B2B Activation Volvo Ocean Race Best Practice May 2013
INDEX The B2B Experience Project Management Planning & Race Activation Manual Pre & Post Race Activation Race: Activation Markets Your Assets: Brand Experiences Guests on board sailing VIP spectator boat On land hospitality: Ocean Race Club Prize Giving VIP Event Business Events Hospitality Events Optional Pavilion Client Service: Centralised turn-key solutions Best Practice Case Studies: Ericsson ABN Amro Volvo
The B2B Experience The Volvo Ocean Race offers a unique B2B platform to engage with customers around the world. All the experiences are delivered to a high quality in a relaxed and premium environment, helping to build meaningful relationships that typically translate into direct business results.Historically, the majority of the Teams’ main partners and race sponsors have used the race with a focus on B2B activation. There are many best practice examples, but we have chosen to highlight those that align most with your brand: ‣ ABN AMRO
(Team ’05-06) Ericsson (Team ’05-06 and ‘08-09)
Volvo Group and Volvo Cars (Race Sponsor ’11-12) Please find the case studies at the end of this document.
Project Management All best practice examples have in common a strong and well organised structure at the sponsor’s headquarters. This structure becomes responsible for managing corporate goals,
HQ & Board
centralising communication within the various business areas
Business Areas
and coordinating each of the different activation markets. The headquarters structure has historically contained one senior manager and a small team of activation experts working beneath them. A powerful structure is key for inspiring,
Project Owner
Team
motivating and leveraging the activation in each of the different markets. There are numerous examples of CEOs who have
chosen to focus all of the company’s B2B activation on the Volvo
Expert
Expert
Expert
Ocean Race: Carl Henric Svanberg (Ericsson), Rijkman Groenink (ABN Amro), Georges Kern (IWC), Stefan Jacoby (Volvo Cars), Olof Persson (Volvo AB) and Jochen Zeitz (Puma)
Markets & Regions
Volvo Ocean Race
Planning & Race Activation Manual ‣A
proper planning tool is key to the success and efficiency of the B2B campaign
including a strategy and activation plan that aligns with the company goals. The final milestone of the activation plan is the “Sponsorship Manual”. This document is produced by the project management team in collaboration with Volvo Ocean Race’s commercial team and is essential to getting buy-in from the different regions and local
markets. Best practice Sponsorship Manuals in the Volvo Ocean Race share a similar structure: Alignment: Clear presentation of the B2B rights and benefits available for the specific market/region, goals, activation needs, local opportunities and cost implications. ‣Involvement:
Explanation of the company headquarter’s involvement and support to
the local markets’ activation as well as a detailed presentation of the project management team. Simplicity: Clear presentation of the B2B rights & benefits available for the specific market/region, goals, activation needs, local opportunities and costs implications.
Pre and Post Race Activation
The Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 lasts for 9 months and visits 9 countries across the
world. Most companies focus the B2B activation plans during the race period, however best practice case studies show a significant value from utilising the crew and the race yacht in both pre and post race periods.This approach allows the company to activate B2B relationships in the intimate environment of the team’s race preparation. The team can create and model customised events for specific corporate goals and expand the timings to increase the project return on investment.An additional option is to use non-race periods to activate markets that are important for the company but the race is not directly visiting. For example, teams have in the past used the classic Rolex Fastnet Race to activate their business in the UK combined with guest sailing experiences.
Pre and Post Race Activities
The B2B activation activities in pre and post race periods include the following opportunities: Corporate Sailing. An unforgettable experience for your customers, sailing with the
stars of your team for a day or shorter periods.
B2B
Events combined with PR activities. Race yacht christening ceremony. Sailing at iconic points/scenes in key countries (photo shoots). Participation in pre and post race races in key markets. Use of the skipper and crew for company business activities. Team and Skipper presentations and motivational
speeches. Customer groups and seminars. Internal Marketing Events. Team visits to the company offices and headquarters.
Race: Activation Markets The focal point of the B2B activities during the race are the Race Villages in each host city. Set in a dockside environment with the race yachts as a backdrop, the Race Villages are alive with activities, local flavour and culture. Clients and customers can watch and participate in the crew’s preparations for the next stage of battle. This kind of intimate access is rare in
international sports, but has been an integral part of the Volvo Ocean Race’s experience offering.The race’s expansion into new emerging markets like China and Brazil has strengthened its position as a sponsorship proposition for global brands. Best practice companies use a particular destination to activate an entire region. This can be the specific country hosting the event, or a wider geographical area in order to make the most of the opportunity. For example, the stopover in Auckland can activate the whole Australasia region and not only New Zealand, or the stopover in Abu Dhabi can activate the whole Middle East.
