The Cup's corporate defender

BY TIM HUNTER

BRUNO TROUBLE, yachting impresario, public relations genius and promoter of the world's most famous luggage, makes no secret of his hostility towards Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli. "I don't like him at all, Bertarelli," he says. "We have huge fight over the last two years. He has no respect for the America's Cup legend. He's just considering it is professional sport and a good way to make money."

Seated in the morning sun at a Viaduct Harbour cafe, Trouble looks utterly at home. Yachts gleam expensively across the water, passers-by call out "bonjour Bruno", and shortly racing will begin again out on the Waitemata for the Louis Vuitton Trophy – a race he invented.

For Trouble, this yachting is not mere competition. Since 1983 he has masterminded one of the most enduring partnerships between sport and sponsor. It succeeds, he says, because the wealthy people who raced America's Cup yachts a century ago were clients of Louis Vuitton – and the same is true today. "We are not supporting a sport. We love the tradition."

Hence his issues with Bertarelli. Louis Vuitton has invested a great deal in its association with the America's Cup – an association that would have much less value if the Cup turned into just another regatta, a waterborne version of Formula 1.

The irony of a corporate sponsor sheltering a sporting event from commercial exploitation is not lost on Trouble. But in the luxury world, heritage and pedigree are worth more than anything Bertarelli can come up with. "For luxury products, image is everything. It's not the price."

Indeed, Trouble feigns ignorance of how much Louis Vuitton spends on sponsorship. "To tell you whether it's 2% or 5% of the gross, or more, I don't know. We don't care."

It's all about relationships and global thinking, he says. "Everyone ask why we invest in New Zealand, but we see the world picture," says Trouble. "Sure the profit we make in New Zealand would not pay for what we do here – I think even the turnover would not be sufficient."

But "the place an event is organised is not important". Images can be seen across the world.

For all his apparent nonchalance with money, Trouble knows exactly why sponsorship is a good strategy and how much it's worth.

"For luxury brands you're limited in terms of advertising," he says. And buying space in mass media is a waste of money – "you don't kill a moth with a bazooka" – so brand image is built through public relations.

He rattles off some numbers from last year's event. "There were 543 hours of TV on 220 networks in the world, value 5 million. We had articles in over 1000 newspapers, value 6m. The impact on the Auckland economy was valued by [mayor] John Banks at $12m."

That's good value, he says. The total cost of the event is about 3.5m ($6.8m), half of which is paid for by Louis Vuitton. Of the rest, half comes from New Zealand taxpayers and half from the teams. Feeding into those coffers with assistance in cash or in kind are corporate sponsors such as Audi and Rayglass. "It's a lot of money, but it's cheap compared to the America's Cup," says Trouble.

And for Louis Vuitton, it works. The company, a unit of French listed group LVMH, has delivered double digit growth every year for 30 years. After opening its first shop in China in 1992 (four years before opening in New Zealand), Louis Vuitton now has 18 shops there. "We doubled our business in China last year," says Trouble. "China is now the second biggest market for Vuitton." The first? "Japan."

After Auckland, the event moves on to Sardinia in May, Dubai in November and Hong Kong next January. As for Auckland next year, that depends on the schedule for the next America's Cup to be decided by new holders BMW Oracle.

Trouble politely defers to the judgement of team leaders Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts, who trounced Bertarelli's Alinghi in Valencia last month, but it's clear he is more comfortable with them in charge.

"What happened in Valencia – the team we were supporting won," says Trouble.

He can't resist another dig. For Alinghi to fight BMW Oracle in a New York court, home of original America's Cup holder the New York Yacht Club, "is like going to your mother-in-law and complaining about your wife".

For more information on the racing, see www.louisvuittontrophy.com.

 

 

Bruno Trouble

Born on May 29, 1945, in Versailles, France.

Started dinghy sailing as a youngster and competed in first World Championships aged 17.

European Soling champion 1972.

Has a Masters degree in Private Law and a Diploma from the Institute of Judicial Studies.

Represented France in Olympics in Mexico 1968 and Montreal 1976.

Skippered America's Cup challenges for Bic ballpoint pen tycoon Marcel Bich in 1977, 1980 and 1983.

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