Emirates Rewarded for Sailing Sponsorships with Dubai Round of the LVT

Back in December when the Louis Vuitton Trophy announced their calendar, an embargo was attached to the venue of the Middle East venue that would be used. Now it has been announced that the November event will happen in Dubai.

The event will be held at Mina Seyahi, the home of Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) next to the Palm Jumeirah and will receieve substantial sponsorship from Team New Zealand sponsor Emirates Airlines. The airline revealed to the National today that its annual budget for sponsorship and events is around Dh600 Million and the hosting of the World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA) created by Team New Zealand could be seen as payback for support over the last few years. The National reports that Yves Carcelle, the chairman of chief executive of Louis Vuitton commented,

“It is clear that Dubai deserves an event of this category, given the support that the emirate has put behind sailing in the last few years.”

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman DIMC, and Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, said:

“This is a real coup for Dubai. We are honoured to be part of this fantastic event which has rapidly emerged as a renowned spectacle of sport followed by millions around the world. As well as thrilling spectators both here and on TV, it will consolidate Dubai’s status as a venue capable of hosting major international sporting events.

“We are also looking forward to welcoming our very own Emirates Team New Zealand back to these shores and, having won the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in Auckland last year, confidence will be high coming into this event. Emirates has a great affinity with sailing and it is exciting to be strengthening our commitment to the sport further by supporting a race which will bring the world’s finest sailors to Dubai.”

The event is yet another example of sailing being used as the platform for a major event with the purpose of generating tourism money, but this is branded entertainment and Dubai is an important market for luxury goods brand Louis Vuitton.

Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, said:

“Louis Vuitton has been present in Dubai for more than 10 years. In 2010, we are thrilled to maintain this relationship through a great sailing event, while reinforcing the age-long Dubai tradition for regattas.”

The area is also looking to create a sailing legacy. The announcement of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Dubai, sits alongside other projects in the region including Oman Sail and Sail Bahrain with Team Pindar.

Saeed Harib, President of the UAE Marine Sports Federation and CEO of DIMC, which will host the race, is delighted to be helping the growth of the sport in the region.

“Dubai was host to the Emirates Team New Zealand Pro Am Series in 2006 and Alinghi and Victory Challenge boats during the winter of 2007. With the Louis Vuitton Trophy, DIMC and our partners Emirates Airline are continuing that relationship and in doing so creating a new platform for the development of modern sailing in the region.”

Dalton Looks Outside of NZ for Sponsorship.

New Zealand has always ‘punched above its weight’ when it comes to sailing. Considering that the country only has 4 million people, the success of NZ in sailing is remarkable. While the main game is still Rugby, sailing has a special place in the sporting life of New Zealand.

But having such a small domestic market makes things tough if you want to compete on the world stage – especially in a sport as expensive as sailing. Grant Dalton, head of Emirates Team New Zealand then needs to look outside of NZ to find sponsorship budgets for the team’s upcoming projects.

The lack of certainty about financial backing makes it hard to plan campaigns. It seems that the money will determine if the team go racing in the Volvo Ocean Race or the Audi Med Cup, not the team.

In an artilce in the New Zealand Herald over the weekend, Dalton said that whether or not the team would consider the Volvo Race would depend on money.

He is quoted as saying:

“Money first, money second, and money third. If it was to happen, we would have to have two groups. Emirates Team New Zealand would continue its focus as an America’s Cup team but that doesn’t preclude us from being involved in the Volvo.”

However, time is short – it is understood a New Zealand entry and a boat have to be confirmed by December 18 – hence Dalton’s shopping trip overseas looking for sponsors and backers.

However, even if the Volvo bid doesn’t come off, the Louis Vuitton offers an exciting future, as does Emirates Team NZ’s continued involvement in the Med Cup and the TP52 yachts.

“I don’t think any of us quite realised how valuable the Med Cup would be,” said Dalton. “It helped develop the team and combinations and raised our profile and that of our sponsors, particularly in Europe.”

