With fourteen months to go to the start of the Vendée Globe, twelve skippers have so far confirmed that they intend to take part in the solo round the world race and thirteen are still looking for sponsors. Having identified this situation, the organiser of the Vendée Globe wished to get these sailors in contact with prospective partners and marketing agencies. A meeting took place on Thursday at the Pavillon de l’eau in Paris, with the aim of showing that in spite of the current economic context, the Vendée Globe remains a safe choice in terms of media coverage and return on investment.
The start of the seventh edition of the Vendée Globe is rapidly drawing near. It will take place on 10th November 2012 in Les Sables d’Olonne. So quite logically, the line-up is becoming clearer. So far, twelve skippers have confirmed they will be taking part. They are Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA, Virbac-Paprec 3), Vincent Riou (FRA, PRB), Kito de Pavant (FRA, Groupe Bel), Bernard Stamm (SUI, Cheminées Poujoulat), Marc Guillemot (FRA, Safran), Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA, Banque Populaire), Arnaud Boissières (FRA, Akéna Verandas), Mike Golding (GB, GAMESA), Dominique Wavre (SUI, Mirabaud), Alex Thomson (GB, Hugo Boss), François Gabart (FRA, MACIF) and Javier Sanso (ESP, sponsor to be announced).
Thirteen other sailors would like to add their name to this fine list and are currently looking for financial partners. Among them, some of the leading lights from past races such as Jean Le Cam (FRA), Yann Eliès (FRA), Dee Caffari (GB), Samantha Davies (GB), Jérémie Beyou (FRA), Raphael Dinelli (FRA), Steve White (GB) and Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (FRA), but there are also some sailors who dream of competing in the Everest of the Seas for the first time: Alessandro Di Benedetto (ITA), Marc Emig (FRA), Louis Burton (FRA), Juan Merediz (ESP) and Boris Herrmann (GER). All of these candidates were present on Thursday in Paris, with the exception of Samantha Davies and Jérémie Beyou.
Major assets
The talks between skippers, sponsors, prospective partners and the organisers showed there are still some great partnership opportunities that brands wishing to become involved in sailing sponsorship should grab. Bruno Retailleau, President of the Vendée Council talked about “the three elements that characterise the success of the Vendée Globe. They are the simplicity of the concept, the popular enthusiasm it generates and the exceptional human adventure, which expresses such positive values. A lot of firms know about the Vendée Globe, as it represents such an extraordinary media opportunity” concluded the President of the Saem Vendée before he gave way to the many other participants attending this meeting.
The non-stop solo round the world race certainly has a lot of advantages to offer new investors. “It is hard to imagine a Vendée Globe without these sailors, who all have such exceptional or promising careers. We hope that this waiting list soon becomes a list of registered entrants,” insisted Jean-Pierre Champion, President of the French Sailing Federation.
Based on figures he provided, Guillaume Henry, General Director of the SAEM Vendée, showed that the Vendée Globe can be seen to be one of the most popular sporting events in France. For example, during the 2008-2009 race, 1.7 million spectators visited Les Sables d’Olonne – including 300,000 who attended the start – which means that the event is a perfect showcase for sponsors. The event also generates a huge amount of media coverage, as the figures from the last edition prove: 466 hors of television, 300 hours of radio, 18,600 press articles and around 59 million visitors to the official website. In all, the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe is said to have generated 145 million euros worth of media coverage.
Luc Talbourdet, President of the IMOCA class, the association for 60-foot Open monohulls, explained why it is so interesting at the present time to invest in the Vendée Globe: “There are still some exceptionally famous skippers available and there are some great boats on the market. They are more easily accessible than brand new boats, while still offering a good enough performance to allow the skipper to hope to win the race. In the end, we expect to see between 15 and 20 competitors at the start in 2012, as opposed to 30 in the last edition. So you can expect between 30 and 50% more media coverage for the sponsors.” Louis Guédon, MP and Mayor of Les Sables d’Olonne pointed out that “the Vendée Globe offers a dual economic advantage as it allows you to create a team spirit inside the company, which enhances performance, while at the same time improving the brand image conveyed to the general public.”
A winning commitment
To complete the presentation of the economic factors, four company bosses involved in the Vendée Globe explained the reasons why they signed up and the advantages they have obtained from their involvement. A good way of uniting staff within the company, of strengthening brand image and reputation in the eyes of the public, a way to improve customer loyalty and to promote sales. They offered a number of arguments to convince new investors to join in with this adventure. “The Vendée Globe is a guarantee of an excellent return on your investment” stated Pascal Cadorel, head of communications for the Sodebo Group, partner to the event and sponsor of Thomas Coville in the 2000-2001 race. “Our involvement in this race has contributed to the success of our company. Since we became involved in sailing in 1998, the media coverage has represented around 82 million euros and our reputation has been multiplied by 18.”
“You don’t need to turn up with a huge budget, as even smaller projects can lead to some interesting coverage,” added Christophe Chabot, CEO of Akena Verandas. “The Vendée Globe is the only race, which fascinates even people, who are not fans of sailing. That enables firms like ours to enter the world of sailing, which is something we would not have done if the Vendée Globe had not existed. It is in fact an interesting investment for small and medium sized companies, who can, as we did, take part once and then prolong their involvement into the long term with more ambitious projects, if the experience is positive.”
Régis Faour, Head of Communications for the Paprec Group, sponsor of Jean-Pierre Dick alongside Virbac, praised the value of a joint sponsorship, a solution, which allows firms to share the costs. “Paprec and Virbac work in very different fields, but we do share a belief in the strong values conveyed by the event,” he explained.
As for Jean-Bernard Leboucher, head of sailing projects at the MACIF and sponsor of the young sailor, François Gabart, he pointed out that the group, which has been involved in marine activities for a long time, chose the IMOCA circuit, as it offers the finest race programme, with events offering huge media potential, of which the Vendée Globe represents the pinnacle.
Following on from these various presentations, the skippers were able to meet prospective partners and agencies to talk about their projects, in the hope that this will lead to partnership contracts being signed and introduce them to some useful contacts.
