Volvo Renew Sponsorship of Indian International Regatta.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that Volvo make more than cars. In the West, the company’s sailing sponsorships are usually associated with their towing vehicles, but like all good sponsors, Volvo tailor their message based on the market they are in and the renewed sponsorship of the India International Regatta is all about buses.

Volvo will serve as the title sponsor of the Indian International Regatta 2010, having previously served as the event’s exclusive corporate sponsor. Financial terms were not released, however, it is expected to be on similar terms as the two organisations previous agreement, which Sports Pro Magazine estimates at $USD 100,000 per year for 3 years.

Managing director of Volvo Buses, Akash Passey, said,

“We are very proud of our sponsorship of the India International Regatta. Volvo is associated with sponsorship of major sailing championships and connected with loyal and dedicated sailing fans around the world, and as the title sponsor of the ‘India International Regatta,’ we have the honour of extending our relationship with sailors in India too.”

Volvo Penta, Head, S Prabhakaran said:

‘Volvo Penta is committed to promoting the need to preserve and conserve our environment, and sailing is just that sport which connects people to these elements of nature. With the growing popularity of the sport in India, the children are ideal ambassadors for us to help make the change.’

AS Bajwa, Yachting Association of India treasurer, said,

“It is a major step forward in expanding our vision of putting India as the global sailing destination and by tying up with Volvo, the brand leader of sailing races worldwide, it is bound to add tremendous value.”

The regatta to be sailed off Chennai during 03 -10 Oct 2010 is expected to see sailors from Singapore, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Kenya who have evinced keen interest in participating in this year’s event.

The sport of sailing in India is growing fast. As well as increasing participants, India is becoming one of the largest TV markets for sailing content.

More Volvo Sailing News…

Volvo UK Activate Sailing Sponsorship Through Round the Island Race.

This weekend. I competed alongside 16,000 other participants in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race aboard Volvo Team For Life, a TP52 racing yacht helmed by British Olympic medallist Shirley Robertson. Volvo Cars UK are a partner of the race, and the involvement is an important part of a larger commitment to British sailing.

The best sponsorship campaigns are those which are activated through long term commitment. This means building a portfolio of activities that are complimentary and in a world of social networking, build links between brands, ambassadors and the target audience.

Volvo Cars UK have supported British Sailing for a long time and the programme has touchpoints with the whole of the sport, from grass-roots beginners through to elite Olympic athletes. The Round the Island Race is important to the overall campaign because of its inclusiveness. Professional racing teams make up a fraction of the participants in the event, however at the end of the race, the shared experience brings the community together.

This sense of community extends to the companies and brands that support the event and the sport. While Volvo Team For Life ambassadors like Shirley Robertson, Ben Ainslie and Paul Goodison are seasoned media campaigners, there is a sense that they are truly grateful for Volvo’s support – it’s not just a contractual arrangement, but a partnership that works for everyone.

Like title sponsor JP Morgan Asset Management, Volvo Cars UK has big-picture positioning reasoning for being involved with sailing. Duncan Forrester, Head of Public Relations, Events & Sponsorship says:

“We believe sailing’s inherent use of natural resources fits perfectly with Volvo’s environmental values. At Volvo we believe our commitment to the environment does not mean compromising on state of the art technology, comfort or style. Our DRIVe range is leading the way in creating cars which will have zero impact on the environment reflecting our aim to be the car of choice for the sailing community. Our environmental credentials have gone a long way in helping us achieve this.”

But positioning is only part of the story. The Round the Island experience is an unforgettable hospitality platform. Many of the automotive and motorsport journalists aboard had never been on a boat before, let alone a purpose built racing yacht. Waking someone up at 3am in the morning, putting them aboard a boat with an Olympic gold medallist and making them get involved as the spinnaker is hoisted on the start-line jostling for position with 1700 other boats is not something that can be replicated by inviting them to a tent at a race-track.

In the past, this might be the end of it. A great weekend and perhaps a better feeling about the brand that may or may not translate into more sales, but like many automotive brands, Volvo are embracing a more conversational, relationship based marketing approach. The Volvo Team for Life Facebook page is part of a strategy that hopes to develop deeper, more long term relationships between the brand and customers, which must ultimately lead to greater loyalty and long term customer value.

New Audi Sailing Sponsorship Deal in Volvo’s Backyard.

Yet another sailing sponsorship announcement by Audi, this time in the heart of Volvo territory – Sweden. The Stena Match Cup Sweden takes place on the Island of Marstrand, just 12 miles north of Volvo’s global HQ in Torslanda. The event, which draw huge crowds to watch match racing, is one of the best staged sailing events anywhere in the world and fits well with Audi’s strategy to cherry-pick sponsorships that have the biggest impact.