The full article can be read here…

Sponsorship and Talent Don’t Always Go Together.

Torvar Mirsky and his Mirsky Racing Team (MRT) reached their second consecutive final in the World Match Racing Tour yesterday and as a result went to the top of the World Championship points table. That this young team from Western Australia has achieved the top spot is not surprising, what is worth noting is that the team has no sponsorship.

MRT are not the only talented sailing team to find it hard to attract corporate backing. Even well established national teams at the very top of the sport are finding that 12 months on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and a sharp econoic downturn, sport sponsorship is still a tough sell.

Grant Dalton, head of the NZ team competing in the Med Cup and planning to race in the newly announced Louis Vuitton Series said last week that long time sponsor Emirates have not made a decision to keep backing the team:

We have a very close relation with them (Emirates) and they have been fully briefed but in the last 2 years it has been very hard to hold discussions and the only thing we could say was “possibly, maybe, might do, could do”. Their reactions was always, “hold on, we sponsor all those football teams and we know the ball will be kicked on Saturday afternoon”. That’s why I waited until today. I can now go and see them and tell them “it’s happening, here is the race format, here are the dates and here is the price”.

Unlike the proposed Louis Vuitton Series, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is an established world championship with ISAF accreditation visiting a combination of established and developing markets. The winner of the WMRT becomes the official Match Racing World Champion, but despite producing the helmsmen that go on to win America’s Cups, the tour’s athletes don’t attract the backing of corporate sponsors to the extent that they should.

Often, there is not a direct relationship between sponsorship and talent. Corporate marketing departments obviously want to be associated with winners, but there are other considerations. UK companies may find a better fit with UK competitors – allowing them to tap into fans who lend nationalistic support. Brands also want athletes that ‘fit’ well with the image of the product or service they are looking to sell or the audience they are trying to reach. Last week Dee Caffari annouced on her Blog and Twitter feed that Aviva would not renew it’s long term support for her sailing. The insurance company has embarked on a completely different approach to its marketing – spending a reported £80 million rebranding including celebrity endorsements from people like Elle McPherson, Bruce Willis and Macaulay Culkin.

On the face of it, athletes like Torvar Mirsky, Dee Caffari and the NZ America’s Cup Team, all at the top of their game with proven track records should be able to find companies that would benefit from using sailing as a promotional platform, but the global economic situation is still making marketing departments wary. The other way of looking at it, is that these properties represent fantastic value for money.

Torvar Mirsky and MRT will be competing in the final two races of the World Match Racing Tour in Bermuda and Malaysia over the coming months.

Disclaimer: Pilote Media, the publishers of YACHTSPONSORSHIP.COM also run MRT’s website http://www.miskyracingteam.net and advise the team on matters relating to sponsorship.

Emirates Add RC44 To Their Sailing Sponsorships.

Emirates Airlines are a big believer in sports sponsorship. Their relationship with premier league football and other high profile events has helped them raise the profile of the airline around the world. Each region has it’s own favourite sports and in the Middle East, the sport of power-boating has always been popular amongst those who can afford the fuel.

Emirates might have started their sport sponsorship journey 22 years ago off the coast of Dubai with a powerboat race organised by the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC), but today, sailing is also part of the Emirates water-sport portfolio.

Emirates announced on Monday that it has returned to the waves; partnering DIMC’s latest initiative ‘Sea Dubai’, an RC44 racing yacht, which has just finished competing in the latest stage of the RC44 Series, the Malcesine Cup on Lake Garda in Italy.

Like many savvy destinations, Dubai are using the Markus Wieser and Yousef Bin Lahej-skippered Sea Dubai concept to promote water sports.

Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman, Emirates Airline and Group, said:

“We are very excited to be able to support Sea Dubai, which is showing itself to be a really competitive team, whilst also promoting Dubai around the world. It seems incredible to think that our sports sponsorship journey began on the water only twenty two years ago; you just have to look at the wide variety of leading sports teams and events that we support to see how far we have come.

