T N E V E ORT P E R
G N O R T S G N I D E n G a N St a H C S D N I W IN THE
OF
Never before has the Match Cup Sweden undergone such a thorough overhaul as it did prior to the 2016 event, the 22nd of its kind. New boats, a new format, a replanned Race Village and, last but not least, the status as the World Match Racing Tour final all added to the excitement and suspense as the 20 teams began battling it out for the 1 million dollar grand prize. The result was outstanding. A brand new Sailors’ Lounge hosted by long-term partner Turkish Airlines, a Match Club that will late be forgotten and seldom before seen finals day action are some of the highlights of a week overflowing with positives. To top it all off we got a brand new winner in Marstrand in Phil Robertson, who celebrated in style with his team. This event report will take you through the facts, thoughts, images and memories that the Match Cup Sweden 2016 leaves behind. Enjoy!
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NS W O R C H IS SWED OR the WORLD RaISED F OD FOUNDaTION CHILDHO
150
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REaSE C IN T N E C PER Ok IN FaCEBO G FOLLOWIN
ING k R O W S R E VOLUNTEEVENT FOR THE
5,4
out of 6 overall rating of the event
”We are very positive towards Match Cup Sweden and I think the new format looks great. For us, the event plays a central part in our campaign to profile Marstrand as the leading sailing venue in Sweden. It’s the crown jewel of the summer when our services as well as local businesses want to perform at their best.” Håkan Karlsson, Kungälv Kommun
S a N E aR THE
5,1
out of 6 overall rating of the Match Cup Lounge
P U C H C T Ma UNGE
Match Cup Lounge came to new life as the Turkish Airlines Sailors’ Lounge became the center of attention. With a distinctive entrance arch, reminiscent of the award winning airport lounge in Istanbul, it gave a new and appreciated touch to the bar area. The terrace and VIP stand was packed to the rafters on the thrilling final day of sailing, one of the most breath-taking sights in Match Cup Sweden history!
D R a y T R U CO LOUNGE 5,0
Located on the top of Strandverket, theSource: Rooftopsponsor Loungeevaluation has been a long time running favorite at Marstrand, offering the ideal combination between following the races, having a bite to eat and enjoying a comfortable spot with your friends and colleagues. out of 6 overall rating of the Courtyard Lounge
4,9 The Courtyard Lounge hosted a successful After Sail with live music, food and drinks after intense days of sailing, but it was during Friday night’s Match Club that it really popped. A party that never wanted to end had people talking for days, and was surely the ultimate evidence that the Courtyard Lounge is an ideal setting for a good time. The food and drinks served by Ottos KÜk and Marstrands Havshotell played a bit part in the success of the Courtyard Lounge in 2016.
P O T F O O R E G N U LO
out of 6 overall rating of the Match Cup Lounge
S a N E aR THE
One of Match Cup Sweden’s absolute strengths is the natural Race Arena, right by the heart of the Race Village. The elevated cliffs makes the perfect spectator stand for the thousands of spectators that visit the event every year, giving them the possibility to both get an overview of the race course and get close to the action, to experience the speed of the M32 Catamaran first hand. The Race Village also hosted 27 exhibitors with a wide variety of activities for families and vacationers to enjoy between the races.
4,6
out of 5 rating for the atmosphere during the races (4,6 in 2015).**
RaCE ILLaGE
RaCE aRENa
&
“Match Cup Sweden 2016 put on quite a show as the M32’s were flying by the shore full of spectators. My strongest memory is the roar of the crowd ashore cheering as we went 1-1 in our qualifying match. It is truly a sports stadium made of sailing” Sally Barkow, Team Magenta
5,1
FLUX JUNIORNa aRE
out of 6 overall rating of the Flux Junior Arena
* Source: sponsor evaluation ** Source: Rubin Research public survey
Flux Junior Arena is the place to be for the event’s young visitors. With try out sailing, Pirate School, music quizes and dance parties, you won’t find a spot in Marstrand with more energy than here! GKSS AccessAbility Center returned with their popular Accessdinghies, that allows anyone, with or without functional disabilities to get a taste of sailing. Flux Junior Arena is also the heart of the Jr Cup, that once again brought over 100 talented young sailors to compete in the prestigious regatta.