Audi will become a partner of Stena Match Cup Sweden, which is one of the stand out events of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT). Last week Audi announced that it would partner with Azzurra, adding to it’s sponsorships around the world which include Kieler Woche, Audi Victoria Week and of course the Audi Med Cup.

Niklas Henning, Event and Sponsor Manager, Audi Sverige:

“Sailing is a favoured sport to many of our customers. Our engagement in Stena Match Cup Sweden gives us a possibility to strengthen Audi’s presence on the west coast as well as providing a good platform to meet with our customers”

Jan Torstenson, GM at Brandspot and the Commercial Organizer of Stena Match Cup Sweden, commented:

“We are very grateful and proud that Audi has chosen to become a sponsor to Stena Match Cup Sweden. A strong brand like Audi will add great value to the event and their experience in sailing internationally makes a partnership very natural and developing”.

The branding concept for the Audi boat in Stena Match Cup Sweden 2010 follows the same guidelines as Audi MedCup and Kieler Woche and is part of the Audi A1-launch.

More Audi News…

Volvo Cars UK Back Team GBR Sailors With Social Media Twist.

What does sponsorship mean for professional sailors? The bottom line is that the less a competitor has to worry about money, the more they can concentrate on training to be better. When that training is full-time on the course that will used for the Olympic games, the advantage is significant. But sponsorship is a two-way street and athletes need to give back to the brands that are investing in them.

Sarah Ayton, one of the original ‘three blondes in a boat’, has today unveiled her bid to become the first British woman to win three successive Olympic gold medals.

With the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games now less than 30 months away, Sarah Ayton has announced her plans to campaign for a third gold in London, in the two person 470 dinghy with her team-mate confirmed as seasoned 470 campaigner Saskia Clark. Their long-awaited news was revealed in conjunction with the announcement that Volvo Car UK will be backing their campaign as part of the Team Volvo for life sponsorship programme in addition to their support from Skandia Team GBR, the British sailing team.

Duncan Forrester, Head of Public Affairs, Events and Sponsorship for Volvo Car UK believes that sailing is the perfect fit for a the brand and that new technology like Social media can be used to activate campaigns for the benefit of athletes, fans and the desired audience.

For Forrester, sailing is an ‘underutlised’ sport, which means that there are less brands competing for the attention of a desirable audience. His audience is a broad one including the Volvo Car dealer network and those in the market to buy a vehicle to tow their boats and the ‘Team for Life’ concept promotes the brand strapline – “There’s more to life than a Volvo, that’s why you drive one.”

Of course Volvo is still known for it’s safety message, no matter how many ‘Life at the Extreme’ positioning statements they make. Supporting the UK’s sailors fits into the ‘caring for people’ aspect of the brand. The sponsorship consists of financial support and transportation and goes a long way to allowing athletes to focus entirely on training and being the best they can be.

Also announced as part of the new-look Team Volvo for life was Sarah Ayton’s husband, windsurfing world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Nick Dempsey. He is basing much of his time in 2010 training in Weymouth with his goal to win the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in August.

“2012 will come around really quickly and by getting as much practice in Weymouth as possible it will really improve my chances for a successful Olympics.”

Volvo Car UK has backed Paul Goodison to glory since 2005 and will continue to do so as the proud Sheffield lad is aiming to become the cities first double gold medallist in 2012. Paul also happens be Saskia Clark’s partner, with the pair being neighbours to the Sarah and Nick in Weymouth.

“I am really happy to have the backing of Volvo for another Olympic campaign. I want to replicate what I have done in the past by securing gold at the games here in 2012, as well as successfully defend my European and World Laser Championships.”

Volvo Car UK has also pledged to continue their support for leading Paralympic sailor Helena Lucas. Now she is working tirelessly to turn disappointment to success in 2012. Helena has started her 2010 season off well winning a silver media last month at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma. Ben Ainslie is also part of the Team for Life.

Sponsoring brands like Volvo are moving faster on innovating their marketing than the sport of sailing. Some PR companies that specialise in sailing have dismissed social media, or grudgingly adopted it at the request of clients. Duncan Forrester believes that social media is the future of PR, especially for a brand that is focussed on a young, enthusiastic audience.

The new look Team Volvo for life will be inviting the public to become more involved in their campaigns in the build up to London via a new Team Volvo for life website and Facebook page. The Facebook page will feature monthly videos of the sailors including their views, coaching and expert tips, Fans will be encouraged to give their views as well as asking questions directly to the sailors on during their monthly live chats. This is the payback – for sailors to take this kind of support from companies, they will have to give up part of their lives to participate in marketing activities.

