10 Minutes with … Martin McDonald
Martin McDonald is managing director of Big On Results, the international sports, sponsorship and PR agency based in the UK. You will know him from his role as commercial director of the Powerboat P1 World Championship, where he played a leading part in the creation and establishment of the P1 brand.
WOP: WHAT HAD YOU BEEN DOING PRIOR TO JOINING POWERBOAT P1?
MM: In 2002, I was asked as Big On Results, to consult in the development of the Championship, by its then CEO Nathan Knight. He wanted to make use of my commercial and marketing management expertise from Formula 1, the World Rally Championship, and other major sports, to fast track the development the P1 brand, business set-up and its commercial operations. Shortly afterwards I was invited onto the board by Asif Rangoonwala, became commercial director, a shareholder of P1, and the rest, as they say, is history.
MM: BEFORE POWERBOAT P1 HAD YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN ANY FORM OF MARINE ACTIVITY?
MM: I have a passion for sailing, which proves that you can mix the two disciplines successfully if you are open-minded. A couple of years before I got into P1, I was invited to look at commercialising Class 1 as a mainstream motorsport. My advice then to OSP was that C1 is a fantastic spectacle with beautiful boats but it really will always be about the players within it, which is fi ne. I thought back then that if powerboat racing was to be followed by a mainstream audience, and become a valuable sponsor proposition, it needed to be manufacturer based, like Formula 1, and ultimately that is why we created Powerboat P1.
WOP: DO YOU THINK POWERBOAT RACING COULD EVER BECOME A MAINSTREAM SPORT AND IF NOT WHY NOT?
MM: That’s a really interesting question David. I remember having this discussion with Giancarlo Cangiano, an early P1 Evolution World Champion, when I was staying at his home in Naples. I said then that the key to becoming mainstream is moving beyond the ‘owner-driver’ stage of the sport. And I believe this is where we are headed today. The racers in P1 are successful businessmen, mostly selfmade, so they understand how to build businesses, which is exactly what we need to move P1 into the realms of other global motor sports. When these owner-drivers move beyond racing personally, as happened with Bernie Ecclestone in Formula 1, some powerful things will start to happen. We will see these excellent ex-racers emerging as charismatic team principals beyond the fi re of personal competition. We will see two-boat racing teams. We will see those teams in fi erce competition for the limited franchises available in P1. We will see a step-change in media interest, in particular from television. As a result, we will see even larger live, online and TV audiences developing, which in turn will attract sponsorship euros from blue-chip brand owners, who we at BoR know today, are actively seeking sports properties that generate quantifi able value-add, and return on their investment. That is when we will have truly realised the potential we envisioned when writing the first P1 business plan in 2002. So yes, I am a believer in P1 becoming mainstream, absolutely.
WOP: WHAT WERE YOUR LIKES AND DISLIKES OF POWERBOAT P1?
MM: I really liked the trail-blazing aspects of my role at P1. It was very cool to create a completely new world motorsport from a blank sheet of paper. Closing big deals with fi rst-time venues, such as Malta and Portugal, and proving that our business model worked, was also really satisfying. On the fl ipside, we had some challenging growing moments with the teams over rules, in particular I remember a very long weekend at the German Grand Prix, but that’s another story.
WOP: DO YOU REGRET TAKING PART IN THE MALTESE GP AS IT WAS A BAPTISM OF FIRE?
MM: You know you have passed me a double-edged sword with that one! Firstly, I think you mean that I had a famous attempt at Grand Prix powerboat racing once, but after breaking my back I realised that someone up there was telling me to keep to my strengths, organising sport and sponsorship. Secondly, Malta was always going to present challenges because we were bringing something completely new and yet to be understood to the Islands. I remember my fi rst meeting with the Minister for Tourism. I explained that we wanted to generate income for the tourism, marine, and other industries, and that we wanted to make P1 ultimately as infl uential for Malta, as F1 is for Monaco. I think we have made our point and done our job, demonstrated handsomely in a KPMG report that calculated our economic impact to the Maltese economy as being in excess of €2million per GP, and that’s way back in 2006. So to answer your question, yes, it was a baptism of fi re at beginning and end, but I have absolutely no regrets!
WOP: WHAT ARE YOU INVOLVED WITH NOW?
MM: Big On Results excites me every day because of the variety of challenges our clients bring to us. Clearly motorsport, especially creating sponsorship partnerships and event management, will always remain an important part of my daily business. Some projects are short and others are longer term, like with getting P1 off the ground from ’02 to ’07 for example. We are also involved privately in a charitable project for youths called Challenge Wales, which is very exciting. The Challenge centres around giving young people the opportunity to experience a huge 72’ racing yacht on the open seas, and, as it’s an ex-Round-the-World BT Challenge boat in full race spec for 19 crew, you can just imagine the horizons it opens up to young minds.
WOP: WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES? MM:
That depends entirely on where my mood is taking me! I adore being out on the water of course, and have been privileged to participate in two nonstop 700 mile Rolex sailing races on a 52’ yacht. When I get the chance, I paint abstracts, write, and always there are new movies and music to be appreciated.
WOP: AFTER A HARD DAY AT WORK, HOW DO YOU RELAX?
MM: I am fortunate to have a fabulous and extended family. I enjoy cooking for them and for my friends in the UK and at our home abroad. I spend as much time as I can with my partner Naomi and we enjoy live music concerts, especially when the summer evenings come along. I also enjoy running in the beautiful countryside near our home in Gloucestershire.
WOP: WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE HOLIDAY LOCATION?
MM: When we want to escape from the world there is nothing better than jumping in a boat with friends and sailing away to Gozo, it is a jewel in the Mediterranean, slower pace of life, and the best way to relax. I’d go there in a heartbeat, and sometimes we do.
WOP: IF YOU COULD CHOOSE THE IDEAL EMPLOYMENT WHAT WOULD IT BE?
MM: I am already doing it, thank God.
