How Event Marketing is Done in St Thomas.

Melbourne is known around the world as being a place that stages great sporting events. From the Melbourne Grand Prix to the Australian Open Tennis and the annual Festival of Sails – one of Australia’s oldest sporting festivals.

This week, I’ve been a guest of US Virgin Island Tourism and the International Rolex Regatta on St Thomas in the Caribbean, to see how a small sailing event has worked with its title sponsor – Rolex – for 39 years and how local businesses benefit from sponsorship as part of their marketing strategy.

The one marketing tip that I will take away from the trip, is a reminder that in a world of social media, everyone is an ambassador and you can find influential voices outside the mainstream media who will promote your product or service or event to a global audience.

At Pilote Media, we like to use sponsorship as a way to create engaging content for businesses that might operate in industries that on the face of it might not seem that exciting. Sponsoring a yacht in a small, local event can also be useful to motivate your employees or give your prospects a once in a lifetime experience.

The International Rolex Regatta only has about 60 boats competing, compared with Geelong’s Festival of Sails which had around 300 in 2012, but each of those 60 boats has a hundred stories and the photos and videos of those boats are now broadcast at the speed of light around the globe.

As well as the big events, like the Grand Prix or the Tennis, Melbourne also hosts a huge variety of smaller events that get an international audience. Participating in these smaller events as a sponsor or a marketing partner can be very cost effective, especially when part of a larger marketing strategy that involves social media and professionally produced content.

I’m looking forward to sharing some of the best practice that I picked up in St Thomas with event organisers in Melbourne.