L a I C SO TS N E V E THE
G N I N E P O INNER
4,7
5,1
out of 6 rating of the Opening Dinner
out of 6 rating of the food and drinks served during the event
4,5
Source: sponsor evaluation out of 6 rating of the Midweek Football Party
4,9
MIDwEEBKaLL FOOT RTy Pa
out of 6 rating of the Childhood Charity Lunch
D O O H D L I CH LUNCH y T I R a H C
L a I C SO TS N E V E THE
MaTCHB CLU
5,7
out of 6 rating of the Match Club party
D N a R T MaRS TE UPDa
5,1
out of 6 rating of the Marstrand Update
Source: sponsor evaluation
4,1
R a L L O D MILLION PaRTy
out of 6 rating of the World Match Racing Tour Million Dollar Party
“My strongest memory would be the perfect conditions and great racing we had on the final day, despite not coming away with the win, it was fun and exciting for everyone. Competing in Marstrand is special because of the natural stadium that the archipelago creates for the thousands of fans that come watch the exciting match racing� Taylor Canfield, USone Racing
5,6
out of 6 rating for the new sailing format
N O S T R E L a ROB N FI IN T N a H P M U TRI E L B a T T E G UNFOR
The deciding World Championship final between Phil Robertson Racing and Taylor Canfield’s team Us One is simply one of the most memorable moments in sailing history – a windy battle for the World Championship title and one million dollars. “It was fantastic – big waves, strong winds and a big crowd. You couldn’t ask for better conditions for the final of Match Cup Sweden”, says Match Racing World Champion Phil Robertson. Heading to Marstrand, many sailing fans viewed Taylor Canfield as the strongest candidate to grab the World Championship title and the American team lived up the expectations progressing comfortably to the finals. But Phil Robertson, who had raced Canfield in the final of the penultimate event in Newport, made an even stronger impression as his team made it to the finals without losing a single point after the qualifying round. Winds at over 25 knots and thousands of spectators at the Race Arena to witness the final – the stage was set for an epic
final. The deciding race became a breath-taking duel were the commentators struggled to keep up with the lead changes. The Kiwi team got a small advantage as Canfield received a penalty before the last rounding. Passing the finish line as World Champions for the first time, the smiles onboard Phil Robertson’s M32 were perhaps the biggest ever seen in Match Cup Sweden. “Since my first year at Marstrand it’s been a dream to win”, says Robertson. “The whole campaign I put together for the season couldn’t have been better with the small resources we had. As a team we have only sailed together this year and the guys all sacrificed a lot for the win so it is very special for us all.” ”For me it’s special in many regards. It’s like the Wimbledon of match racing. The best teams came and the event is one of the best in the world. I also met my girlfriend there. I really love the island and will hopefully get to spend a lot more time there in the future. Now we have one immediate plan, and that’s to defend our title in Marstrand next year”.
S T L U RES THE
1
2
4
CHRIS STEELE
IkER EZ MaRTIN
9
10
PHIL SON ROBERT
TaylORD CaNFIEL
MaTTHew JeRWOOD
6
7
8
yaNN RD GUICHa
IaN S WILLIaM
5
3
HaNS WaLLéN
SaM R GILMOU
STEVE THOMaS
11
MaTTIas RahM
16
I NICOLaD SEHESTE
12
S NICkLaM aR M a H k C a D
17
EVaN WaLkER
13
14
MURRay JONES
ERIC MONNIN
18
19
20
JOHNIE ON BERNTSS
keITH N SWINTO
SaLLy BaRkOW
15
BJÖRN HaNSEN
R O S N O P S N O I T a V I aCT
O V L O V
”Our new location in the Race Village gave us great brand exposure and attraction towards building relationships. We offered test drives with our new model Volvo S90, the exposure for our campaign “Volvo –Made by Sweden” was powerful both on land and on water, we were present as speakers during Marstrand Update and gave our annual contribution to the World Childhood Foundation.” Johanna Kinnander, Volvo Cars Sweden
”Turkish Airlines is very pleased with the outcome of the event for the past few years where we got a good exposure. Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul has become a special place that many travellers desire to spend their time in. And being inspired from this matchless environment, this year we built a Turkish Airlines Sailors Lounge at Marstrand, wishing for its special guests to experience a memorable time in this exclusive area.” Ömer Faruk Sonmez, General Manager of Turkish Airlines Sweden
H S I K R TU NES aIRLI
R O S N O P S N O I T a V I aCT
SENaB R INTERIÖ
A long-time partner to the event, Senab Interiör decorated the event’s lounges with stylish furniture, making them pleasant hangarounds for the guests. New for 2016, Senab Interiör hosted the Welcome Desk, contributing to its all time high rating of 5,5 out of 6.
ESkILSERI TRyCk
”We have produced printed material and branding for the event. We joined as partners because we want to build our brand in the west coast region and so far we are very happy with the result. Match Cup Sweden is a great platform for us to interact with our customers and during the week we had 80 guests at the event. The atmosphere on the island is great and you don’t have to be a huge sailing fan to enjoy it.” Glenn Bergman, Eskils Tryckeri
N a S S ä M Båt
A welcome addition to the Race Village this year was the Treasure Hunt hosted by Båtmässan. With a treasure map in hand, the event’s young visitors walked around the Race Village visiting the different partners and exhibitors looking for stickers to complete their album, giving them a chance to win great prizes from the participating sponsors.
