The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy Shortlisted for Sport Venue of the Year

The goal of any Olympic games is to create legacy infrastructure that can deliver world-class facilities for the country’s sports participants. One venue that has been finished and tested is the The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA).

The venue, that last year hosted the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta, has been shortlisted for a prestigious 2010 Sport Industry Award. The Awards are Europe’s largest and most prestigious commercial sports awards that recognize the best the sport business has to offer in marketing, PR, sponsorship, new media, publishing, advertising and design.

After a rigorous selection process and competition from a high volume of entries, the Academy is now in the running to win the ‘Sport Venue of the Year’ Award and faces competition from the likes of Twickenham and Wembley Stadiums as well as the O2 and the Brit Oval. The WPNSA previously won the esteemed ‘Environmental Concern in Sport’ Award back in 2008 and was the first 2012 venue to be formally completed, demonstrating the importance this forward thinking venue has had on not only the South West but the whole of the UK.

The 16 strong judging panel selected the WPNSA for the shortlist through offering a flexible and meticulous approach to event services, the commitment it has as a venue to serving the needs of its visitors, a distinct improvement in all aspects of the venue from the previous 12 months of activity, demonstrable financial growth and proof of creative innovation in the approach to hosting and marketing sporting events. Judges include; BBC Broadcast Journalist John Inverdale – Former Chief Press Secretary to the Prime Minster Alastair Campbell – Paralympic Athlete Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Chief Executive Officer of LOCOG Paul Deighton. The final results will not be announced until May 13th at a star studded ceremony.

The Academy was selected through submission of case studies detailing how the venue hosts a successful calendar of international mass participant water sports events as well as instigating activities accessible to the local Weymouth and Portland communities. Being nominated for this award highlights the calibre of the venue and the facilities it has to offer for yacht racing to dinghy sailing, triathlons to corporate functions and weddings.

John Tweed, Chief Executive of the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy commented;

‘Everyone at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is delighted to have been shortlisted for this prestigious Sport Industry, Sport Venue of the Year 2010 Award. We work tirelessly to improve the quality of services and events and it is incredibly rewarding to be recognised for this commitment’.

Ainslie’s Sponsorship Tip – The Personal Touch is Everything.

Raising sponsorship is a tough business. Even when times are good, sponsorship is often a misunderstood part of the marketing mix. There is perception by some, that sponsorship is just an excuse for excessive corporate hospitality – that is not a legitimate use of funds for a business. This has been underlined by American politicians developing regulations to stop companies spending government bailout money on sponsorship when they are still allowed to spend on traditional advertising.

Most sailors don’t go professional with the dream of becoming rich like perhaps a golfer or a football player. In fact most sailors are happy just to make ends meet, as they are participating in the thing they love.

Ben Ainslie has given some insights into how sponsorship fits into his sailing career. The comments on his blog come after renewing his relationship with J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Ainslie says:

“Sponsorship is a hugely significant element in being able to sustain a bid for success in any sport so I’m extremely grateful to J.P. Morgan Asset Management who have agreed to extend their title sponsorship of my Finn sailing campaign until 2012. They have supported me since 2007 and the importance of developing close relationships with key partners can’t be underestimated at whatever level you’re at because of the amount of flexibility it can give you in your campaign.”

Unfortunately, sailing, like some other sports is not a pure meritocracy. Good sailors with opportunity will always do better than good sailors without support and worse, average sailors with opportunity, (read money and connections) can do better than good sailors without such support.

Ainslie, now at the top of the sport, can point to results and show sponsors how backing him can deliver them exposure and help them achieve their communications goals, but positioning yourself as an up and coming competitor is a much harder sell. Ben’s insight is a valuable one – the sponsors are less interested in the data sheets, the boat specs and the rules, they are investing in a relationship with a person.

“When I was about 15, I started off, like most kids, writing what seemed like thousands of letters to people asking for sponsorship expecting the offers to come flooding in! I quickly realised in reality it doesn’t work like that and, particularly when you’re starting out, nothing beats working on the contacts you have like family and friends and pinpointing specific targets. The personal touch is everything and making people feel properly involved and valued makes all the difference.”

