Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

The oldest trophy in international sport, sailing’s America’s Cup, is to be re-energised by an unprecedented collaboration between the Defender and the Challengers to the Trophy. The competition, which is in its 159th year, is to organise regular racing in multiple venues under professional, neutral race management, with enhanced TV and online coverage.
A new class of boats will be created in conjunction with all teams and new rules and independent management are to be put in place to give equal opportunity to all teams.
The competition is expected to provide sponsorship opportunities worth in the region of US$50 million.  Incumbent sponsors include Oracle who have been on board since 2003 and have committed for the 34th America’s Cup and BMW who sponsored in 2003 and 2007 and are in talks for AC34.

TeamOrigin, the British challenger for the America’s Cup, has appointed Jon Teeman as partner development director. In this role Teeman, the former head of partnership marketing at Premier League side Arsenal FC, will be responsible for securing commercial partners for the team.

Teeman is a respected marketing and communications executive who oversaw the launch of O2 and brokered their subsequent deals with England Rugby and Arsenal FC. He is also a non-executive chairman at consultancy Pitch, a role he will keep up while working alongside TeamOrigin.

TeamOrigin is skippered by triple Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie and headed by Team Principal Sir Keith Mills who said: “Jon’s appointment is a huge boost for our project and adds to the capabilities of partner development manager Jerry Hill. He brings a wealth of experience that will be invaluable in the development of our campaign.”

Mills, who set up Air Miles, has made sustainability a key element of the TeamOrigin proposition - something he wants reflected in the sponsor line-up “We are aiming to attract partners that share our commitment to the sustainability agenda and are willing to cut their emissions in line with advice from the Carbon Trust. Jon will be instrumental in the development of these relationships.”