Andy Thompson [#51]: Taking SailGP to an Audience Beyond Sailing

On Today’s Episode, I’m joined by Andy Thompson, Managing
Director at SailGP, an international sailing competition, where
teams compete across a season of multiple grands prix (GP) around
the world in cities like New York, Sydney, San Francisco, and
Portsmouth. 


Andy’s career spans the likes of Deloitte, London 2012, and
Americas Cup - where he was first introduced to both Sailing and
SailGP founders, Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts - who aspired
to create a commercially viable sailing series. 


In this conversation we discuss Andy’s journey, as well as the
journey of this upstart league, which was only founded in 2019,
but now finds itself with 13 races and 12 teams, with owners like
Ben Ainsley and Kylian Mbappe and blue-chip sponsors like
Emirates, Accor, and Rolex. 





Timestamps


2:00 - Introduction and Early Career


08:00 Founding of SailGP, its Unique Approach and Growth


20:00 - Commercial Strategy and Partnerships


26:00 - Team Ownership, Expansion, and Attracting Kylian
Mbappe 


35:00 - Rolex Becoming Title Partner and Partnership Strategy


42:00 - Data and Audience Engagement


45:00 - Future Focus and Consistency





Additional Links


SailGP Names DJ Khaled as Chief Hype Officer





Connect with Andy T on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠Here⁠⁠ 


Connect with Andy M on LinkedIn - ⁠⁠Here