In 2008, I started Yachtsponsorship.com. The site came about because I had been working in sports marketing for a number of years, worked with some incredibly professional people and learnt a few things about how sport can be used to inspire, but more importantly, the commercial value of sport.

Having seen the best practise employed by organisations like NASCAR, Manchester United and MotoGP, I turned to a sport that I had grown up with as a kid.

Sailing is more mass-market in Australia. In Melbourne, I grew up next to the sea and I remember watching sailing on free-to-air television, from the annual Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, to 18ft skiffs during the lunch-break of the cricket to the historic morning that my dad got me out of bed to watch Australia II win the America’s Cup in 1983.

The blog I started in 2008 then was intended to bring great sports marketing practise and professionalism to the sport of sailing.

I love the sport and believe that I have done a lot to promote it over the last couple of years, which is why I am dissapointed when I see amateurish behaviour at the highest level.

It’s even more disappointing when that amateurish behaviour centres around Australia and the America’s Cup.

Spokesmen for the new America’s Cup, like Russell Coutts and Jimmy Spithill keep reading out the line that the event is the pinnacle of the sport. The new deal is supposed to usher in a new era of professionalism that allows sailing to be pitched as a platform worthy to deliver a return on an investment over $50 million.

How then, can the America’s Cup organisers officially announce the entry of a team that can’t name a team principal, sailors, a challenging yacht club or have a live website?

In the year 2011, for a professional international sports team to not have a functioning website at the time of such an announcement just looks like amateur hour.

Speaking to some of Australia’s top sailors over the last few days – people who would be 1 & 2 on my speed-dial had I the investment to launch an entry I find that they haven’t heard anything about the campaign. Haven’t even had a phone call.

I hope that my fears about this campaign are unfounded. I hope that Australia can mount a challenge for the America’s Cup that brings to bear all the talent that the country has to offer – from world beating sailors to globally recognised boat design and technology to some of the most savvy sports marketing people on the planet.

If Australia is going to enter the America’s Cup after 10 years it has to be a proper go. Being the underdog is okay, and mounting the resources to take on Oracle racing, even with an Australian dollar that is parity with the greenback, is going to be tough. But there is underdog and there is amateur and we’ve moved on – haven’t we?

It seemed more appropriate to put these thoughts here rather than Yachtsponsorship.com – It’s a more personal, less considered thought process than Y$ readers expect.

I have been thinking about the way in which the Defender of the America’s Cup – BMW ORACLE, led by Russell Coutts, has been looking at ways to reposition the trophy. The stated aim of the process is to make the Cup more appealing to a younger, television audience.

Every interview that Russell Coutts does, he talks about “marketing experts” and “television experts”, but they are never named. We don’t know who these people are or what their credentials are for embarking on a massive rebranding exercise are. The following scene came to mind:

There’s no reason why the identities of the ‘experts’ should be a secret. I just hope that they are the best there is. Not the best in sailing, but the best. If BMW ORACLE can afford the priciest litigators in the country, then they should be able to employ a similar calibre of television creatives and marketing people.

Personally I don’t think that just putting something exciting on television is enough. There are hours of exciting sports coverage that no-one watches. The people who need to be paid are the people who are going to sell the America’s Cup as a movement – make it a meme – create buzz and glamour. Being at the America’s Cup needs to be a ticket as hot as walking the grid of the Monaco Grand Prix. Some different camera angles aren’t going to do that.

So to borrow a theme from one of the most successful television products of recent times - Who are you?

• Is there any specific reason why tonic water Should be consumed within 3 days of opening as directed by the label? #FB #
• Absolutely torrential rain in London. Roof of the Waterloo station can’t handle it. #
• Talking offshore sailing with… (@ Benugo Bar & Kitchen) http://4sq.com/coCkT8 #
• I already have “tweet” buttons on my sites. What advantage doe the ‘official’ one give me? #
• In london today for a couple of meetings. yacht racing, sports marketing and word of mouth. #

• RT @yachtbusiness: Jaguar’s Sponsorship of America’s Cup Style Sailing Delivers. http://bit.ly/drvGj4 #AC34 @teamorigin @jaguarukpr #

Over the last few months, representatives of the defender of the Americas Cup – BMW Oracle, have been on a PR mission to reinvent the oldest sporting trophy as an extreme sport that appeals to ‘Generation Y’. To this sports marketing person, it’s a mistake.

