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When consultants Accenture signed a silver level sponsorship agreement with the Skandia Team GBR shortly after the Athens Olympics, they had no idea that less than four years later they would be celebrating an association with Britain's most successful sailing team in 100 years.

The team took four gold medals in Beijing and six medals in total, but for Peter Thomas, UK marketing director at Accenture, whose tag line is High performance. Delivered, there is the extra bonus that clients who previously sailed with the medal winners at Cowes will feel an additional sense of pride in their achievements.

'If you have met individual members of the team two or three times then you have personal interest in their success,' he explains. 'For us, their success at Beijing will only enhance our benefits from the sponsorship. There will be more interest from clients who want to meet the team and go sailing with Accenture. The team is now high profile and successful which works very well with our target audience.'

Potential gold medals were not on Thomas's mind when he first signed the sponsorship agreement. 'The real benefits of sailing is that clients, and employees, can either watch or participate. We recently returned from a racing regatta at Cowes with the development squad, offering our clients the chance to sail with potential Olympic winners. There are not many sports that offer clients the chance to get involved.'

Some companies may balk at the chance of sponsoring a sporting team that carries the name and logo of another company, but Accenture was not perturbed by the sailors' gold level sponsorship with Skandia, which gives the insurance company the right to brand the team. Similarly, it was unconcerned that its logo was nowhere to be seen on the winners' shirts at Beijing, when they competed under the Team GB umbrella.

'The International Olympics Committee keeps a very tight control over brands, to benefit their own agreements and give those sponsors a clear run at it. We're fine with that,' says Thomas. 'We are not looking for profile. Indeed, our research shows that 52 per cent of our target audience name us within our business space without prompting. We did not get into this for brand sponsorship. We wanted to engage with customers and provide money can't buy hospitality.'

SILVER LEVEL

Accenture shares silver sponsorship status with construction business Alfred McAlpine and FTSE 100 listed security firm, G4S. 'To date, we have spent less than £100,000 per year on this sponsorship,' explains Thomas. 'But we pay for half the value of the sponsorship with in-kind services.' G4S has a similar arrangement, providing security and storage facilities.

These additional services also showcase Accenture's skills. 'We are very involved in the organisation of the team,' explains Thomas. 'There is a big focus on strategic long term planning beyond 2012. They have been very successful but how do they stay in pole position. We are offering advice on all these aspects.'

Accenture has identified several key challenges faced by Skandia Team GBR and the Royal Yachting Association, the governing body of sailing in the UK, which include increasing competition from other top sailing nations, the changing demographics of sailors and the increased mobility of sailors and coaches due to incentive structures.

TACTICAL MOVES

The consultancy has initiated a Performance Management Project, which is designed to drive Skandia Team GBR as the world's number one sailing team. It is tracking and monitoring performance over a long period to meet future strategic goals and is determining value drivers and key performance indicators that will keep all individuals striving to retain pole position. 'We produce a performance management dashboard for the Royal Yachting Association,' says Thomas.

He adds: 'Sailing is much more tactical and complex than merely getting the boat out on the water. There were very variable weather conditions during these Olympics, which we planned and prepared for. Paul Goodison sailed his main competitor off the water, by keeping so close to him. It was a ruthless tactic but the potential silver winner was pushed out of the medals for that race.'

With the Olympics out of the way, the next stage for Accenture is to host an event to introduce the winners and their medals to their clients. But is Thomas not concerned that, with so many sponsors, Accenture might lose out in the race? 'The Royal Yachting Association handles all the sailors' appearances. Some sailors also have personal sponsors. It is a balancing act. We make a request for personal appearances, and seem to always get what we want,' says Thomas. 'The sailors are extremely supportive of their sponsors and very flexible. I think they feel that they have a good set of sponsors, who are very reasonable in their requests.'

Accenture's first sponsorship term is drawing to a close, and discussions will shortly take place to review the situation and consider whether to extend the agreement. Is Thomas not worried that the team's success will have driven up the price? 'I am almost certain it will have,' he says. 'But we planned for that. Sponsorship is a balancing act between investment versus benefit. Any firm can pay too much. But we think our sponsorship represents very good value.' 

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