with the Extreme Sailing Series. While many in the business have speculated, Dalton has said it out loud:

(Ernesto) Bertarelli has money in the Extreme 40s now and I guess that hatred is still pretty strong.

The sport can work together on the calendar and even America’s Cup teams have worked to make sure that events didn’t work against each other:

But the TP52s do it well, the TP52 and the Farrs – we had guys on both and we never really had clashes. When we were putting the Louis Vuitton together, we made sure that we didn’t clash with the TP52s – and we didn’t want to hurt them.

On Different Approaches, Cultures and Budgets.

Emirates Team NZ, is a commercial team, and therefore they do things a little bit differently.

If you haven’t got any money issues, you could use AC45s for testing or a giant trimaran – Emirates Team NZ is instead using 33ft catamarans.

You couldn’t alter your 45, but now you can. Two more AC45s being built and we think they are for ORACLE for a test platform. 800,000 euros for a 45 and 2 33′s in the water for 2. You could spend 10 million dollars and stick it on a trimaran for testing like Artemis are doing. That’s way more useful. It’s a fallacy to think we have a lot of money.

There are about 4 people in the office in this place, then we have a lot of designers, but we are very careful how we spend money. There’s not a bunch of pixies that appear from santa’s sleigh and take the boats sailing when the other guys are not around – we’re a little team.

On Safety

The Extreme nature of the new America’s Cup means that there are things teams have to think about that they have never had to think about before. Dalton has had to completely change his approach to safety – and that’s just for the 45 foot version of the catamarans. When it is scaled up to 72 foot, then there is a high chance of serious injury.

I haven’t changed my opinion. I think it’s all very cool until someone gets seriously hurt. We have a medic on the water. We have two chase boats. There is no point having a diver, because once he has his regulator on – someone’s dead. You need a surf rescuer who can swim two lengths of a pool underwater, because I do believe they are dangerous.

That’s extreme, that’s cool and that’s neat, but it’s amazing how motorsport is not cool anymore when someone gets badly hurt. In San Francisco, the added element is cold-shock. And San Francisco is cold. The only thing we learnt when we tested cold-shock was that you would die.

Everything changes and you have to adapt. Maybe if its over 15 knots you need a chopper with a guy on the skids, ready to jump. Its a big issue and it hasn’t gone away, it’s just no-one has got badly hurt yet.

ACRM and Iain Murray are addressing it. Iain Murray is a really good bloke. That side of the organisation is great. ACEA is ineffective and we don’t even know what they do. When I think ACRM i think Mark (Turner) and when I think ACEA I can’t think of anybody.

Watch the Full Interview

With just weeks until the first America’s Cup World Series event in Cascais, the people responsible for somehow recouping the costs of the revolutionary approach to television via commercial partnerships are announcing more deals. Like other deals done to date, the collaboration with Garmin Ltd seems to be an ‘in-kind’ arrangement.

Garmin will be the “exclusive official supplier of marine navigation, marine communication, and marine sensor equipment” to the 34th America’s Cup.

And having released the Course Marshal instructions and racetrack for the World Series events, the organisers will need all the toys they can get to monitor the racing environment. In addition to official boats being kitted out with the best Garmin kit, the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) has worked with Garmin to develop tools to to manage boats that act as race marks, umpire boats, media boats and the superyacht grandstands.

Engelhard Sundoro, Garmin’s Director of Marine OEM Sales and Marketing said:

“We’re honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with the America’s Cup competition, bringing Garmin’s reputation for quality, commitment, performance and world-class support to the sailboat racing community.There’s no larger stage in sailing than America’s Cup, and Garmin gets to illustrate our ability to deliver customized systems to the marine industry while showcasing our technology to the best crews and fans in the world.”

Stan Honey, ACEA, Director of Technology said:

“As we work to transform the America’s Cup and broaden its appeal globally, we are making a significant investment in technology to make the event more competitive on the water and more compelling off (the water). Our partnership with Garmin has resulted in a set of tools that empowers our race management team to create world-class courses that will start and stop on time, something that has not been easy to achieve in a sport dependent upon the wind.”

Last week, the America’s Cup Event Authority announced a deal with Fraser Yachts to be an official partner of the Superyacht program, however the official America’s Cup website only lists Louis Vuitton and Hanson Bridgett LLP as partners.