Your assets: Brand Experiences The hospitality activation opportunities within the race are wide. You can easily adapt your customer’s race experience to your B2B objectives. We describe the key experiences and/or B2B assets in the following pages.
Guests On Board Sailing Unique experiences for VVIPs.
The Team
partnership offers you the rare opportunity to sail onboard your race yacht alongside your team’s sailing stars in Pro-Am races,
In-Port Races and Leg Starts. These hospitality experiences are truly memorable and one of the most unique in the world of sports today. The guest spots onboard are a “money can’t buy experience”, as the asset is exclusive and reserved for teams and race partners only. In
addition, as a team partner you can utilise the boat and the crew for corporate sailing during non-racing days. A private guided tour of your race yacht and your Team’s shore base guided by your skipper or crew is another strong experiential asset with potential to deliver an exceptional VIP feeling to your customers.
VIP spectator boat Your guests can follow the In-Port Race in the middle of the action onboard an official Volvo Ocean Race VIP spectator boat. The VIP boats are driven to the best location next to the race course (VIP area), and they include luxury catering, hostesses and a sailing legend commentating the action.As an alternative, you can create a customised experience by chartering an exclusive VIP boat at key locations. Volvo Ocean Race will provide contacts with local and recommended event companies.Teams normally also bring a VIP RIB to follow the action on the water. This RIB can also cater for 2-4 guests with special sailing interest, giving them the opportunity to follow the race with the team managers, experiencing the tension and intensity of the racing.
On Land Hospitality: Ocean Race Club During the sailing weekend events, the Ocean Race Club centralized hospitality structure is the VIP place to follow the race on land, with screens, commentary, first class catering and a friendly hospitality environment.
Prize Giving VIP Event An Official Prize Giving dinner is hosted by Volvo Ocean Race in each Host City. The attendance is limited to race stakeholders and teams. The
evening
includes
a
memorable
multimedia
show
highlighting the last offshore leg and racing and the race crew and skippers will be present at your tables to share their experiences. Traditionally, Prize Giving events are held at city landmark venues such as art centres, iconic buildings or entertainment complexes. The dinners are popular events among sponsors and provide an excellent evening to share with your clients.
Business Events Companies involved typically use non-race time with corporate guests to create business events such as meetings, seminars, workshops or presentations, which allow quality network time with your clients and customers in the stopovers. Even during racing, Volvo Ocean Race headquarters can facilitate live video conferencing with your race yacht through the Inmarsat satellite network which can provide a unique and surprising element to a business meeting or conference.
Hospitality Events Your company will have the option to create a more informal tailored made hospitality event for your customers, in addition to the official events provided by Volvo Ocean Race. These events can be as simple as breakfast, lunch, dinner or cocktails
or
more
extensive
events
including
experiences provided by a host city event company.
local
Optional Pavilion Your company has the option to manage it’s own pavilion at key stopovers. The pavilion creates a promotional brand experience for the general public and can provide an exclusive corporate area during the entire stopover. The space is available beforehand at a reduced and capped price at each stopover (₏55/m2). A pavilion can travel with the race logistics services to every stopover or to key destinations only. There is also an option to only ship the content and instead rent the outside structure locally in each destination, preferably from a global provider recommended by Volvo Ocean Race. Volvo Ocean Race will provide expertise to give guidance and best practice both related to structure, logistics, project management and cost.
Client Service Centralized turn-key solutions The sponsor will nominate a person in charge of managing and organizing all it’s B2B activities within the race. Volvo Ocean Race will provide a Client Services Manager to service you as a client and assist in organizing and coordinating your hospitality and B2B needs. Volvo Ocean Race’s Hospitality department offers a centralized, optional hospitality solution for teams and stakeholders. The various experiences for the customers will be grouped in different hospitality packages so that you can easily select the most relevant option. The packages are divided into: On the water hospitality: VIP Boat and VIP RIBSOn land hospitality: Silver, gold and platinum packagesRace Village day: Access to restrictive chill-out bar area, bespoke hospitality events, business events or Village ToursPrize Giving eventAdditionally, the Hospitality department will assist with coordination and organisation of customised events.
