Steve White has now firmly established himself as one of the world’s elite group of solo sailors who have sailed non stop around the world, placing him in the company of legends such as Dame Ellen MacArthur and Sir Robin Knox Johnston. He staked everything to compete in the 2008-9 Vendée Globe solo round the world race, known as the “Everest of Sailing“, which made both Ellen MacArthur and Kingfisher household names in 2001.
In the current climate, sports sponsorship, and sailing sponsorship in particular, represents an excellent prospect for any company that is actively marketing themselves to get ahead of the competition. Sponsorship of Steve’s campaign is also an ideal way to project your strength and confidence in the future in a highly visible way. His ability to engage with clients, staff and the wider public in an inspiring and compelling way is a truly fantastic method of conveying your corporate message as people become involved and then build emotional ties with the campaign. If external marketing is not the aim, the campaign provides an excellent basis for internal programmes which motivate staff, create company pride and promote values, using team building on the boat and motivational speaking by Steve.
National coverage in the UK is outstanding for this event and huge globally. The 2008 Vendée Globe attracted a live audience of ten million and a total audience of 200 million in 22 countries; nearly 500 hours of TV coverage, 213 million race web page views, and 1.5 million people visited the race village. It is a very high profile race with continuous global media coverage lasting several months. Steve’s 2008 Vendée Globe campaign had huge media coverage in both the UK and France, and also globally, a significant amount of which was from the “Human Interest” angle.
The Vendée Globe only occurs once every four years, but the calendar is full of exciting events that lead up to and compliment it, starting with the VELUX 5-Oceans or Barcelona World Race in the winter of 2010/2011, the TJV and B2B transatlantic races in the autumn of 2011, the Transat in 2012 (Plymouth to Boston) then the Vendée Globe. There are also many other events to choose from in the calendar.
In addition to national and global brand exposure, sponsorship of White Ocean Racing can offer a combination of corporate hospitality and client networking events to involve colleagues and draw clients into what we see as the most interesting and challenging sporting event in the world. It allows you to raise your profile and to be seen alongside the largest of global corporations such as BT, Hugo Boss, Aviva and Veolia.
As the ultimate “green” sport, ocean racing is the perfect way to showcase eco friendly products and the environmental aspects of a company. Steve has an engineering background, and as such would make an excellent ambassador for technical products. Also, the campaign forms the basis of an excellent education programme, and is a fantastic way to highlight charitable involvement.
A package to suit a wide range of budgets and sponsorship requirements can be created, but Title Sponsorship includes;
- Naming rights to the boat,
- Title branding on the boat and sails,
- A package of additional benefits to include hospitality and team-building that we will discuss,
- A long term partnership
- The possibility of a promotional tour of the UK after the Vendée Globe
If you would like to become involved with the project then Steve and his team would be happy to discuss this with you. Please contact kim@whiteoceanracing.com