Toe In The Water – 2010 Programme Announced.

We tend to focus on the big-business end of the sport of sailing on this site, but yacht racing as a platform can be used for all kinds of ends. It’s nice then to be able to report on a sailing project that promotes the benefits of yacht racing over and above pure financial ROI or relentless mercenary greed for a piece of silverware.

TOE IN THE WATER is a non-profit organisation which uses sailing as a vehicle to re-inspire injured servicemen and women, many of whom have been wounded in active service in Afghanistan and Iraq, and who are currently being treated at Headley Court, the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre.

The aim of the initiative is simple; to provide injured servicemen and women with a challenging, demanding environment in which they can compete on an equal footing with their peers. Yacht racing provides one of the few arenas in which people with traumatic injuries can compete against and alongside able-bodied people. It is ideal, not least because there is a wide range of different roles onboard, providing different physical and mental challenges.

TOE IN THE WATER recieved worldwide attention when Steve White received much needed backing for his Vendee Globe campaign in return for promoting the charity.

Chairman, Major General Mike von Bertele OBE has launched the charity’s 2010 racing programme. Racing in 2010 will build on the success of the first two years of operation, during which more than fifty profoundly and traumatically injured service personnel were inspired through competitive sailing.

TOE IN THE WATER will be entering eight events in 2010. The programme comprises the RORC Easter Regatta, the J80 National Championships, the J-Cup, the JP Morgan Round the Island Race, Sailing for Heroes Regatta, Cowes Week, the Jersey Regatta and the J80 Autumn Championships.

The 2009 Season saw TOE IN THE WATER ambassadors Brian Thompson and Dee Caffari join the Toe crews at Cowes Week and the Dartmouth Regatta. Caffari said after Dartmouth:

“Sailing with the TOE IN THE WATER crew was a unique experience for me and one I hope I will repeat in the future. These guys will give everything to be at the front of the fleet. It was true competitive racing at its best.”

Multiple world record holder Brian Thompson, who has been involved with the initiative since the outset, said:

“Every time I have gone out with TOE IN THE WATER I have been blown away by their talent and aptitude for sailing and their super positive attitude. The TOE IN THE WATER team is dynamic, energetic and making its mark on sailing regattas all over the UK. The charity has brought fun and competition to both the injured servicemen and women, and the volunteers who love to be involved. I am looking forward to racing with them again in 2010.”

Lloyd Hamilton is the Director of Racing said:

“From a sailing perspective it has cemented the fact that it really is a sport for anyone from the novice to the expert to enjoy. It also instils a firm belief in team work and the importance of it. Everyone who has served in the forces will understand that at some point in a military career you will rely upon your comrades alongside you. This initiative and the results our teams achieve show just how important this factor is.”

TOE IN THE WATER is holding a selection weekend to recruit experienced able-bodied racers to its Core Crew. Volunteers are asked to commit to two events in the upcoming season and are invited to ‘try out’ for a place by attending the weekend (6-7 March 2010). Anyone interested in getting involved in the Core Crew or in fundraising for TOE IN THE WATER should contact info@toeinthewater.org.

Why bluQube Went Offshore Sailing.

If you ask 10 companies that sponsor sailing why they do it, you should get 10 different answers. This is because sponsorship is not like a magazine ad or a 30 second tv slot – one size does not fit all. Just as the sport of sailing is incredibly varied, so too are the companies that use the sport as a promotional platform. David Fuller had a chat with Simon Kearsley, CEO of financial software company bluQube who have supported Vendee Globe competitor Steve White and who have just announced a deal with up-and-coming solo sailor Katie Miller.

Q. Why has BluQube chosen sailing as a mechanism to promote the company & brand?

There was an element of it choosing us! We were approached by the now defunct Global Challenge organisation.

However, we were in a “receptive” state of mind at the time. We knew that we had to work on brand awareness and had been struggling to find a cost effective way of doing that for a B2B business. Advertising was very expensive and seemed to have variable results and sponsorship offered a more cost effective way forward.

I would be lying if I didn’t also admit to it being a great interest of my own but we see that as a very positive point. It’s essential to be enthusiastic and fully behind any sponsorship that you do and this would be very difficult for me if I had no interest at all in what we were actually doing.