For a moden athlete, sponsorship comes with responsibility. While financial support brings flexibility and enables competitors to train harder and more efficiently, there are also media demands and time commitments for sponsors that many athletes never write into their proposals as a benefit.

“…I’ve always tried to build strong relationships with my sponsors as I want them to feel like they’ve been part of any success I’ve had. Also, it’s important they understand that especially in a sport like sailing where there are so many disciplines and challenges, you may not always be concentrating on the discipline they are supporting you in. J.P. Morgan Asset Management have been great in that way as they completely respect my commitment to Britain’s America’s Cup cause and know their sponsorship allows me to as good as leave my Finn campaign in the hands of my coach David Howlett, who is cracking on with making sure we’re getting together all the equipment we want and are as prepared as possible for when I get back in the boat full-time.”

The full blog can be read at www.benainslie.com

British Brand Backs Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy.

While on the face of it, chocolate might not seem like an obvious sponsorship fit with sailing, those who do it know that we have all resorted to a chocolate hit of energy once in a while.

So perhaps it’s not so surprising afterall that The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), the venue for the sailing competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, has announced a five year deal with Cadbury.

John Tweed, Chief Executive, the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy:

‘The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy team are very inspired by Cadbury’s new involvement at this international sailing venue and we are looking forward to incorporating a fun sporting spirit into future events and legacy programme activities’.

In a week when Kraft have announced a takeover of the company, Cadbury’s press release says…

“The iconic British brand will have a close link with both the elite stars and grass root level sailors who will be training and competing from the venue.”

Like many sponsorship deals, there is an ‘on-trade’ element. This isn’t just about purple signage. Sports participants and spectators at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy are invited enjoy hot chocolate during the winter months and a range of the much loved Cadbury products available all year round.

While the deal is great for the Olympic sailing venue, we had to smile at seeing a paragraph like this in a press-release in a week when a brand is being accused of ’selling out’ to overseas interests.

“Cadbury has a strong connection with British society providing treats, bringing a moment of fun and a smile to everyone’s faces. Cadbury hope to give a moment of pleasure and inspiration to Weymouth and Portland’s local communities and global water sports enthusiasts, bringing the spirit of fun, enthusiasm and excitement to all.”

US SAILING Team Commerical Award Won By Graham Biehl.

Do you ever get the feeling that we seem to whinge and complain a lot? It’s not that there aren’t great things being done in sailing, it’s more that there seems to be a lot of crap that could be done better. Not this story. US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics have presented awards for excellence and one of them is a Commercial Award.

There is a deep vein of amateurism that runs through sailing, which is a great thing for many reasons including the fact that keeps the sport alive when times are tough. But the reality is that sport in 2010 is big business and sailing needs to consider the commercial side of things more carefully.

It’s great to see that along with the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Awards for Best Individual Performance, Best Team Performance, Best Performance by a Newcomer, Best Teammate, Most Improved Fitness, there is the Commercial Award.

Dean Brenner, Chairman of the US Olympic Sailing Program said:

‘Our program is focused on excellence, and these awards were created to reward the team members who exemplify the work ethic we’re looking for on our team’

The Commercial Award, which is presented to the athlete who has made an outstanding effort in support of the commercial and sponsorship activities of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, was presented to Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.). Graham distinguished himself by giving the team specific and actionable feedback on their Atlantis Weathergear apparel selection and actually worked directly with Atlantis on design of a podium shirt. Graham also helped move our sail and hull branding scheme from version 1.0 to 2.0.

Dan Cooney, Commercial Director said:

We are excited about this award as it fosters a culture of collaboration between the team and the team’s sponsors that makes our program better for everyone. We are lucky because our entire team has bought into the sponsor program in a big way. The credit goes to the sailors and especially the coaches for making this transition to a more structured commercial program.  Nearly all the athletes are contributing to improving our delivery of sponsor value making our job easy.