”We are partners to the biggest annual sailing event in Sweden because we want to build our brand as providers of a safe and reliable taxi service. It’s a venue that many of our customers visit and where many other large companies in the region are present. We are the taxi company on the west coast and that’s why we want to be a part of Match Cup Sweden” Petra Kling, Sales and Marketing Officer at Taxi Göteborg
TaXI G R O B E T Ö G
Source: Rubin Research public survey
a I D E M & PR It’s safe to say that the new format in Match Cup Sweden 2016 boosted the interest of the event. The fact that it was a deciding World Championship final, that the M32 catamarans were sailed at the arena for the first time and the record breaking million-dollar prize check of one million USD opened up the event to a new audience and resulted in a substantial breakthrough in Swedish and international media. Match Cup Sweden 2016 was featured in Sweden’s biggest newspapers in print and online, broadcasted in sports TV news and in Swedish public radio. From June 1st to July 31st, 330 articles about the event where published in Swedish online news platforms. And, Match Cup Sweden 2016 was not only given great coverage in local medias but also in Dagens Nyheter, Expressen and Aftonbladet. A focus in the PR campaign is always to focus on the sailors and to try to build their personas, letting them be ambassadors for Marstrand. We believe this is an important key to getting good coverage of the event. We also make sure our press service works professionally. As journalists are more pressed for time than ever before, it’s important that we can distribute high quality image and news releases. While we struggle to keep the engagement in social media up through the whole year, our campaign to build up the event before and during the event was a success in 2016. Great images and videos from Marstrand where shared and liked and by our 15 000 Facebook fans The modern racing format has great potential to attract an even bigger audience in the future and it’s important for us to always try and find new ways to reach new fans.
G N I T E k R Ma
The digital development of the event’s marketing had a huge lift in 2015, and this trend continued in 2016. The Facebook following increased with an impressive 50% and reached over 15000 followers before the end of the event, beating events like Nordea Masters and tennis classic Swedish Open with a wide margin.
Match Cup Sweden continued their successful partnerships with media giants Stampen and Bauer Media, resulting in an extensive advertising campaign with a huge amount of radio spots, an interesting and widely distributed morning paper inlet as well as traditional fullsize ads in GöteborgsPosten and Veckans Affärer. Completing the campaign during the event week, daily schedules were published in Göteborgs-Posten, luring some of the last minute visitors to Marstrands. The partnership with Turkish Airlines once again gave the event exposure in the check-in hall at Landvetter Airport, visible for thousands of travellers on daily during a two week period.
4,8
out of 6 rating for the marketing campaign
! W WO That was a word frequently heard at the Race Arena at Marstrand this summer. And as we now reflect on the event in this Event Report, it’s still seems like the most fitting word to use to summarize Match Cup Sweden 2016. 22 years after the start, this summer’s event saw a new format with top modern M32 Catamarans introduced at Marstrand. It was a new boost of energy as the match acing elite gathered at Marstrand to compete for the world championship title and the victory bonus of one million dollars. For Brandspot, working with Match Cup Sweden the whole year around, our passion is not only about being a part of producing one of the best sailing events in the world. We always want to find new ways of drawing people to event and entertaining them. But our focus, and a key in making the event great, is the B2B platform that makes Match Cup Sweden attractive for our partners. And we are proud to see the feedback from the brands and businesses we have the pleasure to work with. Marstrand is a beautiful island, with a fantastic arena for sailing. Together with the race village we build up for the event, this creates a relaxed environment for building relationships. It may be about socializing with colleagues, new connections with new clients strengthening old relationships or brand exposure. Match Cup Sweden is simply a great venue for business and we want to continue to develop this to perfection. During Match Cup Sweden, the eyes of the international sailing community are fixed on us. And more so now than ever. Phil Robertson’s smile at the finish after the deciding World championship final is an unforgettable moment in our history. But the story continues and next summer we can’t wait to see the next chapter in 2017. Last but not least we want to thank all the sailors, partners, the people of Marstrand, the municipality of Kungälv, all the visitors and our fantastic group of volunteers for all the hard work, the smiling faces and congratulate you all on a job well done. Thank you and see you again next year. Erica Berghagen. Event Director
Publisher Erica Berghagen erica@brandspot.com +46-735-09 18 34
Project Manager Frida Bengtsson-SeldĂŠn frida@brandspot.com +46-735-88 47 01
Editor & Layout Patrik Hermansson patrik@brandspot.com +46-735-07 04 17
Writer Fabian Bengtsson fabian@brandspot.com +46-704-59 72 12
Photo Credit Wille Ulrich-Häreblad Ian Roman (c) 2016
! 7 1 0 2 N I U O Y SEE r e c y c l i n g , t r a d i n g a n d c a r i n gf o r t h e f u t u re