Q. Were other sports besides sailing considered? Which ones?

Yes. The approach caused us to review the “whole market” partly because of my interest! I wanted to be absolutely certain that it would really work for the business, not just for me! We undertook this research in-house as we had just done a branding exercise and knew the values we were looking to associate with bluQube.

Many of the directors here at BluQube are into cars, so we looked at that, but many of our customers are in the public sector and the negative environmental impact of motorsport just wouldn’t look good. Motorsport has performance and speed, but it’s very male, not very clean and a bit too ‘oil & spanners’.

We looked at Rugby, Football and Cricket but they were too expensive, not targeted enough, too ‘mainstream’. Part of the bluQube brand is to be ‘different’.

For similar reasons Wimbledon, Gold Cup / etc. are too ‘classic’ and ‘establishment’ for the brand. Incidentally, we also turned down Ostar 2009 title sponsorship for the same reason.

We had engaged in a branding exercise just prior and this more than anything helped us make our choice. Once we understood the brand values it was a case of finding a sport to match them.

Q. Why was Offshore racing chosen as the platform for the sponsorship?

Ocean racing appealed to us because of the fit with those brand values. It uses modern hi-tech materials, it’s extreme, clean, very team based, it’s high performance, exciting, colourful, and so on.

In addition, we also felt that the events enabled us to tell stories over a longer period rather than just being a single event such as a football match. The events also have genuine human stories and real drama – there is no need to ‘manufacture drama’ as is often the case when watching the media cover other events.

All this gives us content for our communications with customers and prospects and the opportunity to engage with people on topics other than just accounting software.

Q. What are the success factors for the sponsorship?

Brand awareness. Difficult to measure but we see this as an important element in our marketing strategy. The deal with Katie is a 2 year deal so we expect to get benefits over the long term. This kind of activity provides us with content and also allows us to provide something different during long pre-sales cycles.

Q. How will the sponsorship be activated?

For bluQube’s title sponsorship of Katie Miller we have planned a series of monthly marketing activities that will tie into Katie’s race calendar. For example we will issues press releases, include blogs about Katie in our monthly commercial email communications, develop editorial feature opportunities, interviews with/about Katie, use some of the events such as ‘Sailing at Cowes’, ‘Silicon Cup’ for corporate hospitality purposes, attend key events such as the begining and end of OSTAR.

Q. Corporate Hospitality is a bit of a dirty word at the moment. How does this fit into your plans?

A lot of people think about sailing hospitality as sitting on a big launch with a glass of champagne in the sunshine, but that’s not how we do it. We find that being on the boat, meeting Katie, learning the ins and outs of solo sailing gives people are really memorable experience. This is a sport like no other in that respect. You can’t put someone in a scrum on a rugby pitch, but you can give people a taste of what it might be like to sail across the Atlantic on your own.

Q. How will you measure whether you have achieved your goals?

This can be very difficult. Particularly as we don’t expect the sponsorship to directly generate leads as such.

We can only really measure success by ‘proxy’. What we have tended to do is to monitor and record the press coverage that we get and then estimate what the same coverage would have cost us through traditional advertising means.

Having said that, non advertising press coverage is more valuable than advertising (which is often invisible) and this method doesn’t include the value that we get from things like tempting people into our e-mailers by having an interesting extra topic to talk about.

Having said all that, we estimated that Global Challenge sponsorship gave us a return of somewhere between 2 and 5 times original investment depending on how you value things like BBC coverage.

Q. Have you received support from the organisers of the events you have been involved with?

When we sponsored the Global Challenge they had a ‘business club’ – this was a great way to start as it allowed us to learn. At other events, you start off on your own. You have to be there, get your face seen, build relationships. Once you have built relationships you can find what you need, like a spectator boat or access to photography.

Find out more at: http://www.bluqube.co.uk/oceanracing/

bluQube Sponsor Sailing to Make Software Exciting.

bluQube, the Bristol based supplier of financial management software has formally announced that it will sponsor Katie Miller’s OSTAR campaign. The company believes that sailing sponsorship has many benefits. bluQube will be the title sponsor for Katie’s campaign.

Katie’s boat was christened bluQube by guest sailing legend Dee Caffari, at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club on the 27th of February.

The two year partnership will oversee Katie’s entry as the youngest ever female competitor in the 2009 OSTAR single-handed transatlantic race, which starts in Plymouth on 25 May, and her inauguration into the Figaro European Championships in 2010.

