St. Maarten Heineken Regatta

The Challenge

Set in the crystal-clear waters of the Caribbean, the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is four days of world-class racing with some of the world’s most seasoned sailors, from more than 35 countries. ADPR was challenged to raise the profile of the St Maarten Heineken Regatta in the global marine and travel market to increase awareness and regatta entrees. This was broken down into three core objectives:

To drive recognition of the race amongst the target market and secure more than 110 entrants
To generate positive coverage of St. Maarten Heineken Regatta in international marine media
To position St. Maarten as a sailing and travel destination

The event this year was fantastic: the format, sailing conditions, race courses, and all the activities at the race village were excellent.

Dobbs Davis, Seahorse International sailing

The Solution

12 sailing news releases including four action-packed race reports, and creation of key messages for use in race reports and social media – such as “Regatta Rock Stars”
Five party news releases announcing the likes of The Jacksons, Fatman Scoop and Shermanology
Curated and implemented seven engaging monthly content calendars for social media. This included complete management of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta social channels before, during and after the regatta
Created a survey for previous competitors and outreached to sailors resulting in quotes for us to use within content to promote the regatta
Leveraged our relationships with target press and influencers including Nautique, SAIL USA, Seahorse International magazine and Surf to Turf. We invited them on a tailored press trip to cover the regatta, highlighting it as a must-do sailing event for the calendar as well as St. Maarten as a destination to have on your bucket list. The target press and influencers were given the chance to experience racing first-hand onboard some of the legendary boats including I Love Poland and Godspeed. They were also treated to an island tour and were able to discover all of the remarkable things that the island of St. Maarten has to offer
Effective press office function including crisis communications, operating a nearly 24/7 service during the regatta
Event management during the regatta including media registration, photographer and videographer co-ordination, daily press conferences, press boat allocations