About six months ago I stumbled upon a great site; sailgroove. For those of you that haven't checked it out, it's a great community style website mainly aiming towards college sailors. With tons of videos, pictures, and interviews; it is by far the best coverage of College sailing I've ever come across. Videos of almost every race are uploaded weekly from various events. Great racing tips, coaching tips, and chalk talks are posted weekly and results are easy to find.
What a great market to tap into. If every college sailor joins the site and stays active, that is a huge advertising market for companies. It seems that people are turning onto the idea of internet advertising as a business. Facebook, google, etc. all essentially provide a basic service with millions of users and then sell space to advertisers. Sailgroove could easily sell space to Gill, Harken, and tons of other companies. Not to mention the growth opportunities for the site itself. Sailgroove merchandise, regattas, coaching books and DVDs would likely sell very well in the youth market.
Almost like a Sailing Anarchy for the youth, but with more features and interaction, Sailgroove hopefully is a site that stays around for a long time.
Check it out: Sailgroove.org
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Selling to Sponsors
As sailing becomes more competitive and the technology that literally drives the boats also becomes more competitive the amount of money required to compete rises. Some one design campaigns require new sails almost every season. Sailing has always been an expensive sport to excel in but to compete in these high octane classes is brutal on your pocketbook. Many sailors turn to, or attempt to turn to, sponsors.
There are so many different angles and attitudes that companies take to sponsoring that it would be pointless to discuss them. Some simply want the publicity. Some just want their name on the boat and some want a full out financial backing. But all the sponsors are giving two things; their money and their brand.
Recently, a VOR boat had to drop out midrace because it could not find a main sponsor to continue it's race. How sad is that? A professional team can't even find a sponsor in what is arguabely the best marketed and well done crewed ocean race ever. Sure you can blame the world-wide economy but that isn't the entire answer. Gathering sponsors before and after this recession aren't as easy as some believe.
The problem with getting companies to financially back a team is that there is little recognition for them. With sailing events never on TV and boats rarely seen by more than hundereds they aren't willing to pour in the millions that they do to large sport interests. Until sailing finds a way to increase its viewership and publicity, sponsors will still be reluctant to give the dough. But don't let this fool you. Sailors are always trying to find ways to increase the publicity and viewership of the sport, and a lot of it is working. While on the other side, there are tons of companies that continue to sponsor or donate to sailing teams.
Imagine you are starting up a Mini campaign with your ultimate goal being to compete in the Mini Transat. You have some doublehanded racing experience on your own boat but have never taken in sponsors. What companies would you approach first for funding? Some sailors in this position have contacts in the business. They might know a shop owner or corporate executive that would consider sponsoring them based on a personal/professional background. Then where would you go after that? Many companies continue to sponsor sailing events around the country regardless of class or regatta. Rolex, Mount Gay Rum, Harken, Gill, etc. all come to mind. And they are going to ask you what in the world do you have to offer them that no one else has. Who has an answer for that?
One of the largest corporate backings that I can think of is Oracle. Then again, Larry Ellison owns the company. Do you think they would have backed the AC syndicate if Larry wasn't involved? I don't think so.
The sport has to increase on two fronts for the sponsorship to increase, viewership and publicity. Fourtunately they go hand in hand. Regattas and classes are always looking for ways to increase their media and public "popularity". Sometimes weekend regattas will get a 30 second spot on the nightly or 6AM news. Is this what the sponsor wants to pay for? Perhaps 500 people show up to the regatta. How many views does a billboard get?
Have you seen the BMW commericals that featured their AC racing boat? I'm not sure if they were ever aired in the US but they were online and perhaps aired in some markets. Sailing is always revered as a respectable, teamwork oriented, beautiful sport. So why don't more companies sponsor it and use the footage and pictures for their own promotional advertising? It's just not cost-effective for them.
There are so many different angles and attitudes that companies take to sponsoring that it would be pointless to discuss them. Some simply want the publicity. Some just want their name on the boat and some want a full out financial backing. But all the sponsors are giving two things; their money and their brand.