Simon Kearsley, CEO at bluQube, commented:

“We have been involved in sailing sponsorship for over four years now, supporting ventures such as The Global Challenge and most recently, solo sailor Steve White who has just completed the Vendee Globe. We have seen some huge returns from sailing sponsorship and are really excited at the prospect of helping one of the UK’s most aspiring young yachtswomen who has already created an enviable reputation for herself within the solo sailing community.”

Kearley added:

“Our support for Katie is an opportunity to continue with the type of marketing initiatives that in the past have delivered an incredible return on investment. We first met Katie during the bluQube Solo 1000 last May and our whole team was overwhelmed both by Katie’s positive attitude and the results she achieved.”

“We feel that Katie is a great fit with our own values because of her determination, dedication and pragmatic approach. Not only does the sponsorship give us something different to talk about besides accounting software, which can often be perceived as quite a dry subject, it is also a sport that appeals to a large proportion of our target market, senior decision making professionals from medium to large sized companies.

We wish Katie all the best in the OSTAR and both our customers and staff look forward to supporting and tracking her progress,”

Katie said:

“I am so thrilled that bluQube have come onboard as title sponsor. From the moment I met them, during the blueQube Solo 1000, I was overwhelmed by their support and enthusiasm for the event.

“bluQube is a dynamic company, a profile that fits perfectly with the Katie Miller Yacht Racing image. Their support for solo sailors is already proven, and I am looking forward to a successful campaign representing them.”

The company will be activating their sponsorship through a monthly blog on Katie’s sailing adventures which will be available via the bluQube website. It’s not just a one-off event though, bluQube will benefit from exposure in events leading up to the OSTAR, including: the Warsash Spring Series, Royal Southampton Double-Handed Series, Royal Ocean Racing Club races, and the Petit-Bateau Single-Handed Series.

Later in the year Katie will be at Cowes Week, Rolex Fastnet Race, and the Hamble Winter Series.

www.katiemillerracing.com
www.bluqube.co.uk

Steve White Finishes to Cheers in France and Silence in the UK.

Steve White has become the 8th finisher out of 30 competitors in the prestigious Vendée Globe, the solo, non-stop, round-the-world sailing race. While the BBC reported that the sailor “was greeted by his wife, Kim, and his children.” He returned after 109 days alone at sea, to an incredible reception in Les Sables D’Olonne, France, with crowds as large as 50,000 people lining the harbour walls.

At the time of writing, the UK media response to Steve’s feat was pretty poor. The Times, The Telegraph and the Daily Mail had no mention of the story. The Guardian story online ran to five whole sentences. The difference between the way France and England respond to the race is stark.

White said about the French crowds:

” Sailing is a way of life here, and it doesn’t seem to be like that in England and that’s a shame, and it has been overlooked in the media which is a shame, it’s not like that over here, I’m not seeking to be famous or anything like that, but to have support like this, and support with the boat, it’s something we don’t get in England, which is a shame.”

While all stories in the Vendee Globe are interesting for a wider public audience, Steve’s story is newsworthy for the fact that he had to re-mortgage his house some four times to fund his dream; the fact that he only gained enough sponsorship to actually be able to compete in the week before the start, back on 9th November 2008; and that of 30 starters 18 sailors failed to complete the race through a combination of injuries or damage to their boat.

Steve’s boat, Toe in the Water, was joined by a flotilla of around 200 boats of varying shapes and sizes. A large banner was draped over the harbour wall that read: ‘Thanks Steve. You made us dream.’ It summed up perfectly the affection that the locals have for him, and his family.

Today Steve said,

“I am just so amazed to finally be here. It’s everything I dreamt it would be and more. I cannot thank my family, friends, sponsors and the people of France enough. Thank you France for looking after my family while I was away, I don’t know what the French word for ‘humbled’ is, but that is how your welcome and support have made me feel.”

As for the future, Steve’s plans are fixed:

“I’ll be back in 2012 to compete again, and then in 2016. I’ll have a new boat and I’d really quite like to win. If any of you have ever had even a small dream about competing in the Vendee Globe, I urge you to do it. It will exceed all your dreams, it is the best sporting event in the world and I don’t think there can be a feeling like this anywhere else.”