Ericsson Case Study
Ericsson announced its intention to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race early in 2005, and although its performance in the race, finishing fifth overall was considered to have been below expectations, the company ran a copybook sports sponsorship and marketing campaign, using its global networks to leverage maximum benefit from its participation, especially in the businessto-business sector, whilst at the same time further enhancing the Ericsson brand worldwide. Sponsorship Objectives: Ericsson had become exclusively a business-to-business brand, and a highly profitable one, and we were seeking a truly global project with which to strengthen the brand, provide a platform on which to meet with key customers and clients as well as an opportunity to showcase our leading edge technologies in a relevant context within a harsh operating environment” explained Dusyant Patel, Ericsson’s Marketing Director and Chief Operating Officer for the Ericsson Racing Team.“The clear focus of our campaign was to use the Volvo Ocean Race to spend both social and business time with key executives from our major business partners, prospective clients,
those
with
influence within
the
industry
and
our
stakeholders, whilst at the same time showcasing our technology and enhancing the Ericsson brand”. Dusyant Patel continued, “We looked at various global projects, golf, tennis but we finally considered the global Volvo Ocean Race would provide us with all the components we needed to meet our objectives”
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Implementation The
Company.
of
Ericsson was guarded about the cost of their Volvo Ocean Race
telecommunications equipment and related services to mobile
campaign, citing “Commercial confidentiality,” Dusyant Patel said,
and fixed network operators globally. Over 1,000 networks in 140
“Our competitors would love to know how much we spent, but from
countries utilized Ericsson network equipment and 40 per cent of
Ericsson’s point of view, we invested not only in the racing project,
all mobile calls were made through its systems. The company’s
but also in a strong utilization campaign, and we did not need to
stated aim was to be, the prime driver in an all-communicating
create additional marketing spend on the Volvo Ocean Race”“We
world, and it employed around 60,000 staff worldwide. Ericsson,
were able to apportion the costs across three accounting periods
whose
and
and between several business units, and we were always confident
Perseverance reported annual sales of over US$ 20 billion in
that we would achieve the 300%-plus return on investment in media
2005, and its key markets were the USA, which accounted for
value alone”. At the heart of the Ericsson Volvo Ocean Race
12% of sales, China (8%), Italy (7%), Brazil (5%), Spain (5%),
campaign were the racing boat, which was managed by Atlant
Sweden (4%) and the UK (3%).By 2004, Ericsson was
Ocean Racing, as was their fully-branded Volvo Open 60, which
recovering its commercial position following a turbulent period
was available at each stopover for client entertainment and, in the
either side of the new Millennium having posted record losses,
words of Dusyant Patel, “A quite unique, extremely memorable
shed almost 40% of its workforce and undergone a root-and-
hospitality experience”. Ericsson also designed and constructed two
branch restructuring that saw its mobile phone manufacture and
Ericsson Information Pavilions, a pair of identical pods, which
content business hived off into a joint venture with Sony through
leapfrogged each other around the world, providing the company
Sony Ericsson, leaving Ericsson to concentrate on its core
with a high-tech, blue-chip base at which to showcase their
activities, as a leading business-to-business player in the global
technology.
core
Ericsson
values
were
is
a
world-leading
Respect,
provider
Professionalism
communications industry.
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Ericsson’s 60,000 employees around the world were also “We had a Capital Markets Day in New York on 10th/11th May with our entire senior management present, and we demonstrated our technological solutions by linking up live with the Ericsson boat near the equator, and the value of that sort of platform is incalculable,” explains Dusyant Patel, adding, “We took over 4,000 key contacts to the stopovers and the Ericsson Pavilion was the jewel in the crown, seeing our leading-edge technology at work, in the global communications context of the Volvo Ocean Race was awesome”. He added, “Of the 4,000-plus guests Ericsson entertained at the Volvo Ocean Race, over 80% of them were of a very senior level, executive vice president upwards, which meant we not only had access, but we had it at the correct level for sustained periods of time in an atmosphere that was highly
specifically engaged with the Volvo Ocean Race campaign, and as Dusyant Patel said, “The campaign provided a perfect focus for our workforce, a project to be proud of, something they could
relate to, sophisticated technical solutions achieved under pressure involving great teamwork achieved at the margins of technology.“Over 85% of our workforce believed the Volvo Ocean Race was a worthwhile exercise for the company, and 75% considered the Volvo Ocean Race had established enhanced pride in the company and been a strong motivating force” he
concluded.7,800 Ericsson employees were on hand to welcome the Ericsson Racing Team ‘home’ to Gothenburg, but as a global operation, Dusyant Patel says, “Every stopover felt like a homecoming for the team”
conducive to both building relationships and doing actual business”“In terms of more formal meetings, such as Capital Markets Days, Investors and Analysts Presentations, which would have taken place as a matter of course, placing them in a Volvo Ocean Race setting gave a huge added incentive, a strong relevance and the strongest possible focus on our business” “We
