America's
Cup - Sponsorship And The 2007 America's Cup In
Valencia Spain
Interview
with John Sweeney, co-founder of Sausalito Challenge
 |
John
Sweeney and Tina Kleinjan co-founders of
the Sausalito Challenge. Photo courtesy
of Chuck Lantz / www.2007ac.com
|
As
the Sausalito Challenge sponsorship auction on
eBay continues to get serious bids, and we begin
to hear the thumping sound from jaws dropping
all around the world, we figured it would be a
great time to get some input from the Challenge
partners, John Sweeney and Tina Kleinjan. Here's
how it went:
2007AC.com:
With at least nine bids over the USD18 million
mark, the auction appears to be headed for success.
How does it feel to be on the brink of single-handedly
re-defining the way the America's Cup bizz is
run?
John
Sweeney: Tina and I are both very happy.
While this week will tell if any company can step
up to the high 20's, either way we have succeeded.
Our first goal is to sell the sponsorship, but
we also wanted to educate the public about the
process. Since ACM isn't marketing the event at
all, we set out to also educate companies. Its
hard to get money when CEO's think the race takes
place in Switzerland in 2007. That 99% of what
we get when approaching companies. Overall its
really exciting. I wouldn't be toO excited if
I was on a team slated to try and raise $65M euro,
its not out there...
2007AC.com:
You seem to be the most visible America's Cup
team searching for sponsors. Does the eBay auction
seem like a great way to go?
JS:
Actually there are some 15+ other teams around
the world trying to do the same thing. We are
just higher profile due to our strategy to get
sponsors and raise awareness for our team. The
first eBay auction was successful in that we got
Companies thinking about the Cup and also had
a chance to see who was interested. The second
one that is live right now already has a bidder
on it. It's simply the only way to allow companies
worldwide to see you package at one time. The
companies can drive the value and then there can
be a benchmark for others to follow. I am very
thankful my Partner Tina Kleinjan came up with
the idea.
2007AC.com:
With the cup now in Europe and expectations high
for the largest audience ever, what is the response
from companies?
JS:
When the Cup left New Zealand in 2003, it was
a forgone conclusion that this time in Europe
would be a lot bigger and easier to get sponsorship
due to its proximity to the large sailing countries.
Unfortunately, the new management team has failed
miserably in letting the world know about the
new format and its plans for the cup. We found
that most companies didn't even know the cup had
left America let alone moved to Europe. Even companies
who have been involved in the cup prior had no
idea that the official regattas start this year
in Europe. ACM may have designed a better format,
but they have done nothing to further the knowledge
of the America's Cup in corporate board rooms.
In fact, there should be a rush to sponsor teams
as the value has risen tremendously since the
last cup. Simply by moving to Europe the audience
will be ten times than that of New Zealand.
...
Read the whole interview at www.2007ac.com
