Oman Air Sponsorship of Majan Sailing Record Pays Off.

Savvy sailing sponsors know that return on invesment (ROI) for sailing can be increased by using the asset – the boat – for as many days in as many events as possible. Multiple boats, with different capabilities allows you to spread your sponsorship across multiple territories and different audiences.

The concept of the sailing ‘Superteam’ has been emerging for a few years now, partly because of insecurity surrounding the America’s Cup, but also because sports marketing people have recognised the benefits of multiple platforms. Teams like Emirates Team NZ and Groupama compete with multiple boats in multiple competitions and gain huge value as a result.

Over the last couple of years, Oman Sail has been steadily building into a real force in sailing. The most recent example of the team’s success has been a demolition of the Round Britain and Ireland record by Sidney Gavignet (FRA) onboard OMAN AIR MAJAN.  The A100 trimaran broke the existing record held by Thomas Coville by a massive 1 day 15 hours 30 minutes and 44 seconds.

This incredible achievement also means Sidney has beaten the existing fully crewed record time by 1 hour and 7 seconds. This record was set by Steve Fosset onboard Playstation in 2002.

Philippe Georgiou, Chief Officer, Corporate Affairs, Oman Air, the sponsors of the boat said:

“As part of Oman’s Air sponsorship of Oman Sail at the Route du Rhum, the iconic sail regatta which will take place at the end of October, we are excited to be witnessing that all the preparatory stages in the run-up to the race get under way. Following the display of the 100-meter Arabian Trimaran Oman Air during Cowes Week at the Isle of Wight, world famous skipper Sydney Gavignet now readies himself for the single-handed Round Britain and Ireland raid and his attempt to break yet another record. We at Oman Air are both proud and thrilled to be part of the Route du Rhum, this very special event which offers us a great opportunity to promote our airline offering and its unique destination, the Sultanate of Oman.”

Oman Air Majan is built by BoatSpeed.

Image Credit: Lloyd Images/Oman Sail

More Sailing Record News…

New WIKI Yacht Racing and Sailing Database Launched.

Pilote Media have launched a new project to capture knowledge about yacht racing and the sport of sailing. The sports marketing company who publish the authoritative Yachtsponsorship.com and DARK BLUE BOOK, have created the resource to help those in the industry and those looking for information about the sport of sailing.

The WIKI based website allows anyone with knowledge to update, add and edit information using the same software and principles that drive the popular online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. Users will be able to find information about yacht races, yacht racing series, athletes, sponsors and important organisations.

Pilote CEO David Fuller says:

This is an opportunity for those in the sport of sailing and yacht racing to share information about themselves and their organisations. We are going to use information submitted for the DARK BLUE BOOK to start the ball rolling, but then it is up to the community to decide how much detail is added.

Hopefully the resource can help new participants, investors and sponsors to enter the sport by providing information that aids decisions by educating and informing. It’s completely open, so there will need to be some buy-in from the community for it to work, but there should be advantages for all.

The database of yacht racing and sailing will be added to incrementally and monitored by volunteer administrators.

David says:

Through the DARK BLUE BOOK project, we talk to thousands of people in the industry, each of whom have knowledge that it is in their interest to share. If each one wrote a paragraph about themselves, the class they compete in, the races they have won or watched, then we would have a lot of material as the basis of a very powerful tool.

Information will start being added at http://www.darkbluebook.com/sailbase/ over the next few months.

Monsoon Cup Shows Growth Across a Wide Range of ROI Measures

As sailing becomes more professional, different business models and partnerships are being explored by promoters to deliver value to a wide variety of stakeholders. Around the world, governments are taking a bigger interest in sailing as a platform to deliver not just tourism, but other economic benefits including  jobs.

While working with government can provide extra resources and opportunities, it also brings increased scrutiny from those who might be seeking to generate political gains. Events that are reliant on public spending for sponsorship can’t point to increased sales of energy drink through the supermarket tills as proof of return on investment. Instead, promoters who work with governments and tourism authorities often have hundreds of metrics they need to report against.

The annual Monsoon Cup match racing regatta held in Terengganu, Malaysia  has reported a 30 per cent increase on its returns on investment for event, media and brand value this year compared with MYR539 million achieved last year. The event, which has become the model for other events on the World Match Racing Tour, is also a model for regions that are interested in using sailing as a tourism and development driver.

Peter Gilmour has revealed figures that show the cost of staging the Monsoon Cup was about MYRYR30 million, of which 60 per cent was borne by the government, with the rest supported by private funding. In return, the event is a significant contributor to the nation’s economy.

Gilmour said:

‘Basically, all the costs go into running and hosting the event and we get tremendous knock-on benefits like additional advertising. Thirty per cent is an average target that had been set for on a year-on-year basis. It has gone up year-on-year by over MYR100 million.

Event organisers report that The Monsoon Cup 2009 attracted 101,794 spectators, created 1,722 jobs and generated a print media value that was worth MYR24 million.

There’s a lot of economic spillover locally. Airport passenger arrivals increased from 300,000 a year to four million while a sports stadium and two brand new hotels were built in the state. All these happened during the Monsoon Cup season.

Malaysia has a eight-year contract to host the Monsoon Cup, organised by T-Best Events Sdn Bhd, the official event organiser for the competition. Longevity and certainty are important for investment and raising sponsorship from the private sector.

