Marketing money can't buy

Martin Strel, in a publicity shot for his film 'Big River Man'.

For a long time athlete sponsorship has been a core part of Orca's marketing strategy. I based the launch of the Orca brand around the Auckland leg of the triathlon world cup circuit in 1995. I offered a free wetsuit to most of the professional athletes, on the condition that they would continue wearing it for the rest of the season.

I ended up handing out 40 wetsuits and coining the phrase "speedsuits" instead of "wetsuits". Most of the professional athletes said they wore the speedsuits because they were simply better than anything else they had worn.

We sponsored Hamish Carter through his entire career with our speedsuits, culminating in him winning gold at Athens (wearing Orca). Hamish is one of many examples of an athlete staying with Orca throughout their career despite numerous other (attractive) offers.

I remember giving Hamish the first Orca Speedsuit - he was blown away at the time and went on to be a fantastic ambassador for Orca. So it was important back then to pick those who I thought had the x-factor to go all the way with consistent success. To date we have picked more than seven triathlon world champions, world record holders in other sports and numerous successful international teams.

The times have changed since 1995, and now with increased professionalism in triathlon pretty much all the athletes competing are contracted with brands. Sponsorship of athletes, teams and events has become increasingly expensive, with a lot more brands chasing the same fish in the pond.

As is the case with many businesses, Orca gets numerous requests for sponsorship every week. Choosing which ones might bring value to the brand can be a challenge - but in the last few weeks one of our more obscure sponsorships has reinforced to me the importance of never discounting opportunities.

Several years ago we were contacted by a 50+ year old, overweight, Slovenian swimmer, who had the goal to swim the length of the Amazon. He had a history of ultra long distance swims and was already using Orca wetsuits.

At the time we agreed to provide him with a number of wetsuits to assist him with the challenge. By the time he completed the swim

Martin Strel

was considered the world's greatest endurance distance swimmer, and he'd put the Orca brand in front of a greater international audience than arguably all of our other sponsorships put together.

Two years on and the documentary made about the "

Big River Man

" has been critically acclaimed, and is currently being shown in countries all around the world. To date Martin has been featured in

articles

, wearing Orca, in major US and UK media, online, in print and on television - once again giving us brand exposure you could spend mega-bucks trying to generate.

For small businesses, the question of where to put your marketing spend is always a great challenge. You question the return on investment, and if you're not careful it could definitely be a bottomless pit. I started out selling wetsuits from the boot of my car at triathlon events around Auckland.

My first bit of marketing was the "Scotty Deal" - a bright yellow flyer offering a free gift with the purchase of a wetsuit. Now we have a global marketing strategy, which ranges from local initiatives, such as sponsoring athletes and races, advertising, and database marketing, to global initiatives including partnering with

Project Kasei

, a group looking to clean the world's oceans of plastic waste.

You've always got to keep your eyes open for opportunities, because sometimes it can be the things you least expect that really pay off, and get you the kind of marketing results money sometimes can't buy.

Scott Unsworth

Photo: Martin Strel, in a publicity shot for his film Big River Man.