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4:56 PM Thu 18 Dec 2008 GMT
For those who missed the comments that came out of the recent Monaco Yacht Racing Forum, here is a sort of 'digest of the digest'. There is a strong message here - look after your sponsors! Bear in mind that we in Asia are sitting in the middle what is potentially the hottest marketing and sponsorship property on the planet (present financial crisis aside) and if you/your club/your event is not attracting sponsors then the reason might be that you aren't going about it the right way - or, if your sponsors don't stay more than one year at a time, then maybe they aren't being looked after properly and are not achieving the exposure and media coverage that they are looking for. Take a look at some of these comments:
Mark Turner, CEO Ocean Challenges:
'The only reliable source of revenue is sponsorship. But the competition is tough and we need to be smarter.' America's Cup and World Match Racing Tour veteran and promoter, Peter Gilmour stated that while yacht clubs do a great job at introducing people to sailing and perpetuating the sport, they 'do not run events well.'
Lynn Fitzpatrick, Sailing journalist:
'There is a paradigm shift in the composition and complexion of sponsorship packages and programs. The public sector is playing a larger role, particularly in areas of the world trying to grow tourism or redevelop their waterfronts. Maritime festivals, boat shows, royalty, concerts, personalities, calendar placement and coordination contribute to creating successful events. Add spectators through PR and marketing, written press, television and radio coverage and new media and sponsors can, and do, get excited.'
David Barrow:
'I will always remember the first press meeting for the Volvo Ocean Race at an Earls Court London Boat Show when the speaker, whose name I forget, got up at the end of the press meeting and said: 'Gentlemen I would remind you that at the end of the day we are very happy to sponsor your Around the World Race, we are also very happy to get behind your youth program, but never let it never be forgotten that we are here to sell cars'. We would do well to heed those words! Sponsors are in it for marketing.
We need to form a proactive way to attract sponsors and then support and respect them. On another occasion I was at a Mumm 36 World Championship prize giving and the sponsors were giving the prizes. The noise from the assembled crowd of competitors was appalling, to the extent that it was hard for the sponsors to make themselves heard. This was until the then CEO of Group 4 stood up and told the crowd what a bunch of miserable people they were and they could show a bit of respect for the sponsors. Throughout the rest of his speech you could have heard a pin drop. Thank goodness he stuck with it and is still a very big sponsor of Mike Golding with Ecover.'
Some of the very big boys are looking at their sponsorship in Formula One and other events, and if the likes of Honda are pulling out, we had better think very carefully about what our sport is going to do to stem the tide of current economics and attract the big names to our sport. Respect to sponsors, you deserve it. Title sponsors are going to be hard to come by and we will have to earn them in future.'
Chris Savage, KOS Images:
It needs certain skills to pitch the proposition and sell it in with confidence at the highest level - skills and knowledge on a level with those you are pitching too. The people in sailing who have been capable, or who are capable, of doing this are very few. There is a large turnover of sponsors in sailing which, in my opinion, is not healthy. If a sponsorship activity generates ROI many times the outlay (I used to use a target multiple of x10) companies generally stay longer as they are in no hurry to leave. Potentially, a ten times return on sponsorship can be better value than traditional marketing activities during a recession.
Alex Johnston, Sailing Manager RHKYC:
Various people commentated very positively that the RHKYC was present, as Asia was very under represented. Other clubs present were Royal Thames Yacht Club, Royal Yacht Squadron, RORC and the St Francis Yacht Club from San Francisco but all were very low profile.
Paul Cayard:
'To name a few people and organizations; Goran Petterson - President of ISAF, Mark Turner President of Offshore Challenges (which runs the Barcelona World Race, iShares Extreme 40 Series and Ellen MacArthur's projects), Knut Frostad - CEO Volvo Ocean Race, the managers of the TP 52 MedCup, representatives of Alinghi and BMW Oracle, the top sailing journalists, respresentatives of Sail Oman, UBS, Pindar, Slam, Audi, St. Francis YC, Royal Hong Kong YC, RYA, the Monsoon Cup, Yachting Korea, Sir Keith Mills who co-chaired London 2012 and the list goes on! A few decent sailors were on hand too including Ben Ainslie, Shirley Robertson, Sofia Bekatorou, Ian Williams, Peter Gilmour, Brad Butterworth, Alex Thompson, Cam Lewis and more'.
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia
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