Ben Ainslie Racing
When a partnership is different from a sponsorship.
Ben Ainslie Racing announce Land Rover deal
The recent announcement of Land Rover as partners with Ben Ainslie Racing rather than sponsors is more significant than you might think.
This, according to Mark Cameron, Land Rover’s Global Experiential Marketing Director, [yes, I had to stop and think about that one too], is not a deal that’s about us simply providing money.
“In our business we are looking for marginal differences, in an America’s Cup campaign it’s the same, he said. So we’re really excited that this is real project focused on making a boat go faster.
While the choice of words may sound like clever PR speak, once the presentations at the newly opened base in Portsmouth’s Camber Quay had finished a series of conversations with a number of those close to the heart of the team, including Ben himself, went to great lengths to confirm that this was as partnership with a difference.
To provide a serious contribution to the team’s campaign was clearly an important part of the deal. But what could a car manufacturer provide that would be of use to an America’s Cup team?
It was clear from the last Cup that the future would be more about aerodynamics and control systems, said Ainslie.
In this field we have a huge amount of technical knowledge and computing power, added Cameron. Managing a Cup campaign is also about data management and this is also an area that we have developed in our vehicles.
I’m told their input doesn’t stop there and that three key areas had been identified as aspects of the campaign in which Land Rover could offer BAR a helping hand.
But for those who were less interested in what they may have seen as mutually benevolent rhetoric and more interested in numbers, founding shareholder & chairman Sir Charles Dunstone had some numbers to indicate where the team was.
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