Caroline Palmer
British Marine’s Sponsorship Manager
A crucial role within British Marine, Caroline’s focus is on attracting investment through event sponsorship, especially for the Southampton International Boat Show. The net contribution is then reinvested into the show and used to support British Marine members by providing essential services, such as training, technical assistance, legal and environmental advice - it’s easy to understand the importance of her role in benefitting members.
Yet, as Caroline explains, her role goes even further in bringing additional advantages.
As well as securing valuable revenue for Southampton International Boat Show, she also works with sponsors to bring together unique and creative activations that help to elevate an already-world-class show, ensuring its position as an outstanding visitor attraction and providing an unparalleled retail and showcase platform for the leisure marine industry.
Welcoming 100,000+ visitors over 10 days, as a marketing investment opportunity, the show represents a highly appealing prospect. 78 percent of our visitors are also of an AB profile, with 65 percent of them actively looking to buy.
In total, Caroline has secured support from 24 sponsors for this year’s event, spanning marine and non-marine sectors, and of varying business size.
From first contact through to the show itself, Caroline advises on and manages sponsorship options, helping to fulfil creative event marketing aligned to individual brands and enabling sponsors to meet their marketing objectives. Options can range from site-wide branding to opportunities around one particular area, such as the show entrance, to contributing to live talks on the Foredeck Stage, supporting networking events, or even facilitating an additional experience for visitors to see or do.
A prominent example at this year’s event will be GAC Pindar’s branding take-over of The Shipyard live entertainment area, a bespoke partnership which not only reflects the nature of their business and their company ethos, but which has provided a unique platform for their B2B outreach, as well as for activation days for their non-marine sector staff.
Bentley Motors returns for the third consecutive year as luxury automative sponsor and will leverage the show as an extensive PR and marketing opportunity as well as for hospitality; on display will be the iconic Continental GT alongside the new Bentayga S Black edition.
Another long-standing supporter of the show is TheYachtMarket.com, this year sponsoring the Quarterdeck Bar & Restaurant and Sparkling Wine Bar, providing a vantage point overlooking the On the Water Stage with its line-up of waterborne stunts.
Most recently announced is MDL’s sponsorship of the iconic Guinness Bar, enhancing the hospitality experience for their berth-holders with complimentary drinks and an exclusive ‘Welcome Breakfast’.
Elsewhere, Towergate Insurance will be sponsoring the Watersports Lake where visitors have opportunity to try paddlesports for free – one of the stand-out attractions that particularly encourages visitors new to the sport and industry.
These are just a handful of the many examples that will help to enhance this year’s show. For Caroline, the opportunity to work with such a range of businesses, and with both in-house and agency teams, provides plenty of variety. “No two days tend to repeat,” she says. “I enjoy building and managing relationships with our partners and sponsors, and value the opportunities I get for creative input.”
Having joined British Marine in 2022, this is Caroline’s third year of working on Southampton International Boat Show, as she explains:
“Most of my career has been in Relationship Management and Customer Care Training, where I’ve led teams and honed my people skills. My organisational abilities and passion for empowering others drive me to prioritise knowledge sharing – I believe this fosters a culture of excellence that benefits the entire business.”
Working closely with the events and operations teams to ensure the logistics of activations are feasible, Caroline also regularly briefs the PR & Marketing team to help maximise awareness of sponsor involvement, and liaises with ticketing, sales and accounts.
It’s a multi-faceted role and one that stands apart from positions Caroline has held previously in her career. “This is my first experience of working for a small, non-corporate business, and initially I had to adapt to a less structured environment and wearing multiple hats to get the job done.”
But, three years on, she says: “I absolutely love it. It’s a small team but that means decisions are made quickly; everyone is highly engaged and works well together.”
Caroline’s background makes her well-placed for managing a process which, she says, has customer relations at the core and is very much a two-way development.
“The sponsorship process can begin simply with me reaching out to create initial interest, presenting an asset register and discussing which opportunities will best fit with a potential sponsor’s needs. Or it can begin with a business approaching us, explaining what they would like to achieve and what they may be able to offer visitors, and then us working together to develop that concept to the benefit of the show.
“In either case, it’s fundamental for me to first understand each company’s objective in terms of key deliverables, budget, target audience, and any previous experiences of delivering similar activations. By asking for their ideation input first, I can ensure we work to a realistic level of implementation – and not get too carried away! Coming up with really creative suggestions is fun and something I love doing, but it’s not always right for everyone and sometimes a simpler option can be just as effective in meeting objectives.
“Once agreed, it’s then my responsibility to ensure we meet the contractual key deliverables. This involves meeting weekly or fortnightly to update sponsors, right up until a few days before the show opening when I will meet them on-site for a final sign-off. In satisfying our sponsors, we know that it in turn benefits our members through the enhanced support and opportunities that come from happy sponsors.
“To help with any queries that might arise during the show, I am based on-site throughout. Afterwards, we meet with individual sponsors for a thorough review and to assess any areas for future improvement.”
Already thinking ahead to next year’s show, Caroline encourages anyone interested in sponsorship for the 2025 Southampton International Boat Show to get in touch as soon as possible.
“Expressing interest as early as possible maximises the timespan in which businesses can take advantage of publicity opportunities, through British Marine’s online and social media, direct marketing to our email database of 70,000, and wider press coverage.”
The show has an impressive impact, generating a total PR reach of 84,936,316 and achieving 113.4m total engagements through marketing* (*based on 2023’s show). As sponsors, individual companies derive significant direct exposure, thanks to extensive PR and marketing support provided by British Marine’s expert team.
“I’d love to discuss this and other sponsor benefits and opportunities further,” says Caroline. “If you are either exhibiting at or visiting the Show this year, do drop by to discuss how show sponsorship can boost your business. You can find me at the Organiser’s Office, located near the Holiday Inn, throughout the show; or call on 07717 663794 or email sponsorship@britishmarine.co.uk.”
More information on becoming a show sponsor is also available online. Download the Sponsorship Brochure at www.southamptonboatshow.com/partnership-opportunities/