A full review of the sponsorship will take place in the deep dive. For now however I'd like to comment on an innovative approach which German sportswear and shoe company Puma is taking to amplify the race. As the fleet sailed into Abu Dhabi, the race was joined by ten lucky Tumblr and Instagram bloggers to report alongside the race’s more seasoned and elite journalists – (each vessel has its own embedded reporter – clearly with very strong sea legs)
The bloggers – specially handpicked for their online influence – have free reign to post updates either to Facebook or Twitter and to take pictures of the event as crews prepare for the third leg of the race which sails for Sanya China on January 15.
Andrew Schmidt, Puma’s manager of Digital Media Projects called this “a really good model for showcasing events” and felt the move would gain goodwill for the brand as well as increased visibility of the race.
Puma owns one of the six entrants in the 39 000 nautical mile spectacular and is also listed as the race’s official apparel supplier.
Things to note:
- Contrary to some sources, the power of blogging as a means of spreading information instantaneously and building public opinion is growing dramatically
- The move to sponsor bloggers in this way is not unprecedented. According to Mashable, blogging platform Tumblr has been sending bloggers to the New York Fashion Week for the past two years.
- It’s not just blogging riff-raff that Puma has sourced either: amongst the invited is Sean Sullivan, a commercial photographer and videographer whose blog “The Impossible Cool” has nearly 50 000 followers. Check out his blog here and pics from other bloggers here
- I predict that it will not be long before this becomes the norm for all sporting events, particularly those with high bandwidth or “inside story” like ocean racing.
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