It seems that those at the top of the sport of sailing have so little regard for the cup that they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees protecting, that they are willing to consider throwing out years of tradition and history and burn loyal customers of the event to appeal to some ad-man’s favourite sociographic audience segment.

Doesn’t anyone remember ‘new coke’? One of brand marketing’s most catastrophic failures. The new-deal America’s Cup positioning and posturing seems to be making all the false assumptions that led the world’s most popular cola losing huge chunks of market share, not to mention brand equity.

Ok, so the America’s cup is not an FMCG product, but one can’t imagine other global sports properties abandoning their tried and tested formulas in favour of ‘extreme’ versions.

Many in sailing like to compare themselves to Formula 1. In this case F1 is an interesting comparison. The sport has changed its rules from time to time to increase overtaking opportunities and make the sport more appealing to fans, however – F1 is still open 4 wheel racing around circuits. Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t seem too worried that Generation Y are watching Ken Block gymkhana urban rally video on youtube. It doesn’t look like F1 will pander to some Californian X-games model and totally change its format anytime soon.

Similarly the Ryder cup seems sure enough of itself that it doesn’t need to appear cool to the ‘golfpunk’ crowd and the Rugby World Cup is still played with full teams rather than the quicker 7s game. Even though 20-20 cricket has taken off in a huge way, The Ashes is still played as a series of 5 day test matches. So why does the format of the America’s cup have to change?

Well probably the biggest reason is that sailing is not able to guarantee a TV slot. It is true that the America’s Cup suffers from not being able to push a starter motor button or guarantee a kick-off at a predetermined time. This is imperative for television coverage. The move to create an America’s Cup boat that has a wider wind range, thus reducing ‘dead air time and ‘AP’ flags is a welcome modification to the sport.

Russell Coutts is a legendary sailor and a brilliant designer, but global rebranding is probably not his strongest trait.

Larry Ellison has built a hugely successful brand and probably has a good idea about positioning complex products to a global market. Perhaps there is an xtreme Oracle solution for Gen Y IT folks that I haven’t come across, but for the most part the company’s customers are at the enterprise level. Ellison should know that his government, military and institutional clients would have problems if tomorrow Oracle turned around and said – “thanks guys, but we’re going to change our approach to be ‘cool’ “.

While Coutts and Ellison are the guys out front selling the generational change, they say they have a group of experts advising them. These experts haven’t been named, so we don’t know if they have any credibility at rebranding a 150 year old sports property, but if they are being paid as much as the lawyers were last time round, there may be hope.

There are changes that could help market the Americas Cup to a wider audience without having to reverse or radically alter the format that ‘most people’ recognise. They are in no particular order:

• A nationality rule. A kiwi CEO, an Australian skipper? No wonder american kids can’t get excited about the americas cup.
• Sell the people not the sport. People don’t say ‘I want to play golf’, they say ‘I want to be Jack Nicklaus’. they don’t say ‘I want to play tennis’, they say ‘I want to be Rafeal Nadal’. Sailing needs to influence people not to say ‘I want to go sailing’, but ‘I want to be Jimmy Spithill’.
• Be consistent. Earlier I said that the format of the Americas Cup should resemble the format that ‘most people recognise’. While most probably don’t recognise it at all, those who do are fairly passionate about it. As a 10 year old kid, who was woken up early one morning in 1983 – there is one memory in my head that is unlikely to be replaced by an ‘extreme’ Americas Cup. Leaving aside the most recent farce, the Americas Cup in ‘version 5′ boats has worked! Having re-established the monohull match racing format over several cycles and signalled to up and coming stars like Adam Minoprio, Torvar Mirsky that to become an Americas Cup winner, these are the skills required – a reinterpretation of the cup would have deep implications on the sport.

Last week, russell coutts met with teams from the extreme sailing series. The implication being that a multihull drag-race might be one way to make the America’s cup cool. While the americas cup has a lot to learn from OC Events about marketing sailing, they are different disciplines. Again – think of F1 suddenly deciding to adopt the NASCAR or world rally format!

So my question is – does the America’s cup have to reinvent itself, or do those marketing the sport need to do a better job?

Some changes, like being able to hold the event in almost all weather conditions are required. Turning the cup into a watered down piece of entertainment content is not a long term strategy.

Remember ‘New Coke’ !