Steve’s boat is named Toe in the Water after the charity that promotes the rehabilitation of injured servicemen through competitive sailing. This came about due to a last minute donation from a consortium of anonymous donors who provided White the shortfall in money required to compete, but asked that he rename the boat and give any publicity to the charity.

Take a look at this video. This crowd turned out days after the winners had crossed the line to welcome a man who came 8th. There are not many sports where that happens.

Steve White\’s Arrival at the Finish of the Vendee Globe on Toe in the Water

Let the Race (for coverage) Begin

With the start of the Vendee Globe today, the media releases have kicked up a gear, with PR agencies trying to get the most for their teams in the increasing noise. Today we have a quick look at the online offer of the UK entrants. 

Dee Caffari Aviva – www.avivaoceanracing.com

We’ve praised the brand activation skills of this team in the lead up to the Vendee Globe. The team website has all the latest toys – blog, video, wallpaper downloads and even a mobile site. Getting to aviva from the site is a little tricky though.

www.aviva.com has a link from the home page (below the fold) to a dedicated microsite www.avivaoceanracing.com/avivachallenge/

Mike Golding – Ecover – www.mikegolding.com

All the things that should be there including a link to main sponsor ecover from the top of the page. Also a competition.

www.ecover.com/gb/en/ homepage has no mention of the Vendee Globe or sponsorship of Mike Golding. With a couple of clicks you can get to a microsite: www.ecover-vendeeglobe.com/

Sam Davies – Roxy – www.roxysailing.com

We love the look and feel of this website. It’s young and cool – everything you would expect from an action sports fashion brand for girls. It is lacking some of the interactivity of other sites though.

http://www.roxy-europe.com/en/Home.html has a link to the site from the homepage. Though ‘below the fold’ it is easy to find.

Jonny Malbon – Artemis – www.artemisoceanracing.com

Clean, simple to navigate. Video and subscription to news updates. Link to sponsor in main navigation.

www.artemisonline.co.uk/ has a small tout on the homepage linking to the sponsorship.

Brian Thompson – Pindar – www.teampindar.com

All the goodies. The main feature of the homepage features a race tracker which doesn’t work in all browsers, but solidly professional. Links to the main sponsor Kingdom of Bahrain visible.

www.pindar.com/ has a tiny link at the bottom of the homepage about teampindar, but no mention of sailing.
2 or 3 clicks from the main menu gets to a page about the involvement, which is strange considering how large a part of the marketing mix sailing plays for the company.

Outside of sailing news sites, we found it extremely difficult to find anything linking back from the kingdom of Bahrain to the Vendee Globe.

Alex Thomson – Hugo Boss – www.alexthomsonracing.com

Cool carbon fibre effect website with all the latest multimedia bits and pieces. Link to Hugo Boss in main navigation (though nav is a little tricky). The brand values ooze throughout this website.

We did manage to kind the microsite, www.hugoboss-sailing.com/ from the main Hugo Boss website. Although it has some great stuff like beautiful wallpaper downloads of the boat, all navigation is removed which is a pain.

Steve White – Toe in the Water – www.toeinthewater.org/vendee/

Considering the battle that Steve had to get to the start line, his website is everything to be expected. Busy with preparations to the boat his personal site, www.whiteoceanracing.com, needs a few tweaks to promote the cause that he will be championing, ‘toe in the water.’

The charity on the other hand is up to speed with the campaign. www.toeinthewater.org/ has a link to a page with up to date livery and news.

Sebastien Josse – BT Team Ellen - www.btsebjosse.com

Part of the massively capable OC Group, which includes a dedicated multimedia agency, you would expect the online offer to be state of the art. It will be interesting to see how the combination of a French Skipper sailing for an English team will be picked up. Though Ellen Macarthur will be able to put an English spin on things, the UK media to date has been talking about the seven british sailors in the event and have dropped BT Team Ellen from much of their coverage. The website if anything is too busy – so much information packed onto the screen. Big clickable links to a BT microsite with it’s own URL www.biggerthinking.com/en/bt_team_ellen.aspx (though how anyone would find that link is a mystery for the b2b marketing boffins at BT). 

www.bt.co.uk has no mention of the sailing tie up, but does list the BT sponsorship of 2012 on the front page.

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