Laurence Brady's biography of Sir Thomas Lipton will be published by Birlinn in 2007. In the meantime, he has penned a piece for The Scotsman, Scotland's national newspaper, that also appears today on their website. Interesting perspective, and historical take, on brand-promotions and the America's Cup:

Sun 18 Jun 2006

Global yachting brands set up for challenge that was buoyed by Lipton's tea
LAURANCE BRADY

TWELVE teams from 10 countries are striving for superiority in one of the most daunting sporting challenges. It takes four years of hard-fought competition to triumph, and to make things harder for upstarts, the trophy-holders automatically qualify for the final - and have the right to defend the prize on waters of their choice.

In the 12th Louis Vuitton 'Act', running from June 22 to July 3, sailing teams will be watched live by thousands of spectators, and more than 80 television channels will broadcast their endeavours. New team entrants from China and South Africa will be set alongside more familiar competitors from New Zealand, Europe and the United States, each on budgets ranging from £30m to £65m.

The prolonged battle features mono-hull, 24-metre super-yachts weighing 24 tonnes with single masts 32 metres high, and the multinational sponsors benefit from at least three years of brand exposure, not to say opportunities for corporate hospitality.

The Swiss yacht, Alinghi, representing the Société Nautique de Genève Yacht Club, spoiled the party in Auckland three years ago by destroying the defenders, Team New Zealand, with five straight race wins, setting the stage for the first European defence of the America's Cup.

That defence was not confined to one location in the early stages, the showcase of yachting talent taking in Marseilles in France, Malmö in Sweden and Trapani on Sicily before centring on Alinghi's chosen port of defence, Valencia in Spain. Landlocked Switzerland was obviously not an option.

The America's Cup remained in American hands, at the New York Yacht Club, for the first 132 years of its 155-year history. When the schooner America crossed the Atlantic in 1851 and triumphed over the cream of British yachts, the gauntlet was thrown down. Until 1958, challengers aiming to reclaim America's Cup had to sail across the Atlantic and to take on the lightweight, sleek defender of the New York YC.

Challenges were not inevitably the preserve of the British aristocracy. Between 1899 and 1930, it fell to a grocer from Glasgow, whose name became synonymous with tea - and who developed into a global entrepreneur - to mount five challenges. In the America's Cup, Sir Thomas Lipton's name is a byword for sportsmanship.

Lipton was ahead of his time in spotting the opportunity to link his name and business to an international sporting event. And his peerless diplomacy and sportsmanship, win or lose, guaranteed many inches of favourable press coverage on both sides of the Atlantic.

In today's brand-and-sport-conscious global society, figures such as Ernesto Bertarelli, a pharmaceutical millionaire and head of the Alinghi syndicate, and Larry Ellison, who leads the BMW Oracle syndicate, are seeking to emulate Lipton's determination - and to win the cup.

The grand prize that eluded Lipton was eventually wrested from the Americans in 1983 by a syndicate led by the Australian entrepreneur, Alan Bond.

The 32nd America's Cup will reach its climax in June 2007 when the challenger with the most points accumulated from years of competition and a final victory in the Louis Vuitton Cup, will emerge to face Alinghi in the best of nine races.

Ellison's formidable BMW Oracle team, Emirates Team New Zealand and the Italian Luna Rossa stand out from the rest as the most likely contenders for the ultimate challenge. By the end of Louis Vuitton Act 11 in May, the three had established a gap of more than 30 points between them and the fourth-placed Desafio Español.

No overall British challenge is being mounted on this occasion, but individuals are involved. World-class British yachtsmen such as Ben Ainslie, the triple Olympic medallist, Ian Moore and Ian Percy have key roles to play in the respective challenges of Emirates Team New Zealand and +39, one of three Italian entries.

Whatever the outcome, there is no doubting the spectacular impact that the initial European America's Cup has brought to bear on the public, the media, the corporate sponsors and, not least, to the hitherto industrial port of Valencia.

Given Britain's unique contribution to the foundation of this sporting phenomenon, and the legacy of eminent men such as Sir Thomas Lipton, it is hoped that a new British challenge - for the 33rd America's Cup - will take shape in the months ahead.


Lipton was ahead of his time in spotting
the opportunity to link his name and busi-
ness to an international sporting event.