are absolutely delighted with the raw data gathered, figures far in excess of expectation,” commented Dusyant Patel, who added, “In media value alone, we achieved a commercial return of between 450% - 500% return on investment”
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Evaluation Significant brand recognition and reinforcement in the 1.8+ billion ‣Ericsson
undertook a root-and-branch evaluation of the Volvo
cumulative global TV audience for the 2005 / 2006 Volvo Ocean
Ocean Race project resulting in a cost benefit analysis, revealing
Race.3,993,065 mobile pages delivered, peaking at 170,000 on
between 450% - 500% return on investment. A summary of those
17th June 2006, the final day of the Volvo Ocean Race.2,250,000
findings is as follows: Direct face-to-face quality time spent with
unique
over 4,000 key clients, customers, prospects, regulators, specifiers
www.ericssonracingteam.com between September 2005 and
and innovators. Key platforms included corporate hospitality, on-
June 2006 inclusive.“Impressive as these numbers are, it was
board entertainment, product / service showcasing, worldwide
the quality of the return as well as the quantity that has
branding and extensive media relations. Over 250 meetings with
impressed us here at Ericsson, a combined qualitative and
existing and potential business partners in each of the 11 stopover
quantitative return far in excess of expectations” concludes
and pit-stop ports. Relationships established / built / strengthened
Dusyant Patel. “Based on the commercial success of our
with 400 companies and organisations in over 100 different
campaign, I think it is very hard to find a better, more efficient and
territories
worldwide.100 technical seminars organised and
cost-effective platform than the Volvo Ocean Race. It most
conducted on all five continents of the world. Relationships
definitely ticked all of Ericsson’s business boxes” said Bert
developed with over 2,000 accredited journalists and broadcasters
Nordberg, Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing at
in the business, financial, technology, telecommunications and
Ericsson. As a result of the success, Ericsson came back to the
sailing sectors.
race and won it in the 2008-09, with the same team management
visitors
to
Ericsson
Racing
Team
website
and a Team skippered by the Brazilian star Torben Grael.
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ABN AMRO Case Study
“We achieved, indeed exceeded our objectives, especially in the areas of media value, employee engagement and the unique experience we were able to afford to our key clients and customers
around the world” Jan Berent Heukensfeldt Jansen Managing Director, Team ABN AMRO Sponsorship objectives ABN AMRO had already been a supporting sponsor to one of the syndicates in a previous running of the event and had been keeping a close eye on the Volvo Ocean Race as a potential marketing vehicle. When the company made the decision to standardise its corporate colours and branding across the whole group they looked for an international sporting event that would deliver the media and marketing impact that they sought. ABN AMRO considered golf, tennis and sailing, and within sailing, The America’s Cup, the Olympic Regatta and the Volvo Ocean Race. The Volvo Ocean Race was the only event that was truly global, embraced its core markets of North and South America and Europe, reflected its business of competing against the very best in the world in a hostile environment, aligned itself with the company’s strap line and delivered a vast array of corporate branding, communications and hospitality opportunities on an international scale. ABN AMRO also unashamedly went into the race to win it. The strap-line – Making More Possible – and the company’s corporate values: Integrity, Teamwork, Respect and Professionalism work well with sports sponsorship and worked exceptionally well with the basic themes presented by the Volvo Ocean Race.
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Implementation. ABN AMRO give clear examples of how the
Evaluation
Volvo Ocean Race helped leverage added value commercial benefit to the campaign: They spent quality time with 35,000 key
‣Team ABN AMRO leveraged the highest levels of benefit from
customers and clients before and during the race making them
its involvement in the Volvo Ocean Race through having two
feel special in the unique setting and ambience for the Volvo
boats in the line-up and winning the world’s premier offshore
Ocean Race. By engaging their 100,000 staff around the world in
yacht race. Total media value estimated at 65m €. 35,000 key
the campaign, from wearing ABN AMRO team gear to watching
B2B customers, clients and contacts entertained, 60% B2B
the boats being launched live on-line, they did not only excited
clients entertained at the “home” stopover in Rotterdam45% of
and stimulated the workforce, they inspired them. Through their
employees logged on to www.teamabnamro.com for the
media and broadcast operations, offering free stills and
christening of the boats45,000 members of staff wearing Team
broadcast images, generating stories, interviews and sailing
ABN AMRO team gear Team ABN AMRO branding in 3,700
copy, ABN AMRO estimated that they received over 65 million
branches in 52 countries2,500 journalists engaged85% of press
Euros worth of media value, well in excess of expectations. By
media exposure in lifestyle, sport and general features15% of
winning the Volvo Ocean Race, ABN AMRO amply reinforced
total media exposure in financial and business sector
and demonstrated their strap-line - Making More Possible - and their values - Integrity, Teamwork, Respect and Professionalism. The central element in participating in the Volvo Ocean Race was to introduce and enhance new corporate branding and their participation in the event did just that on a global scale.
