Marlow Ropes
Brand awareness, Product placement, Research and development, Shared values

• Increase Marlow Ropes global presence through publicity of the partnership including generating content and story opportunities for use in marketing and across Social Media channels.
• To demonstrate and showcase; quality, innovation, performance, service, reliability and aspiration of Marlow Ropes products and services to current and potential stockists
• Explore further business opportunities through other Clipper Race partners and events
• To engage and educate users on the use of knots, splicing and rope manufacture.

• Coverage for Marlow Ropes was well received across industry online media in the UK, the US and Australia. Mentions of Marlow Ropes and the Marlow knot tying experience was also mentioned in releases picked up in online Chinese media.
• The Making of the Clipper Race rope video hosted on the Clipper Race owned Facebook page generated a reach of 28,905, with 1,066 engagements.
• Imagery and video content was collated throughout the 2017-18 edition as well as crew interviews, race footage and testimonial interviews with the Clipper Race Head of Maintenance, Simon Johnston and Fleet Rigger, Greg North. Marlow Ropes utilised this content with other partners, for example DSM Dyneema, as well as use in marketing and branding collateral.
• Utilised partnership by cross marketing at trade shows to highlight product capability to other markets.
• Attended Clipper Connect events during the international stopovers to reach potential markets outside of sailing, including commercial and defence.
• Continued to build the partnership which moved upon the conclusion of the 2017-28 edition has spanned 18 years, one of the longest running in Clipper Race history.

Interactive Display

• To increase public engagement with the product and continue to build the affiliation to the brand and to educate, two experiential pods were created with graphics and guidance on how to tie some of the most useful knots.These units were transported to each stopover destination and used in the Clipper Race dome to engage with supporters and visitors.

Video Content

• The Life of Rope Series was created to engage and educate. Following the process behind making the Clipper Race rope in the Marlow Ropes factory, to being delivered, rigged on the Clipper 70s, raced 40,000nm around the world and then strength tested.

Brand Ambassador

• To increase storytelling opportunities Marlow Ropes embraced the option to have a Clipper Race circumnavigator as its Brand Ambassador during the 2017-18 edition of the race. Simon DuBois was selected from a shortlist of applicants, the Canadian was the Bosun on board second placed team Visit Seattle. He provided specific content including blogs, images and video for Marlow Ropes to use across their channels and Clipper Race hub on the website. An engaging and knowledgeable individual his account of the race and his experiences as Bosun humanised the experience and he was an able spokesperson for both Marlow Ropes and the Clipper Race during stopovers and at events and sail days.

Corporate Sailing Days

• Marlow Ropes utilised sail days when the route stopped in the key market of Australia, Sydney and Western USA, Seattle to engage with current and future distributors.
• One of its corporate sail days in Sydney, Australia was used to showcase its brand and invaluable involvement in the race. Attended by key retailers of Marlow Ropes, the sailing experience enabled business guests to see first-hand how Marlow Ropes products perform on an ocean racing yacht that has sailed in some of the most extreme environments.
• Marlow Ropes and its Clipper Race Brand Ambassador, crew member Simon Dubois, took the opportunity to invite key retailers to sail on a Clipper 70, showcasing how 15,620 metres of rope travels 40,000 nautical miles around the globe as part of one of the toughest endurance races in the world.
• Marlow Ropes also took advantage of one of its sail days for internal employee engagement, rewarding dedicated members of its team and treating them to a days sailing aboard a Clipper 70.

Product Testing

• Whilst in Seattle, Marlow Ropes toured a Clipper Race yacht with Fleet Rigger Greg North to evaluate how its product was performing after six legs and 30,000 nautical miles. They used this time to gather invaluable insight on product performance to aid research and development of its products.

Crew Engagement

• Crew will handle ropes every day of the race and a major correlation between Marlow Ropes and the Clipper Race is the drive for education. Through crew communications, email, social media and dedicated training ahead of Race Start, Marlow Ropes educate crew on the use of knots, splicing and how that affects line strength.