Yachtsponsorship.com in conjunction with the DARK BLUE BOOK are asking the yacht racing industry to let us know what you think. One of the problems with that is, it’s hard to know who or what the yacht racing industry is so we’ve designed a survey to identify what the challenges facing the industry are, what confidence levels are like and what the shape of our industry looks like.
A summary of results will be published on Yachtsponsorhip.com and a detailed report will be included in the 2010 DARK BLUE BOOK.
David Fuller, CEO of Pilote Media and Editor of the DARK BLUE BOOK says:
Now that the America’s Cup has been sailed and won by BMW ORACLE, we want to know how people are feeling about the current state of yacht racing as a professional sport and how they feel about the future. It doesn’t matter if you are a sailor, rights owner, supplier or just a fan, we want to know some of the issues that are facing the industry.
The DARK BLUE BOOK 2010 edition is asking for your help. In 2009, the companies and individuals who gained the best results from the book were the ones that passed on the opportunity to their partners and friends in the business.
For the 2010 edition, we are announcing a new promotion. The submission forms for the second edition now include space to include a referral. This means that if you refer someone to the DARK BLUE BOOK and they list you as the person who got them to sign up, you could both be rewarded with a prize of free advertising. We are giving away four half page ads worth £600 each.
You can start here. Simply fill out the form to invite people that you think would benefit from being listed in the Who’s Who of sailing and Yacht Racing.
In 2009, we published the first ever Who’s Who of the Yacht Racing world. The DARK BLUE BOOK is now well on the way to becoming the definitive directory for the industry. For the first time, we have released an online sample of the 2009 directory.
Thanks to feedback from consumers and partners, the 2010 edition will be more useful with over 300% more entries.
Now is the time to update your entry in the DARK BLUE BOOK for 2010. Listing is a must if you are in the business of yacht racing, whether you are an event organiser, competitor, journalist or photographer, press officer or supplier.
Listing in the DARK BLUE BOOK helps position you to thousands of potential business partners, sponsors, owners, crew and the media.
For 2010, there are 3 listing options:
Individual Listing (FREE). Whether you are a super-star sailor, marketing director for a global company or sole-trader, this type of entry allows you free listing in the DARK BLUE BOOK. This is the heart of the directory, because we believe people do business with people. This listing allows an individual to display contact information, sailing CV and other useful information as well as a photograph. More…
Organisational Listing(£75). For event organisers, yacht clubs, teams, companies or any other organisations that want to be listed as a group rather than individuals, this option allows key personnel to be listed as well as a logo. An organisational listing costs £75, and includes a complimentary soft-cover copy of the 2010 directory once published. More…
Advertising. If you want to reach thousands of influentual people in the business of yacht racing and position yourself as one of the leading providers in this glamourous and desirable industry, advertising in the DARK BLUE BOOK provides a unique opportunity to deliver your message. Advertising in the DARK BLUE BOOK lasts for a whole year. Many customers refer to the directory over 50 times carrying it to events around the world as a reference. The publishers of the DARK BLUE BOOK also offer special editions and bespoke versions of the directory which make great corporate gifts for key partners and VIP guests. More…
There are only 54 days until we close the book for entries, so make sure you and your company are included.
The Who’s Who of yacht racing will get together in Monaco next week for the World Yacht Racing Forum. The event will provide a great opportunity to promote the 2nd edition of the DARK BLUE BOOK.
At the time of the innaugural World Yacht Racing Forum last December, the DARK BLUE BOOK was just a concept. Twelve months on and the directory has been published to a warm reception from many in the industry. The 2010 edition will be bigger and better with over 100 new entries already submitted.
The DARK BLUE BOOK is today announcing a new promotion, giving people at all levels the opportunity to make the most of the 2nd Edition. The promotion works like this:
Pilote, publishers of the DARK BLUE BOOK, are offering webmasters and bloggers the opportunity to make money from promoting the directory to their audience.
The first ever ‘Who’s Who’ of yacht racing contains contact details for some of the most influential people in the sport from team principals to sponsors, journalists and event organisers.
Now the operators of sailing websites and blogs have the opportunity to make money by reffering people to buy the directory. For every book sold as a result of a refferal, Pilote will pay a £10 commission.
Editor of the DARK BLUE BOOK and Pilote CEO David Fuller says:
We know that many people run sailing blogs and websites on a part time basis and don’t get a lot of reward for it. This is an oppoortunity to promote a relevant product and make some cash. Semi-pro sailors who run their own websites can also raise money this way – everybody wins.
Those who missed out on being included in the 2009 edition can also now submit their entries for the next book. Online entry forms are now live on the DARK BLUE BOOK website.
The first ever DARK BLUE BOOK – the Who’s Who of Yacht Racing is printed and selling well. Featuring skippers, sponsorship directors, journalists, photographers, event organisers, yacht club commodores and more, the directory is destined to become an invaluable resource for anyone in the business of professional sailing.
With the lessons of the first edition under our belt, the publishers of the book have decided that in 2010, the resource will focus more on people and faces and less on brands and and logos. It will also include more semi-professional sailors – those at the top of their game in IRC and Olympic classes.
Editor David Fuller says:
Now that people know what the book looks like and the benefits provided by being listed, we can focus on making it more useful to people. In 2010, people will be able to add a brief sailing CV and things like Skype details.
Many sailors that have been involved with the Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup or Vendee Globe are moving onto new projects. Old sponsors are making way for new ones and keeping track of people is made easier through the use of a resource like the DARK BLUE BOOK.
Our team and design guys are big fans of Virtual Skipper. If you are not lucky enough to live in Sydney where you can be twilight racing on the harbour after work or some other blessed location, you can still race boats – online against others.
We’ve decided that to celebrate the upcoming launch of the DARK BLUE BOOK – the Who’s Who of Yacht Racing, we will offer some virtual sponsorships. Just like real sponsorships, you don’t get money for nothing – so we are running a competition.
Here’s how to join the TEAM DARK BLUE BOOK and win cash and prizes, including copies of the DARK BLUE BOOK worth £49.99:
Who’s who in the world of Yacht Racing? Who are the competitors, the owners, the deal-makers? Who are the editors, the influencers, the sponsors? Who’s in and Who’s out?
If you are in sports marketing, sponsorship, media, marketing or business to business sales in any industry, then this is the only place to get to know this marketplace.