The Team For Life campaign is just part of Volvo’s commitment to sailing. The company supports the sport at a grass roots level through backing of the RYA and Optimist regattas, they participate in events like the Round the Island Race and arrange regattas for internal purposes. At the elite level, there is Team For Life and of course the Volvo Ocean Race.

While not directly involved in the Volvo Ocean Race, Volvo Cars UK is already planning to make the most of the race finish in Galway.

The social media part of Team for Life can be accessed via – http://www.facebook.com/VolvoCarsSailing – Photos from yesterday are already there…

Our video from the announcement is below…

The Commercial Case for Sailing Sponsorship

Sports sponsorship is still relatively misunderstood. To many, there is still an idea that sports sponsorship has more to do with the whims of the CEO or Chairman than it does with marketing and communications. The World Yacht Racing Forum, held in Monaco last week opened with a session devoted to the sponsorship of yacht racing.

The session included several presentations from slightly different stakeholders. First up Richard Moore, CEO of sports marketing firm Capitalize who has a more global view about how sailing fits into the bigger picture. The good news is that despite some firms in America being prevented from using TARP money on sponsorship, spending is up 9.1%. $31 billion of the money spent on sponsorship is spent on sport, though only a fraction of that is spent on sailing.

According to Moore, companies that fit with sports sponsorship and who might be looking to spend money can be found in the sports tourism, data storage and utilities sectors.

The perception of sponsorship and how it is measured is changing. Moore draws a distinction between sponsors who are acting as patrons and those who are using the tools to drive business returns. Sponsors are not venture capitalists, says Moore.

He goes on to say that sponsorship is less and less about eyeballs and more and more about using passion to change emotions and habits. In order to achieve the 6 times ROI that sponsors are looking for, sailing needs to focus on its strengths and remember that often the marketing director will not know or care who ISAF is or what a tack or gybe means. To put things into perspective – in France, sailing is not listed in the top 10 played sports.

So what are the strengths of sailing? Well the sport has “dwell time” – events are long and when coupled with hospitality provide a chance for people to talk, network and do business. Sailing also has stories that speak to wide audiences, but more needs to be done to create passion and fans.

Sailing can be a very powerful platform for doing business though. Its not always obvious why a sponsor is spending so much money, especially if they are a B2B brand. The insight presented at the forum by Richard Brisius from the Ericsson Racing Team reminded us of what sponsors are looking to achieve and how to sell to those needs.

The race off the water is as important as the race on the water. One is for first position and the other is for the customer. This means that the activation that sits around the sponsorship is as important, if not more important than the floating billboard. During the Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson talked used its two boat campaign to talk to 12,667 target groups and 480 organisations.

As well as the activity on the water, there were round table discussions that brought together key players in the industry. Ericsson provided an environment for CTOs and other industry leaders to talk to each other, positioning the company as a leader. For Brisius, any media value was a bonus. As he said “the business is not happening on the boat, the business is happening in the hospitality unit.”

Similar goals are behind why Volvo does the race in the first place. Karin Backlund from Volvo Cars explained in her presentation that ownership of such a global sporting property allows the company to change the perceptions of customers over the long term. The race also helps to build pride in employees around the world, something that many sponsorship hunters overlook.

Volvo is a brand that has done a great job at being top of mind for one word – safety. Perhaps too good a job. The Volvo Ocean Race is a mechanism to slowly move customer perceptions to thinking of Volvo in terms of performance too. The brand values that Volvo shares with sailing are; Safety and the Environment, design and quality, performance and teamwork. Volvo has traditionally been about rationality. The race adds passion and emotion.

At the end of the day (or race) Volvo have to sell more cars, busses or marine engines. The race is global and therefore taps into the diversity of the Volvo customer base. 10,000 Volvo guests can interact with the brand and the footage can be used at other events by integrating the marketing at Motor Shows.

Volvo get a return on investment of 300-400% in terms of brand exposure and 55% of people are more positive about the brand as a result of the race.

The panel that followed the presentations for this session was a little short, but most on stage agreed that the platform served to win hearts and minds, not eyeballs. There is a sense that sailing is still the “wild west” – that rights management and sponsorship measurement are not fully understood.

One figure mentioned was that HSBC recieve over 10,000 sposnsorship proposals a year. That’s a lot of paper and a lot of competition. Those looking for sponsorship need to understand what brands are looking for and tailor their offer accordingly.

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