SATELLITE communications company Inmarsat and consumer brand Puma are among the global brands that have used the Volvo Ocean Race in general and the Singapore stopover in particular to reach out to their Asian clients to good effect.

Inmarsat, for example, has directly leveraged on the extreme sport and the global nature of the race to showcase its flagship Fleet Broadband 500 system. Race organisers had approached the company for a solution to do the kind of from-the-deck action media coverage that it was planning for the current edition of the race at the beginning of 2007. Even though it was ahead of their original launch schedule, Inmarsat made the strategic decision to go ahead with it.

'From speaking with the media crew members on the boats this time around, they have been absolutely over the moon with the system's capabilities because it has allowed them to go to the next level of high-definition television video images coming directly off the boat which has been unheard of previously,' said Inmarsat head of maritime business, Piers Cunningham.

Buoyed by this success, Inmarsat is now using the race and especially stopovers like Singapore to launch its Fleet Broadband 150 product for smaller merchant vessels and the leisure market at the end of the second quarter. 'For us, Singapore is a prime strategic area in terms of operational shipping consolidation and also operation and management,' said Mr Cunningham. 'It's inconceivable that you would come to Asia and not do something here. The race coming to Singapore and Inmarsat as a prime sponsor has allowed us to attract not just the local shipowning community, but (also) people from all over Asia purely for the activities that we're putting on around the race.'

Inmarsat has taken out about 250 people from markets in the region such as Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong during the stopover and has also done presentations with students of the Singapore Maritime Academy. 'It's one thing getting people to come to a very benign presentation but this gives it a bit of spice; and also, they can actually see the equipment fitted on the boats and working - which is the biggest endorsement, really,' Mr Cunningham said.

It is also planning activities at the stopovers in Qingdao, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway (Ireland) and St Petersburg (Russia) to reach the markets in those regions.

Puma, meanwhile, has equally ambitious aspirations in the sporting lifestyle market. It has not only sponsored one of the most strikingly designed and decorated boats in the fleet with its bright red sails and instantly recognisable jumping feline logo, but has also used the race to launch its new sailing collection.

The 60-year-old brand is entering the sailing market by being the race's official apparel and sending its unique Puma container store to all the stopover ports. The store consists of two converted shipping containers which are specially designed to be moved and set up all over the world.

The Puma Sailing collection seeks to shake up the old sailing traditions of muted colours and elitist attitudes with a range of bright and colourful lines of apparel, accessories and footwear. From indications at the store at the race village in One Degree 15 Marina Club, the concept is taking off with stock flying off the shelves. Popular sizes of the Singapore stopover T-shirt (each port has a specially designed T-shirt available only at the port) were out of stock from as early as Friday.

This article was first published in The Business Times on January 19, 2009.