Volvo Ocean Race: Overview, Marketing, History

48 CASE STUDIES
THE MEDIA
A three man team was appointed to handle all press relations. EF also
commissioned two of the world’s leading yachting photographers to sail on the
yachts and take high quality pictures of the yachts during the first two legs of
the race.
EF had its own film crew. This footage was pooled with the race organisers and
distributed onwards to TWI and also to free-to-air terrestrial programmes.
CONCLUSION
The company reported successful achievement of all of its objectives.
Looking at the internal marketing objectives they reported that their
sponsorship resulted in:
• Committed and motivated personnel.
• A stronger feeling of unity throughout the company.
• A sense of pride in the company and its participation in the race.
As for external marketing objectives, they report the following results:
• Exposure: The ROI in terms of the estimated value media coverage alone for
EF was nearly 500%. The company evaluated press coverage relating to the
project with an estimated value of USD8 million and estimated value of TV
exposure achieved by the two yachts of USD40 million with an additional
USD36 million of news coverage.
• Recruitment: The number of spontaneous applications increased
considerably. Where previously EF had spent considerable amounts on
advertising, candidates were now registering without reference to
advertisements.
• Sales increases: EF experienced sales increases in some territories from the
moment they announced sponsorship of the race and measurable increases
in sales in other countries as the race reached them over the nine months.