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Volvo Case Study
“Volvo Ocean Race gives us a unique opportunity to interact and build
stronger relations with our customers. It strengthens our brand and contributes to our business by reflecting the Volvo Group’s core values”Olof Persson President and CEO, Volvo Group “Volvo Ocean Race is an important tool in our marketing strategy,
aiming to build our brand attraction and consideration to buy. The global reach of the Volvo Ocean Race makes it a fantastic commercial platform to build close customer relations” Stefan Jacoby President and CEO, Volvo Cars
Sponsorship objectives For the two Volvo companies the race provides a unique platform to build the brand, build relations and sell products and services globally. This is done through an active customer program in all the stopovers, where thousands of customers, media and dealers are given a taste of the race based on a global customised B2B program. Additionally, the association with the race helps Volvo to highlight the emotional aspect values of the brand, such as design and technology built around people’s needs.
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Implementation. The Volvo companies invite customers, media and dealers to the Stopovers to experience the Race Villages and get on the water for a first-hand experience of what the Volvo Ocean Race truly means.
On site, the Volvo Pavilion provides an
attractive base to educate invitees about the race and company involvement – with seminars covering topics such as transport solutions, energy, efficiency, logistics and safety – while many guests are also given the chance to get out and visit Volvo plants in countries where Volvo has industrial operations. Activation cuts across a wide range of activities, including product launches,
marketing
and
branding,
customer
service
and
employee involvement. As a tangible example, Volvo Cars
produces limited editions of vehicles and for the Volvo Ocean Race car edition the company runs a fully integrated Command the Extreme marketing campaign in TV, print, digital and social media. Employees follow the race online, via office displays and as players in the Volvo Ocean Race Game, while the visitors to the Race Villages join customers and dealers in getting experience of
Volvo products via displays, demonstrations and test-drives. There were demo and test-drive sites in Alicante, Auckland, Lorient and Galway, while Volvo Cars used the European stopovers to launch
Evaluation The main achievement for Volvo was to involve as many
customers and dealers as possible with a high quality program that included test drives, seminars and products, giving clients a perfect opportunity to discuss future needs. On top of that, journalists took part in programs and pre-test drives. Volvo Cars estimate to have sold a record 15,000 Volvo Ocean Race Limited Edition cars and Volvo Group more than 800 special edition Volvo Ocean Race trucks and almost 1,300 special edition Excavators. Both companies reached an all-time high for brand and product exposure in media, and counted a record number of guests on site. Volvo Group alone hosted more than 13,000 corporate guests during the 10 stopovers. “Volvo Ocean Race has been a great success, our customers have come closer to Volvo and the race creates a very important meeting place for us and our customers” Sven Österberg General Manager, Volvo Event Management
the new V40 to public, media and dealers. Volvo Construction Equipment held several press events during the race and launched
“For Volvo Cars this race continues to exceed our expectations
a new wheel loader and excavator in Auckland and a Pipelayer in
with regards to the return on investment and value, both in terms
Lorient. To further engage machine operators, Volvo Construction
of building the brand, giving guests a one-in-a-lifetime experience
Equipment held the competition Operators Club European Final in
and selling cars”
conjunction with the Alicante Stopover.
Karin Bäcklund
Director Global Sponsorship, Volvo Car Corporation 2/2
Contact Details: Knut Frostad CEO E-mail: knut.frostad@volvooceanrace.com Mobile: +34 606 334 480 IĂąigo Aznar Head of Commercial Partnerships E-mail: inigo.aznar@volvooceanrace.com Mobile: +34 618 531 208 Volvo Ocean Race S.L.U. Muelle nÂş10 de Levante Puerto de Alicante 03001 Alicante, Spain Main:
+34 966 011 100