Emirates Team NZ Announce Gill as Official Technical Clothing Partner.

Following the collapse of New Zealand based marine clothing supplier Line7 last year, several high profile teams have been in the market for a new official clothing sponsor, including Emirates Team New Zealand.

The NZ America’s Cup challenger has announced that the new official technical clothing supplier will be Gill. The word technical suggests that the door has been left open for a more fashion oriented brand to supply the team with off-the-water kit.

Gill, which is currently supporting the UK tri-services project; exercise Transglobe, will be supplying a range of if its technical product for both the prestigious Louis Vuitton Trophy events during 2010, and the TP52 taking part in this seasons Audi Medcup.

Emirates Team New Zealand Managing Director Grant Dalton said he is pleased to welcome Gill to the team.

“The partnership brings together Emirates Team New Zealand and Gill, an acknowledged world leader in research, development, design and production of high-performance technical sailing clothing. Gill is a brand the team is proud to wear.”

Founder and Chairman of Gill, Nick Gill commented

“we have been developing high performance technical clothing for exactly these environments and this partnership offers a great opportunity to have the gear on the water with a fabulous team which are at the absolute pinnacle of performance sailing. Our new Race Collection for example has been developed specifically for this area of the sport. In elite events such as these it is the details that make the difference between winning and losing. Our high performance garments will be exposed to the race environment which they were designed for, we trust that they will excel and hope that they may even make the difference that turns a 2nd into a 1st.”

Sponsorship Value – The Commerical case for a DOG Match.

Our thinking has been all wrong. Ever since the New York Court of Appeals brought down their verdict in favour of the Golden Gate Yacht Club and BMW ORACLE, we have taken the position that the best thing that the new Challenger of Record and the Defender could do, would be to dispense with a Deed of Gift Match and opt for a multichallenger event.

This was obviously a view taken from the point of view of a non-American fan, or the Commercial Director of a team like Emirates Team New Zealand or TEAMORIGIN. Our argument was that a multichallenger event may stop these teams from disspearing altogether, putting more pressure on an already depressed industry.

But why should businessmen Larry Ellison and Ernesto Betarelli care about other team’s sponsors? This is a great sponsorship opportunity for their commercial partners. If I was the Marketing Director of BMW, a DOG match with only one other opponent guarantees more share of media coverage. Instead of being 1 of 20 potential sponsors, I am one of two. 50% of the coverage of a DOG match is about my brand.

Here is an opportunity for any media that still care about the America’s Cup to write about a handful of commercial partners for 10 months, without having to devote column inches, airtime or web-pages to other team’s sponsors and distractions.

It’s something we really should have thought about earlier, but I guess we were in a more ‘winning by sharing’ frame of mind. Given some of the statements from series like the iShares Cup and sponsors of the Vendee Globe, we really should have taken a step into the shoes of Alinghi and BMW ORACLE earlier.

Mark Turner, CEO of OC Group, has said that the iShares Cup should have a maximum number of boats per series. This is because on the one hand, eXtreme 40 catamarans at close quarters could get messy, but it also guarantees sponsors a certain share of the coverage. The Vendee Globe has also used the same argument – 30 boats is the maximum that can be accommodated on the docks at the start, but also being 1 out of 30 sponsors means your campaign gets lost in the noise of brands.

Even Louis Vuitton could sign up to that. How exclusive can you get? No dog food or pizza sponsors, no riff-raff, just an American billionaire versus a European billionaire – just like the good old days.

So, providing BMW ORACLE and Alinghi keep some high profile Kiwis and Aussies to guarantee a little bit of interest from fans in the southern hemisphere, and choose a venue in Europe to keep a couple of casual fans interested in that part of the world – the DOG match could be a sponsor’s dream and deliver real return on investment for a lucky few.

Scott Mcleod – Chairman of Force10 Marketing says different : Click to read what he has to say.

Alinghi’s No Show Shuns Sailing Fans Worldwide.

A few years ago, the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), ran with the slogan ‘For the Fans’. It wasn’t just a glib marketing line, it was a mission statement that was considered by officials, teams and media when making decisions. The principle lead to some innovative schemes to bring the sport and the fans closer together. I will never forget long time Le Mans Radio announcer John Hinghaugh saying over the public address system at the Sebring international raceway – “fans are invited to come down to the main straight, onto the grid” – minutes before the race started. You didn’t need a special ticket, anyone could walk the grid, be up close to the cars or have their picture taken on the start line.

It wasn’t just fans at the track that were thought about. ALMS offered live web radio streaming, live timing and scoring worldwide and were the first American motorsport series to offer real-time SMS text message updates. The theory behind the text messages was that some fans couldn’t be in front of their tv or computer for the whole 12 hours of an endurance race, so if they were in the hardware store or shopping for groceries, they could still stay in touch.

Contrast this mentality with events in Auckland over the last couple of days where the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series has been designed to showcase America’s Cup style sailing, a luxury goods manufacturer and the country of New Zealand. Alinghi, defender of the America’s Cup, took a ‘competitive’ decision not to compete against hosts Emirates Team New Zealand.

Alinghi’s official statement read:

With a competitive elimination round coming up in the next few days Alinghi had everything to lose and nothing to gain in racing the home team Emirates Team New Zealand.

Alinghi’s US skipper Ed Baird was left to defend the decision saying:

‘We are loving this regatta, the racing has been great and the summer conditions have been fantastic . . . Normally we would jump at the chance to sail against Team New Zealand as we have so many times in the past, so we are sorry to have to make this strategic choice.’

