Cruising to the finish line on Seafin
A beautifully refurbished motor yacht offers excellent value for potential sponsors and a fine viewing platform for spectators keen to watch the regattas on the Solent this summer
Cowes Week is the longest-running regular regatta in the world. Since 1826, it has warmed the hearts of sailors, just as Henley attracts rowers and Ascot enthrals horse lovers. Cowes has become an English institution, which is one reason why Britannia Corporate Events hires the luxury motor yacht Seafin to satisfy its customers’ spectating and entertainment needs.
“Seafin allows us to take our events to another level,” says Britannia’s marketing director Simon Boulding. “She is very well maintained, looks good on the water and has a fantastic viewing platform. Seafin enables us to entertain a large number of high-quality guests while they watch interesting races from a good angle.”
Britannia operates a captain’s anchor away from Port Hamble, where Seafin usually docks. “There are a very small number of vessels with a good profile and Seafin has a good reputation in the marketplace,” says Simon, who first chartered the boat from its owners Triangle Marine in 2005.
He regularly hires Seafin during Cowes Week, but also as a sponsor’s boat for Britannia’s own corporate sailing events and regattas held every summer. “We had entertained guests from our sponsoring companies for many years, but as we grew and began to attract more high-level sponsors, we needed to find a vessel with great views of the racing,” adds Simon.
“Seafin delivers that. During Cowes, we have to be careful where the boat goes. But by cruising at 10-12 knots, Seafin is fast enough to follow the race yachts around and give our corporate clients a close-up view of events at the start and finish lines, while listening to the race charts on VHF running commentary.”
“Triangle Marine’s sponsorship deal with Australian Vintage exchanged two days on the boat for hundreds of bottles of wine showcased to 2,200 potential customers”
Now approaching its bicentenary, Cowes Week is and does big business. With more than 1,000 boats and 8,500 competitors on the water, there are around 35 races a day for different classes of boat. During this time, the Solent – usually a busy commercial waterway – is filled with an eclectic array of vessels.
“We generally tee it up around Cowes Week to get maximum exposure,” says Paul Schaafsma at Australian Vintage, that nation’s third-largest wine company and famous for its McGuigan wine range. “We hired it for the start of the Around the World Yacht Race (www.clipperroundtheworld.com) too. It was a fantastic sight watching the huge spectator boats zipping along the harbour with their colourful spinnakers up.”
Last summer, Paul and Triangle Marine agreed a mutually beneficial one-year sponsorship deal that benefited Australian Vintage in two ways. The wine company received two days out on the boat in exchange for hundreds of bottles of wine. That wine was then showcased to and drunk by the 2,200 potential customers onboard Seafin.
“We generally use the boat as corporate entertaining vessel,” says Warwick Bergin, a director of Triangle Marine. “Our regular clients know there is no better place to enjoy a Pimms, swim or jet-ski than when cruising onboard Seafin in the sunshine.”
As part of the deal, Seafin was decked out with two Australian Vintage banners, which highlighted the McGuigan name to the TV and still cameras whirring around at main events, including Cowes. The sponsor also received mentions in brochures for the high-profile televised events.
“We previously bought wine from other suppliers,” says Warwick, who was delighted at the chance to select from a large range. “In exchange, our crew wore McGuigan-branded clothing so people saw the name around the boat and could associate happy memories of their day on Seafin with great wine stocked by Tesco.”
Paul was equally pleased. “We were able to put great wine in front of our customers on a fantastic boat. Being on Seafin creates awareness of our wines and that’s important to us. It’s great to showcase our product to the top echelon of business and added value is gained through the positioning of our product at a premium level in the marketplace.
“As we paid wine, not cash, we were not investing as much money as we would have otherwise,” he adds. “We used our bartered days to let our distributors entertain our clients and supermarket customers. “It’s a delightful vessel with some beautiful facilities. The yacht crew are fantastic and ready to cater to your every need and they all seem to have been hand selected to make everyone’s day an absolute pleasure. Our supermarket buyers were blown away."