We have enjoyed a great deal of success in the sport of sailing with Emirates Team New Zealand and the Maktoum Sailing Trophy in Dubai; I am confident that we are going to enjoy further triumphs with the Sea Dubai team.”

Saeed Harib, Managing Director of Dubai International Marine Club, said:

“Emirates airline has been our partner since 1987, when they were the main partner for the first ever Class One World Power Boat Championship and have continued to support us in many of our projects since then. The Emirates brand is a very strong and we are proud and happy to have them as the Title Partner with the Sea Dubai Sailing Team.”

Sid Bensalah Team Director and General Manager of Dubai International Marine Club, said:

“It’s really natural and logic to have Emirates, the fastest growing airline and one of the leading international airlines linked with our Sea Dubai project as the association has one vision to promote Dubaiglobally. Emirates airline has supported the Youth Sailing program since 2000 together with the Dubai Junior Regatta and the Maktoum Sailing Trophy. The Sea Dubai Sailing Team is very proud to race and sail with Emirates.”

The Sea Dubai team will now head to Slovenia for the Portoroz Cup in September before their arrival in Dubai for the Dubai RC44 Golf Cup in November; followed by the Sea Dubai Watersports Festival and the Maktoum Sailing Trophy at Dubai International Marine Club Mina Seyahi.

The airline has been a long-term supporter of the NZ America’s Cup team who are currently sporting the brand’s name and logo in the Audi Med Cup circuit for TP52 boats. Emirates is also a long term supporter of the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship.

Ten Teams For Louis Vuitton Event

A chance to see the Americas Cup teams on the water. While their New York legal teams squabble over amicus briefs and pedantic interpretations of the Deed of Gift, 10 teams will fight it out in Auckland, New Zealand. The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series confirmed today that ten international teams from nine countries will match race on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour for a special trophy created by Louis Vuitton. Racing starts on 30th January and will continue for the next two weeks.

“We are delighted at the overwhelming response to our concept of a friendly series for top level international teams,” said Yves Carcelle, Chairman of Louis Vuitton. “We started with the hope that six teams would race and to attract ten top entries at such short notice is a great achievement. This will be the most outstanding gathering of international sailing teams since the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland in 2003.”

Crews will take turns in racing one-on-one in New Zealand’s NZL 92 and NZL 84 and BMW Oracle Racing’s USA 87 and USA 98. The two American boats were offloaded from their transport ship just before Christmas and a team of 30 Kiwi and American shore crew members worked throughout the holiday period to prepare the boats for racing. The work included changes to the rigs and sail plans to make each pair of boats as equal as possible. There will be six races each day on the Waitemata off North Head, readily visible to spectators ashore and afloat. There will be a daily draw to decide which yacht competing teams will sail that day. Renowned international race officer Peter “Luigi” Reggio will fly to Auckland to head the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s race committee.

The Teams are 

 

• Emirates Team NZ (New Zealand).  Dean Barker will skipper and take the helm for the home team.
• Luna Rossa (Italy) Semi-finalist in Valencia, will have Peter Holmberg as its skipper and helmsman.
• BMW Oracle Racing (USA). Hometown boy Russell Coutts will skipper. 
• K-Challenge (France). Sébastien Col coming off a great 2008 in the World Match Racing Tour will helm the boat. 
• TEAMORIGIN (UK). Two 2008 Gold Medalists on board. Ben Ainslie as Skipper and Iain Percy as tactician.
• China Team (China). Two-time World Match Racing Tour champion Ian Williams has signed on as skipper. 
• Team Shosholoza (RSA). Italy’s Paolo Cian, who until recently was third in the ISAF Match Racing world rankings, is skipper and helmsman.
• Damiani Italia (Italy). Is a new team from Circolo Canottieri Aniene and Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria. 
• Greek Challenge (Greece), Started by Sotiris Buseas.
• Alinghi (Switzerland). Auckland’s Brad Butterworth is skipper and tactician for Alinghi. American Ed Baird will again take the helm for the Swiss.

 

CNEV are notably absent from the competition.

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