International long term savings group, Skandia, has increased its PR resource to support its expanding portfolio of sailing sponsorships across global markets.
Sponsorship Consulting Ltd has been brought on board to oversee the sponsorship activities of Skandia and provide additional PR support for the growing number of sailing events and activities supported by Skandia. In addition, Offshore Challenges has been appointed to manage the global PR programme for the individual sailing athletes sponsored by Skandia. Sarah Mudie PR is being retained to handle PR for Skandia’s longest-running sponsorship, Skandia Cowes Week and she will continue to work alongside Cowes Combined Clubs’ own marketing and event PR officer, Peta Stuart-Hunt.
Skandia Set Sail is a global sponsorship programme that aims to offer people more opportunities to participate in the sport on a broader level. The objectives of the Skandia Set Sail Campaign are to make sailing more accessible, grow the sport’s reach and enrich peoples’ lives through the sport.
As well as holding the title sponsorship of Skandia Cowes Week, the world’s oldest and largest regatta on the Isle of Wight, for 10 years, Skandia’s Set Sail portfolio currently includes the title sponsorship of Skandia Geelong Week in Victoria, Australia – (twinned with Skandia Cowes Week); UK sailors Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell in their Athens Star campaign; Nick Moloney and his quest to compete in the 2004 Vendée Globe; Sam Davies, the up-and-coming single-handed yachtswoman and her Figaro campaign; Austrian 470 sailors, Sylvia Vogl and Carolina Flatscher; the Skandia Brown Cup, the Scottish Schools Sailing Championship; Skandia Cowes Youth Week, a leading international match racing championship, the Skandia Yachting Academy (in association with Kit Hobday’s Bear of Britain) and the Skandia Maxi, Australia’s biggest ocean racing yacht and line-honours winner of the 2003 Sydney-Hobart Race.
‘Skandia operates across a wide number of international markets and the development of our Set Sail portfolio is designed to communicate key messages about Skandia in a worldwide arena,’ says Andre Oszmann, Skandia’s group marketing director. ‘With such a major commitment to the sport of sailing, we need to have resources in place to ensure our messages are reaching the right people at the right time. By adding Sponsorship Consulting and Offshore Challenges to our team of existing PR specialists in the UK and abroad, we are ideally placed to communicate effectively across a range of different countries.’
Sponsorship Consulting Ltd will co-ordinate and implement PR in the UK with a focus on developing lifestyle coverage for a range of Skandia’s key sponsorships. Sarah Mudie will work alongside the Sponsorship Consulting team to leverage UK lifestyle and broadcast coverage for Skandia Cowes Week.
Offshore Challenges will develop, co-ordinate and implement specialist sailing PR in global markets with a focus on the individual sailors sponsored by Skandia, including Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell.
PR resource for the Set Sail portfolio will be managed by Jo Rimmer, Skandia’s PR manager, who joined the group in September 2003. She is working with Andre Oszmann and Skandia’s sponsorship manager, Tim Sewell and his team on the on-going development of the PR programme.
‘Communication of the Skandia Set Sail portfolio on a global scale is a tremendous challenge and one that requires teamwork among a raft of PR people, both in the UK and from specialists in individual countries,’ says Jo Rimmer.
She continues, ‘We believe we have got the best people on board to help us drive this exciting portfolio forward and I am looking forward to working with the team to shape the future of Skandia’s sponsorship communication programme as it continues to evolve.’
Sail 4 Cancer is the official charity of the Skandia Set Sail programme
For further information contact:
Jo Rimmer at Skandia on 02380 916597 or email jo.rimmer@skandia.co.uk
Tim Collins at Sponsorship Consulting Ltd on 0207 582 0994 or email tim@sponsorshipconsulting.co.uk
Lou Newlands at Offshore Challenges on 0870 063 0210 or email lou@offshorechallenges.com
Sarah Mudie at Sarah Mudie PR on 01590 674808 or email sarah.mudiepr@skandia.co.uk
Peta Stuart-Hunt for Cowes Combined Clubs at PR Works on 01590 679621 or email peta.prworks@virgin.net