What we are doing now is targeting areas like attracting even more spectators and generate a higher turnover locally. So, when that starts getting measured into the local market, that is where we hope to lift the impact.

While the gross television numbers are over-inflated, the measure does allow comparisons to be made year on year. So while a figure in the billions is misleading in terms of the number of people who actually watched, the growth figure that can be calculated by comparing the same metric from year to year is useful. The Monsoon Cup reports:

Last year, 23,359 minutes was broadcast via 24 broadcasters, reaching a potential 2.1 billion households across 184 countries.

In 2008, 12,900 minutes was televised via 18 broadcasters, reaching a potential 1.3 billion households in 137 countries.

More World Match Racing Tour News…

Skandia To Use Sailing in Consumer Marketing Campaign.

There are certain sponsors who really make a difference to a sport. When Skandia sponsored Cowes Week, they did it properly, adding a level of professionalism and commercialism that the regatta has struggled to replace. Last week, the investment company backed the 2nd annual Sail For Gold regatta in Weymouth as part of their sailing based promotional campaign.

Now the brand is going to use sailing in a consumer campaign. According to Marketing Week, Skandia is to ramp up its consumer marketing activity to promote its “fresh approach to investment” and take on higher profile rivals Aviva and Standard Life. Skandia will use press advertisements and a possible television push this year and next year in a bid to push its investment solutions platform, which offers consumers risk assessment tools designed to put the customer in control of their investments.

Jo Gilbey, head of communications at Skandia UK, says the company is extending its marketing effort beyond trade press to “help with pull through” for financial advisers.

“We want to raise awareness of who we are and what we do.”

The strategy is similar to the one employed by Artemis, who sell through financial advisors but require a certain level of awareness to ‘drip-down’ to the end customer, however Artemis’s sponsorship campaign won’t be including TV any time soon.

Aviva, who Skandia is competing against in this campaign, have scaled back their use of sailing in favour of Rugby and athletics.

Skandia recently reported that it generated net inflows of £1.9bn over the six months to 30 June, up 171% on 2009. Total net client cashflows increased by 225% to £1.3bn in the first half, leading to a 3.5% increase in total funds under management to £29.2bn.

While America’s Cup defender BMW ORACLE tries to crowdsource video production techniques from Generation Y, Skandia’s agency – St Luke’s, has created a film that is visually exciting and manages to communicate the technical nature of sailing. If the graphic overlay could be added over live sailing it would revolutionise the way sailing is broadcast.

More Skandia Sailing Sponsorship News…

Oman Air Describes Cowes Week Activation of Sailing Sponsorhip a Success.

AMEinfo.com reports that Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman, is happy with its sponsorship of the Oman Sail project after visiting the Cowes Week. The company has declared the first phase of its sponsorship of the 105-foot racing multihull, Majan, a huge success.

The trimaran had an unmistakable presence at the prestigious yachting event and provided a major talking point as VIP guests and media were shown the boat’s power on the Solent.

Oman Air’s Chief Officer, Corporate Affairs, Philippe Georgiou, who was one of the first to join Sidney on the yacht after she arrived in Cowes, said:

“Majan’s visit to Cowes Week was the first phase of the airline’s sponsorship of this remarkable vessel. She is an imposing yacht and attracted a great deal of attention and admiration as she sailed through the waters off the Isle of Wight. Vitally, the yacht also raised awareness within one of our key markets of Oman Air as an airline that combines tradition with innovation and luxury with value. Majan’s presence at Cowes Week was a powerful one and gave us the opportunity to engage with a large number of opinion-formers and potential visitors to the Sultanate.”

Oman Air’s sponsorship of Majan aims not only to raise awareness of the airline, but also to support Oman Sail in its important work of revitalising Oman’s maritime tradition, celebrating Omani seamanship and increasing participation in sports sailing within the Sultanate. Earlier this year, Oman Air sponsored Jewel of Muscat, a re-creation of a 9th Century Arab Dhow which was hand-built in Oman before being sailed to Singapore and being presented to the country’s President as a gift to the nation.

Majan sailed into Cowes on 31st July with a full – largely Omani – crew and with her three hulls displaying Oman Air’s distinctive branding. During Majan’s stay in Cowes, her skipper, world record holder Sidney Gavignet, welcomed aboard a number of VIPs, including His Highness Sayyid Tariq bin Shabib Al Said and Ahmad Al Harthy, the leading Omani racing driver, who brought his Oman Air-branded Porsche to the quayside.

Philippe Georgiou concluded,

“Following the success of Majan’s visit to Cowes, we are looking forward to the next phase of our sponsorship of Majan. This will see her sail into St Malo, in Northern France, to prepare for one of the greatest challenges any racing yacht can face – La Route Du Rhum. This single-handed transatlantic race will see Majan sail from St Malo to Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean, and it will be with a sense of enormous pride that we follow skipper Sidney Gavignet’s progress as he sails under Oman Air’s colours. We look forward to joining Sidney at St Malo in October and we wish him every success in La Route Du Rhum.”

Given the increase in sponsorship of sailing by national tourism offices, it is perhaps surprising that more airlines are not involved in the sport. The most visible airline sponsorship is Emirates backing of Team New Zealand, but other national carriers have not visibly supported nationally backed tourism based event deals.

More Middle East Sailing Business News…

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