Motorola teamed up with Conrad Humphreys to create a sailing platform to deliver both an internal and external communications programme. The initial objective was to use Conrad’s experience of building high performance teams to engage employees and leaders within the business. In 2004, Motorola extended their sailing sponsorship to include the Vendee Globe single-handed round the world race 2004/5, the Volvo Ocean Race 2005/6 and the Volvo Extreme 40 sailing series (now the Extreme Sailing Series).

Margaret Rice-Jones, Corporate Vice-President, Motorola Inc. and General Manager, Networks EMEA  ”The industry we are in is fast moving and over the last five years we have faced numerous challenges and witnessed rapid change. The more we found out about ocean racing, the more similarities we saw between focusing and succeeding in business and winning ocean races – thorough preparation, the ability to react quickly when needed and to work well as a team are just a few examples of the synergies we saw.”

The partnership focused on three key objectives: internal communications, tier one customer releations and brand exposure. The Powerful Open 60 was named “HELLOMOTO” with many of Motorola’s technology featured onboard. Sport Environment was responsible for the campaign management and communications programme, which included TV and press coverage and all online content. We also managed the client hospitality programme from arranging travel and accomodation to delivering the full  sailing “experience”

The Motorola Ocean Racing Programme achieved it’s sponsorship objectives achieving a 4x return on investment with over 216 broadcast pieces across ITN, BBC, BBC News 24, Sky News, BBC World, CNBC. 506 print press articles and 4.61 million internet hits during the 3 month race. BBC2 showed a 30 minute documentary. Over 120 tier one customers enjoyed the “Moto-experience” which included visits to the race starts, onboard hospitality, Extreme 40 sailing and conference speaking.