A unique global event...
Communications director Tim Kelly outlines some of the management challenges of the Velux 5 Oceans and highlights the complexity of building a media team capable of doing justice to the diversity of stories that it generates
The Velux 5 Oceans presents a particularly complex communications challenge. Like all solo offshore races, it brings together a special group of individuals, exceptional characters who hold appeal for landlubbers and their fellow sailors the world over. However, what sets us apart from other shorthanded races is the duration and scope of the event. Not only do our skippers traditionally hail from all over the planet, but pitstops on five continents ensure that the action engages a diverse range of cultures and languages.
The result is a race- or event- that offers a truly global media appeal over nine months. But this format, comparable only to the Volvo Ocean Race, introduces a number of challenges with respect to management and race communications.
The race has already announced a raft of measures to support the skippers, including the largest prize fund on the Open 60 circuit, and direct investment in the accommodation, logistics and communications budgets for participating teams- all designed to neutralise the supplementary costs associated with taking on the five distinct ocean sprints. Sitting alongside this, the communications team will seek to ensure that the race delivers a return on investment for the skippers and their sponsors by providing a range of innovative media services.
Investing 2.6 million euros to deliver a minimum of 80 million euros of media value...
The Velux 5 Oceans 2010-11 has far-reaching objectives in terms of media exposure for the event and for the teams taking part. Having delivered over 66 million euros of media value for our partners in the last edition, this time around we have set ourselves a target of exceeding 80m euros. To achieve this, we have tripled our internal budget for media and marketing activities to 2.6m euros, and we will work tirelessly to ensure that all our stakeholders receive a return on their investment in global coverage.
It's all about the team...
Our media strategy is founded on the principles of creating a multi- language team of industry experts to take the stories of the race to all media channels across the planet. We want to engage with a global audience via traditional and new media, all feeding off each other and pushing the race further and wider than ever before. As we build up to the race start, we are increasing our media team to ensure that we provide a world-class service to skippers around the world. But creating such a team is no easy task, espe- cially given the range of languages, stories and content required to take the race into people's homes. Come race start, there will a huge number of people working on behalf of the race, both on the ground in La Rochelle and in the stopovers, as well as remotely.
Delivering international television coverage
We will offer 360° audio-visual output, including global news services, a 12-part documentary series for key international television channels and a proactive digital campaign. Our video production team will travel the world to recount the story of the race and take the event to a mainstream audience far beyond traditional sailing boundaries.
World-class photography
The last edition of the race generated some iconic imagery, winning awards for the drama and emotion captured over the course of the ultimate solo challenge and prompting some 30,000 high- resolution downloads. 2010-11 will be no different, with a dedicated photo agency charged to deliver creative high-quality images and world-class distribution.
Truly global press relations
A central press office, supported by content writers from the key skipper territories, will push out multi-language content to our international network of agencies around the world. These agencies will be charged with ensuring that the race delivers news and features across national and regional media outlets in their countries- something that can only be done by an agency engaging with their national media within its own home market.
A cutting-edge digital profile
The Velux 5 Oceans is committed to improving the digital profile and presence of the race since the last edition, and is now working with sturm@drang from Germany, one of the best agencies in the business. The digital team will create a cutting-edge homepage and online community that can tap into fresh content coming from the rest of the team.
The media success of the Velux 5 Oceans in 2010-11 is of paramount importance to Clipper Ventures and to Velux- and all the participating teams will directly benefit from the significant resources activated in this area. We hope that the next race will come to be regarded as one of the pinnacle ocean-racing events in terms of its media service and output.
Entry update
The race management has already received five completed entry forms, representing skippers from five different countries and three continents. Race manager Kiny Parade continues to receive new enquiries each week and is currently working alongside a number of skippers to help them to finalise their entries.
http://seahorsemagazine.com/2009-September/velux.php