Brunel details sponsorship in Volvo Ocean Race

by www.brunelteamwork.com on 29 Jan 2006 The story so far.

In the early hours of Tuesday the 24th of January Grant Wharington and his crew sailed into their homeport Melbourne. They had been at sea for more than 21 days and finished the second leg of the Volvo Ocean race in fifth place. What the crew did not know by then, is that their finish also ended a period of great uncertainty. But before we tell you more about that, we start at the very beginning....

Spain.

Grant Wharington was one of the first to start the build of a brand new Volvo 70, the yachts which are used in the 2005/2006 Volvo Ocean Race. The build was funded by ING Real Estate, the Australian real estate branch of the Dutch company. ING Real Estate also promised to help the team sail the leg from Spain to South Africa and the second leg from Cape Town to Melbourne. The entire budget to sail those first two legs, let alone the full race, was difficult to find but time ran out. Grant Wharington decided to ship the boat to Europe for the start, hoping to find more sponsors in the meantime.

When the boat arrived, a solution seemed further away then ever. The reversal came when Benno Wiersma, owner of a company called Sunergy, noticed the problems of the team. Wiersma was very known with the subject. Together with Brunel, his company sponsored a boat in the 1997 Whitbread Round the World Race. Sunergy decided to help the Australians to sail the first leg to Cape Town. The campaign, known before as Premier Challenge then became Sunergy and Friends. The ‘friends’ were ING Real Estate and some smaller sponsors providing products.

How Brunel got involved.

Already at that stage Brunel was invited to join Sunergy. The company was interested but preferred to wait until the second leg. That leg offered more opportunities to be more prominently linked to the team. This led to the boat getting its new colours in Cape Town and proceeding from there as team ING Real Estate. It was always very clear that ING Real Estate Brunel was a temporary combination and that ING Real Estate could not support the team after Melbourne. Brunel also gave its commitment for only one leg. However during the leg the enthusiasm of Brunel grew and grew. Ocean racing again appeared to be a good way to promote the brand worldwide.

So Brunel looked for a possibility to stay involved in the Volvo Ocean Race after Melbourne. During the second leg many talks were held with interested partners to become a partner like ING Real Estate but the time frame was too short for companies to decide.


Finding a solution.

Two days before the boat would finish there were only two options left. Or the Australian team had to withdraw from the race, or Brunel had to sponsor the team on its own. Brunel chose the last option and decided to become the sole sponsor of Grant Wharington and his team.

That's why the crew was not only awaited by a large crowd and many representatives of the media, but also by Loek Hogenhout, Brunel´s marketing and communications director. A few minutes before the boat reached the dock Loek Hogenhout got on board to tell the crew the good news. The crews disbelief soon was replaced by great enthusiasm. Moments later the boat was alongside the pontoon. Skipper Grant Wharington grabbed a microphone and informed the audience himself. His Australian supporters and crew members of the other boats welcomed the news with applause and loud cheer.

Competitiveness.

There are a few conditions on the renewed cooperation between the Australian team and Brunel. The first one is that Brunel wants to support a competitive contestant in the race. Because of its preparation the team started the race with a handicap that no doubt has effected the results in the first two legs. It is no use to let that effect the remainder of the race. So before the team can continue Brunel wants the team and boat to prepare to the maximum.

The second condition is a Dutch crewmember as part of the team. Brunel want to make it easier for the Dutch public and media to identify themselves with the Brunel sailing team.