More America’s Cup News

The America’s Cup is known throughout the world as the sport of billionaires and captains of industry. For 150 years, the people who have contested the cup have been those with enough disposable income to pursue the trophy as a hobby rather than a commercial enterprise. The goal for the future of the America’s Cup is to try and build teams that are sporting franchises, but that’s won’t happen overnight and it won’t happen while fundamental pieces of the commercial puzzle – like television deals – are not in place.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual for the America’s Cup. Despite a half-hearted attempt to woo a new audience through things like social media, the bread-and-butter of the event for the foreseeable future, will be the ‘superyacht-set’.

The clash between the stated aims and brand positioning of the new America’s Cup and the reality has been strengthened by a deal between the organisers and Fraser Yachts. Members of the Facebook generation with the cash to charter a superyacht to watch the action will benefit from the partnership.

Officially, Fraser Yachts, which is part of the Azimut Benetti Group, will be one of the operational partners for the 34th America’s Cup superyacht program. Patrick Coote, Marketing Director of Fraser Yachts, got on the right page of the PR script and made sure the obligatory reference was made to F1 when he said:

“We are really excited about our partnership with the America’s Cup and the opportunity for the superyacht community to truly engage in this world-renowned sporting event. The new course format is completely different to any previous America’s Cup, allowing superyachts to be a part of the racing action. This is America’s Cup meets Formula 1.”

Niccolò Porzio di Camporotondo, the America’s Cup Event Authority Superyacht Director, might be one of the only people on the ACEA team who actually understands the real audience of the America’s Cup. Rather than present the event as a new, mass-market, extreme sport, he is happy with the long term relationship between the luxury end of town and the event. He said:

“The 34th America’s Cup offers boat owners and charterers unprecedented on-and-off the water access to the America’s Cup. We are honoring the historical ties between the America’s Cup and luxury yachting, while providing the greatest access to the racing action that the Cup has ever seen. We have partnered with Fraser Yachts because they have experience and expertise necessary to deliver a truly amazing experience for superyacht owners, charterers, captains and crew with the 34th America’s Cup.”

More America’s Cup News

It’s not the America’s Cup without some luxury timepiece sponsorship. While no official timekeeping partner has been announced at a series level yet, the French challenger, ENERGY TEAM has announced CORUM as its first official partner.

Like many watch brands, CORUM has a long history supporting sailing. Traditionally, the demographic of the America’s Cup used to line up nicely with the market for upmarket timepieces. Despite a campaign to make the event appealing to a new audience, one expects a large part of the fanbase for teams like ENERGY to be those who are fans of Loick Peyron, a long-time CORUM ambassador.

Antonio Calce, CEO of Corum comments:

“This major project is a further step in our strategy that I announced and launched several years back. Taking part in the America’s Cup is the dream of every sailor and for that reason matches the aspirations of a brand like Corum, which since 1960 has been a key player in the sector. The close relationship based on trust that has developed between Corum and the Peyron brothers has enabled this dream to come true.”

Bruno Peyron added:

“It is with immense pleasure that our team welcomes Corum on board as the official partner of Energy Team. It takes courage to be the first, as there are on the one hand doubters and then on the other those, who are determined to make their own destiny. Antonio Calce is one of the latter and the atmosphere of mutual trust that we are building together is probably down to what we already have in common: a great desire to see things through. The support of Corum is vital and this commitment will act as a catalyst to attract other major partners and allow us to get going in building our first AC 72.”

And while we wait to see how the new America’s Cup World Series in Cascais and Plymouth will change sailing forever, ENERGY TEAM have their minds on the long term game. For Bruno Peyron, the speed trials off Estoril beach mean nothing when it comes to beating ORACLE Racing in an AC72 in San Francisco.

The America’s Cup World Series is compulsory for teams challenging for the 34th America’s Cup and provides good training on a scale model of the boats that will eventually compete, but reading Bruno’s answers to interview questions about the ACWS, you can tell his mind is elsewhere – a Multiplast yard in Brittany to be precise.

When asked what objectives have been set prior to the start of the ACWS events, Bruno Peyron responded:

The sporting objective isn’t really a priority in this first test. The important thing was to be there and we’re there! The objective is not to be too far behind the top 3 teams, who have been training for months, so as we can be in a position to be a serious threat to them between now and midway through the season. It would be a big mistake to be overly confident. Of course finishing at the top of the Challengers’ leaderboard would be the best possible outcome.

CORUM is the first of the team’s partners that will enable the team to focus on the real goal. Peyron said:

We’ll reveal the first partners as soon as the boat’s launched this week. The construction of the global economic operation is continuing and we hope to be in a position to balance the budget in the next 3 months so as we can get going with our first AC 72 before the end of the year at the Multiplast yard in Vannes, SW Brittany. Everything is now in place to move up a gear in September.

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