More on the other award winners here: sailingteams.ussailing.org

ISAF Council Meeting Begins with President Petersson’s Speech.

The gap between Olympic sailing and all other forms seemed to widen even further yesterday ISAF President Göran Petersson delivered his opening address to the ISAF Council members during their first day of meetings at the 2009 ISAF Annual Conference held in Korea, Busan.

The President made passing reference to other disciplines and recent debate over ISAF’s regulations regarding the word ‘World’, but the focus of the speech was how ISAF had to implement measures dictated by the International Olympic Commission (IOC). Some of these recommendations will be good for (Olympic) sailing like the addition of athletes to voting positions.

Petersson said in his speech:

“Athletes must be included within the decision making bodies of the Olympic Movement through Athletes Commissions and other positions that carry full voting rights”.

Well, we have an Athletes Commission, which is well run and very active, but ISAF has no athletes in positions that carry full voting rights.

So we have a clear message and the challenge is ours to make it happen. I believe there should be an athletes representative on the Executive and therefore also on Council. We cannot do this overnight and today I would like to propose to you that we invite Ben Barger, Chairman of the Athletes Commission, to join us at the table for the remainder of the meeting with the right to speak on any subject he likes, but for the moment he will have no voting rights. The full implementation of the recommendation requires changes to our Constitution and Regulations. This, I trust, will be done as soon as possible.

ISAF receive almost all their revenue from the IOC, so it is little wonder that they are so focused on the Games. Petersson’s recent appointment to the IOC means that his focus has to be on promoting the Olympics. Petersson acknowledges the politics, suggests that ISAF exists not for the sport of sailing, but more specifically, the Olympic sport of sailing.

Our Olympic Commission has been tasked to ensure the continued and improved value of sailing in the Games. A strategic approach is essential. I am going to be a little more blunt than normal for the sake of clarity. In my opinion too often we have made decisions in ISAF led by our own personal feelings, loyalty or sense of belonging and even, dare I say, self interest in respect of the country you represent,. We should have made decisions on what would develop the sport best for the Olympics. However, I am confident that the Olympic Commission is tackling this problem and that we will deliver. Already next year the IOC will vote on reducing the “safe” so called core sports from 26 to 25 and I do not want sailing to go out of this core.

Even when talking about the word ‘World’ in relationship to sailing events, Petersson still only has Olympic classes in mind. Seems that the only way you can be a ‘World Champion’ in sailing is if you sail an Olympic class boat. While many in the sailing world are looking to ISAF for leadership in many areas, the opening speech by the President of the organisation completely ignored some of the biggest issues facing the ’sport’. ISAF are trying to promote their ‘World Cup’, but Petersson himself has doubts about the way (Olympic class) sailing is run.

This year’s start of the ISAF Sailing World Cup has been an exciting and important step forward for ISAF. I would like to thank the event organisers and the management group for the progress made. It is clear, however, that much more work still needs to be done and I personally feel that the World Cup needs to be given even greater importance with a very well defined purpose. We have many levels of ‘World’ labelled products in the Olympic Classes: World Rankings; World Cup; ISAF World Championship and Class World Championship. I am not sure this structure serves the promotion and the marketing of our sport but more importantly the sailor’s best interest and I look forward to the relevant committees being able to deal with these questions and challenges.

As for the rest of the competitive sailing world – the A-class, C-Class, Dragons, XODs, 18 foot skiffs, J24, Melges, J109, Classics, Extreme 40s, TP52, IRC, IMOCA, Farr 40, Volvo 70, Moth, RC44, Swann etc. etc. etc…. well Petersson’s speech includes a sentence at the end that shows just how much they matter in the eyes of the ISAF leadership:

I have only touched on a small cross section of the ISAF activities and in preparing this report I realised how much actually is going on in ISAF. I am pleased to be the President of an organisation which is so alive and full of activities from the elite to grass roots level, from competition to cruising sailing.

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