Recently, a VOR boat had to drop out midrace because it could not find a main sponsor to continue it's race. How sad is that? A professional team can't even find a sponsor in what is arguabely the best marketed and well done crewed ocean race ever. Sure you can blame the world-wide economy but that isn't the entire answer. Gathering sponsors before and after this recession aren't as easy as some believe.
The problem with getting companies to financially back a team is that there is little recognition for them. With sailing events never on TV and boats rarely seen by more than hundereds they aren't willing to pour in the millions that they do to large sport interests. Until sailing finds a way to increase its viewership and publicity, sponsors will still be reluctant to give the dough. But don't let this fool you. Sailors are always trying to find ways to increase the publicity and viewership of the sport, and a lot of it is working. While on the other side, there are tons of companies that continue to sponsor or donate to sailing teams.
Imagine you are starting up a Mini campaign with your ultimate goal being to compete in the Mini Transat. You have some doublehanded racing experience on your own boat but have never taken in sponsors. What companies would you approach first for funding? Some sailors in this position have contacts in the business. They might know a shop owner or corporate executive that would consider sponsoring them based on a personal/professional background. Then where would you go after that? Many companies continue to sponsor sailing events around the country regardless of class or regatta. Rolex, Mount Gay Rum, Harken, Gill, etc. all come to mind. And they are going to ask you what in the world do you have to offer them that no one else has. Who has an answer for that?
One of the largest corporate backings that I can think of is Oracle. Then again, Larry Ellison owns the company. Do you think they would have backed the AC syndicate if Larry wasn't involved? I don't think so.
The sport has to increase on two fronts for the sponsorship to increase, viewership and publicity. Fourtunately they go hand in hand. Regattas and classes are always looking for ways to increase their media and public "popularity". Sometimes weekend regattas will get a 30 second spot on the nightly or 6AM news. Is this what the sponsor wants to pay for? Perhaps 500 people show up to the regatta. How many views does a billboard get?
Have you seen the BMW commericals that featured their AC racing boat? I'm not sure if they were ever aired in the US but they were online and perhaps aired in some markets. Sailing is always revered as a respectable, teamwork oriented, beautiful sport. So why don't more companies sponsor it and use the footage and pictures for their own promotional advertising? It's just not cost-effective for them.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sailing Anarchy OTW
Everyday I have my usual "news" sites I check out. I start off at CNN just to make sure I'm not missing anything huge, then I wander over to some sailing sites. While there are many and I still haven't found them all yet, sailinganarchy.com seems to be the best.
While I haven't spent a lot of time in their forums, their front page write-ups are spot on with the scene of the sport from my eyes. They are showing their frustration with the AC battle by entering their own team, mainly to see how the teams will respond. One of the sailors I sailed with (I won't mention any names) has been to many of their regattas and says that no one parties like they do. They always keep things interesting and have good things to say.
Well, if you haven't already checked out the site, this feature will get you there. In the forums, they've added a new tab where they blog live from various sailing regattas. Sure, that's been done before. But they actually post live video from the water. Minutes after the live start occurs, you can watch it from the water with commentary on YouTube. Then, 45 minutes later you can watch the windward mark rounding complete with personal/professional commentary. Incredible how they took the almost impossible task of live sailing broadcasting and turned it into a simple internet YouTube activity.
Now, obviously the features are limited and there are delays but this is certainly a step in the right direction.
Keep up the good work SA.
While I haven't spent a lot of time in their forums, their front page write-ups are spot on with the scene of the sport from my eyes. They are showing their frustration with the AC battle by entering their own team, mainly to see how the teams will respond. One of the sailors I sailed with (I won't mention any names) has been to many of their regattas and says that no one parties like they do. They always keep things interesting and have good things to say.
Well, if you haven't already checked out the site, this feature will get you there. In the forums, they've added a new tab where they blog live from various sailing regattas. Sure, that's been done before. But they actually post live video from the water. Minutes after the live start occurs, you can watch it from the water with commentary on YouTube. Then, 45 minutes later you can watch the windward mark rounding complete with personal/professional commentary. Incredible how they took the almost impossible task of live sailing broadcasting and turned it into a simple internet YouTube activity.
Now, obviously the features are limited and there are delays but this is certainly a step in the right direction.
Keep up the good work SA.
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