Superyacht Marketing

Over the years yacht shows have developed in to not just a place to do business but also a key time for capturing and producing media content. Having spent 20 years attending and shooting photos and films at shows all over the world we have learnt a few tricks that will help ensure success for everyone.

RELAX. It’s a yacht show not a photo studio. You will never get everything you want because you will not have the control you think you will have. Shows will take on a life of their own, plans will change, and priorities will shift so you need to create a shot list and schedule that is flexible. Start with a few easy to get priorities and build from there. Alternatively give the media team an overall brief and release the reins trusting them to capture and deliver what you need. If you don’t get everything, it’s ok - trust us …another show is just round the corner.
THINK. Where does this show fit within your brand story? What can be captured and produced to enable you to keep feeding your story. What holes can it fill in your media strategy. By doing this you will help answer the questions like -
- What really needs to be shot?
- Where and how will it be used - social media, you tube, portrait, landscape?,
- When does it need to be published - during the show, after the show or both?
- What style should it be - fun, uplifting, serious business, corporate?
BE DIFFERENT. During the 2024 Palm Beach Show we helped FEADSHIP create a new social campaign - FITSHIP. It was a nice departure from the usual show content and a great example of using the unique show environment to capture something different that can then be used in the months to come. Take a look here
TEAM. A show is often the best place to show how your team reflects your brand. No other external event will probably have so many of your team engaging with clients and suppliers. This presents a unique opportunity to capture great content showing how your brand lives through your team. Take advantage of this. Oh and it’s a big call to suggest a team photo at your stand anytime before 11am :)
REST. Give the shooting team time to rest, eat and drink. Carrying gear and shooting all day and night followed by editing in to the small hours day after day can be a tiring gig. So take care of them, treat them with the respect professionals deserve, listen to their advice and the payback will be a motivated energetic buzzing team who are excited to get great creative content for you.
DONT attempt to shoot a yacht at a show you will not get what you expect and your time and money could have been put to better use.

Superyacht Marketing

To be different takes some ‘BIG KAHUNAS’*

For many years now we have been photographing and filming superyachts of all types all over the world for a large number of clients with an equally large number of marketing objectives. At the same time we hear and read comments about how we, as an industry, need to market the the superyacht world in a different way.

Defining ‘different’ is of course open to interpretation and everyone has their opinion. Regardless of what definition of ‘different’ a client comes to us with, more often than not, we usually end up going down a familiar path when it comes to the creative strategy. Why is this?

When I think how a typical creative strategy meeting plays out we all start with a desire to do it different, to stand out from the crowd, to attract a new demographic oh and of course the mother of all objectives - to go VIRAL!!

We begin by brainstorming all sorts of ideas, we dive deep in to our library of sometimes weird and wacky ideas, add in a little sanity and come up with an idea that hits the spot. This process is both challenging and exciting and we are all buzzing about making the idea come to life. But then somewhere between this point and the result the idea gets derailed or at the very least watered down.

So what happens? Especially when we all agreed we wanted to do it different this time.

Here’s what happens....

Unless the final decision maker is involved in creating the idea or they trust their own team 100% there is always a risk that one person will veto it.
The client gets nervous when they begin to realise they only have the yacht for 3 days before it sails off in to the wild blue yonder for 12 months so if they get it wrong a redo is not on the cards.
The clients creative brain was disconnected from their budgeting brain and they realise they don’t have anything like the funds needed to make the idea happen.
The reality that we are all working with something that is someones personal pride and joy starts to weigh on our minds.
The client starts to get overwhelmed with conflicting outcomes from the shoot - walkthroughs, crew, technical, detail, short films, long films, toys only, tender only, cuisine only etc. These days there are so many marketing channels available its no wonder the list of requirements grows year by year.

With all this coming at them is it any wonder what was once seen as the breakthrough idea that was going to bring clients running through the door ends up being “let’s just go with a male and female model, or maybe we just do a technical walkthrough”

And let’s not forget once on the shoot the client can get distracted with other opportunities, leading to what was once a well defined and well planned three days ending up as a mashup of conflicting priorities. The result - a compromised outcome.

So maybe before saying ‘lets do it different’ try to understand it takes some big kahunas to stay strong and make it actually happen.

So who has actually has “Big Kahunas”? The following projects spring to mind

MOONEN - a 2mins 30 sec brand film with no yacht until around the 2min mark. View Here

KAHLILAH - One woman all alone having fun, going against the opinions of the PC crowd to show just how much fun being on a superyacht really is. View Here

CYCLONE by TANSU - One woman with an ‘in your face’ aggressive styled Landrover making a statement about the yacht brand and the target market. View Here

HOME by Heesen - The contrast between the noise of a helicopter and motorbike with the silence inside the yacht to illustrate its sound proofing features. Development of this idea and its implementation took less than 48hrs and took courage and some quick talking to make happen. View Here

MAKING YOUR WORLD BRIGHTER by CNI a campaign of six short films depicting the superyacht life on and off the yacht. The film series approach was a new idea in 2015 but it paid dividends by giving the campaign a long promotional shelf life for CNI. View Here

SARP YACHTS - A more abstract approach to promoting the brand via a voice over script and E Type Jag. Back in 2016 this film turned a few heads and the concept has since been replicated by others. View Here

GARCON by Damen - This was the first Yacht Support film we created for Damen and they took a risk with the style and music. But true to form they have maintained this style across all their Yacht Support films and it has paid off. View Here

*BIG KAHUNAS - figuratively a person who has big kahunas has a lot of nerve, is brave, a risk taker

By: Robert Gleed

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MARKETING: To be different takes ‘BIG KAHUNAS’