Alinghi’s behaviour, though technically legal, shows that sailing has a lot to learn about being a spectator sport. It is unthinkable that a professional sports team like Manchester United or The New York Yankees would refuse to play a game against a rival based on the argument that ‘they had nothing to gain.’ This is partly because they play in stadiums, where fans buy tickets to watch the game – fans are quantifiable, they are promised a show and promoters have a duty to provide the advertised entertainment. These professional teams also have a duty to sponsors and television schedules. What do they have to gain by playing a dead rubber? more exposure, more glory, more money.

We asked Alinghi if they had any comment to make to fans who might have travelled to New Zealand to watch racing, or other fans who follow the racing around the world? We asked if fans were considered when making the decision not to race?

The response rehashed the statement of the day before.

Sailing is a big deal in Auckland, so naturally there was a sense that Alinghi was at the very least being unsportsmanlike. Bob Fisher wrote:

This was hardly a gentlemanly action by the holders of the America’s Cup to deny the Kiwis the opportunity to race against them for the first time since they met in July 2007. It had been hailed as the Match of the Day by the local press and broadcasters and one that the spectators were ready to appreciate.

After all there were Auckland citizens who through financial reasons were denied the opportunity to cheer their team in Valencia and who were gathering on North Head for this match. Their disappointment was immense and calls were made to those close to the event complaining about the behaviour of the Swiss team, whose skipper would have known the full effect of the decision not to race.

Emirates Team New Zealand Skipper Dean Barker went further:

I was disgusted. The racing has been close, competitors are enjoying themselves and the public are being treated to some great sailing. Why would they introduce a niggle into a very successful regatta? It’s all about the spirit of the event. It’s all about doing what right for yachting. Their action was insulting and disrespectful to our team and to the New Zealand people. We were really wanted to race them today, the first time since July 2007. We don’t know what their agenda is. If they were taking a swipe at us they missed the target and whacked the thousands of New Zealand yachting fans who are following the action in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and wanted to see two great teams go head to head. It inexplicable when the team pulls a stunt like this. It’s just bad sportsmanship.”

It’s hard to see how Alinghi’s actions cannot be seen as bringing the sport of sailing into disrepute. In a time when people are trying to raise sponsorship and awareness of yacht racing, actions like this give potential supporters an excuse not to participate. If one of the most visible teams can decide not to compete, how can we convince sponsors, media and fans that they should comit time and money to watching?

Even the most self-centered sports realise that without fans they will die. Formula One teams have traditionally not thought about grass-roots fans. I have spoken to commercial directors of F1 teams who have said “spending money on developing merchandise and websites doesn’t make the car go any faster”. But as racing became procession like, with limited if any overtaking, fans started to stop watching. Without viewers, sponsor returns fell and the teams suddenly realised that the fans were important. In recent years, F1 took the unprecedented action of surveying fans to ask what they would change about the sport. F1 in 2009 will be different – in no small part due to the fact that the sport listened to the fans.

In recent years, professsional sailing has relied on the support and sponsorship of destinations using the sport to promote tourism. Yesterday on tis site, google ads were appearing for spectator cruises tied to Auckland travel packages. Perhaps the organisers of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series thought that no team would ever take the action Alinghi did, that it was just not the done thing. If yacht racing wants to continue to receive money from cities and national tourist boards, organisers need to punish teams that make decisions that affect the advertised entertainment.

The American Le Mans Series now use the slogan ‘World Class’. It’s too late for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, but perhaps savvy sailing promoters should adopt the mantra ‘For the Fans’.

Follow me on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/dmfreedom

Americas Cup Teams Start Competing – in Boats!

• Pataugas K-Challenge beat China team
• Emirates Team New Zealand beat Damiani Italia Challenge
• Team Origin beat Luna Rossa
• Alinghi beat Greek Challenge (who were awarded a score of -1 following a collision)

http://www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com/

Auckland Buzzing with Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Days Away

Just two days out from the Pacific Series the village is almost ready. The pools have been announced with BMW ORACLE and Emirates Team New Zealand being pitted against each other in the heats.

Pool A

• Team New Zealand 
• BMW Oracle Racing 
• K-Challenge 
• Damiani Italia 
• China Team

Pool B

• Alinghi 
• Greek Challenge 
• Team Origin 
• Team Shosholoza 
• Luna Rossa 

While some teams have had a lot of experience in these boats, others have had only a few days.

Gavin Brady, once helmsman of BMW ORACLE now helmsmen of Greek Challenge, pointed out that they had 5 years at the American team in order to get ready for the America’s Cup while the Greek team has only 5 days. Despite the fact there are more medalists on the Greek team than BMW Oracle, the learning curve is extremely steep.

Even Ben Ainslie, helmsman for Team Origin, has to take things slowly. The former second helmsman of Emirates Team NZ might know the boats and his kiwi opponents inside out, he will have to tame his aggressive sailing in order not to ruin the event by crashing the yachts on the first day

The battle of the world’s three sailing heavyweights – Barker, Coutts and Alinghi’s Brad Butterworth – is being dubbed the friendly game by Team New Zealand in an attempt to move on from the off water feuds over the next America’s Cup.

“There was a moment on the first day of sailing,” says Team New Zealand’s Managing Director Grant Dalton. “We were sailing against Russell and it was just cool to be out on the water again with these boats and things and thinking why, why did it need to get to this.”

But Grant Dalton knows that is not the only relationship that has suffered.

“It re-engages the public with this team and the sport because there is absolutely no doubt that it’s damaged,”

explains Dalton.

Next Page »