“We locked in a deal with a distributor who decided that 20 pubs would stock all our wines. Some of that success must go down to the atmosphere on Seafin”
So were the distributors, as the sponsorship deal led directly to large purchases. “We’ve had success onboard,” says Paul. “One day we locked in a deal with a distributor who decided on the day that 20 pubs would stock all our wines and some of our food. Some of that success must go down to the atmosphere created on Seafin.”
Warwick knows only to well how the boat helps to build other company’s brands. “Seafin offers a brand extension for our clients by allowing them to welcome their customers by putting up their own banners and flags. It’s about us helping to promote the idea that Seafin is their boat for a particular day.”
Such perceived ownership is partly what encourages Simon to make repeat bookings for the corporate regattas hosted by Britannia during the summer sailing season. “It adds another level to our image,” he says.
Britannia runs sailing races for different industries such as the Cells Comms Cup (for the telecoms sector), the PPP:PFI Challenge (for the PPP/PFI sector) and the Beneteau Cup. “Our events are run to a high and professional standard and Seafin dovetails very nicely. We focus on networking and allow people to conduct business, eat, drink and socialise on a fantastic networking venue.
“Seafin’s crew react well to our brief. There’s a synergy between us”
“Once we’ve chartered Seafin, we work closely with Triangle on how we want the event to run,” says Simon. “Its ability to work to a brief and offer a good service is a good differentiating factor. The Seafin crew react well to our brief and we get a good stable team that knows what we want. Onboard, there is a synergy between the two groups of staff entertaining together and it’s reached the stage where our clients would have difficulty in guessing a Seafin staff member from our own.”
Almost 75 per cent of Seafin’s clients in 2008 were returning after experiencing happy days onboard. Something about the environment also persuades crew members to return, which guarantees familiarity and smooth service levels to returning clients. “Anyone who isn’t part our five-strong crew gets treated as a guest to the highest standard,” says Alex Widdicombe, Seafin’s operations manager.
“We understand that our clients are bringing their own customers onboard and we’re aware that we have to impress those people. We’re very picky about who we employ and select crew who are relaxed and enjoy talking to customers.” (Click here to read Behind the scenes with Seafin’s operations manager Alex)
Paul says: “Seafin has the same sort of culture as us in terms of both our staff’s attention to detail and customer care. It goes right down to the fact that if you park by the marina and don’t know where to go, they’ll go out of their way to make you feel comfortable.”
“Seafin comes in at a very reasonable cost per head compared with other events. You’ve got to carry on. If you’re not going to entertain your clients, who is?”
Apart from offering high branding value to customers wanting to show their clients a great day out, the perceived value of a day onboard Seafin is much higher than the actual hiring cost (Click here to read "Seafin and Client retention").
And value is playing a beefed-up role in the current economic climate. With small signs of recovery slowly emerging, Simon says: “You’ve got to carry on entertaining clients.” He believes that companies who fail to protect their business interests now are playing a dangerous long game.
“If you’re not going to entertain your clients, who is? Seafin actually comes in at a very reasonable cost per head compared with taking someone to Henley or a Grand Prix,” he adds. “Those events cost several hundred pounds each and Seafin comes in much lower than that.”
Paul’s wine company also bought extra days onboard Seafin. “It over delivers and represents good value for money,” he says. “It’s definitely far better value than any other hospitality venue out there including taking people to rugby or Wimbledon. They’re not just watching from a seat, but actually getting involved in fun activities and a wonderful day out. The whole atmosphere relaxes people and offers a great adventure. If you want a day where you can control the boat and enjoy the day, then Seafin is unique because you’re not just part of someone else’s crowd.”
Simon adds: “Seafin has a good reputation and we’ve had some very good experiences on the boat. Our guests often request her by name for next year as they’re getting off the boat and we don’t need any more persuading than that.”
