People often wonder how much exposure they can get as sponsors of an Olympic sailing campaign
The main motivation of anyone who supports an Olympic campaign is to help the athlete focus their time, energy and attention on training to be the best they can be as they work towards becoming and Olympic champion. That goes without saying but as someone who has been actively engaged in an Olympic campaign for the past 4 years I have found that companies who support my campaign can increase their exposure and benefit in multiple ways.
It goes without saying that when I am out raising the funds to cover the cost of my equipment, training and travel to
compete against the top athletes in the world I am taking time away from the training I need to be the best I can be. It is not unusual for American athletes to split their time between training and fundraising as we are all required to fund our own programs and raising the money takes time and a lot of work. Through the process of finding sponsors, I have come to the realization that I have the opportunity to offer so much more exposure, and value than the typical athlete can.
Being 18 years old, I understand the need to train with top coaches, compete against the top athletes and practice in a variety of locations to give me the ability to be strong in varying conditions and venues. I have spent my entire competitive sailing career travelling around North America and Europe doing exactly that. When I was 12 years old, I started sailing with a travelling team where we would leave home in June and travel around the continent. I learned so much about myself, my sport and the differences that location plays on conditions we sail in not to mention the opportunity to meet so many people from around the country where I could share my 
experience, strength and hopes in this sport. I have carried that understanding through my entire career.
Sailing my Olympic campaign with this philosophy gives me the ability to offer tremendous exposure opportunities to my sponsors. When I travel to a city to train, I have to pack up my boat, my trailer and all my gear into my truck and drive across the country to get there to sail. While I am driving I am on the road for long periods of time, which puts my boat, trailer and truck in front of tens of thousands of drivers (all of whom are consumers). When I am at venues, I sail 6-8 hours a day and am seen, photographed and have the opportunity to speak with hundreds of locals and in many cases I can arrange to be interviewed by local press or media to gain coverage of my training while I am there. All of this delivers exposure to my sponsors. Here are some of the things I offer to those companies who believe in me and financially support my campaign.
Branding on my boat, trailer and truck
Branding on my clothing and gear
Mentions of supporters in interviews
Those above are all pretty typical except for the fact that I focus more on making sure the exposure is more than the typical athlete, and i travel more which increases the opportunity for exposure to a larger audience. Those are just the 
beginning of what I can provide.
Being young and energetic, I understand that companies who believe in my deserve more and so I am willing and able to deliver!
When I get to a venue, I talk with everyone I see. Those conversations are always about my campaign, my boat and the Olympic process but I also have the opportunity to talk about my sponsors and their products giving demos of the products and in some cases I even have samples or marketing materials to give to everyone. I have also been able to make myself available to model for ads, commercials, websites and other sources of advertising for my supporters. In addition, I have a large following of fans here on my website and on my Twitter and Instagram accounts and am active in posting pictures and comments for those fans to see and interact with. The typical athlete in an Olympic campaign today has hundreds of followers on their Twitter account and as contrast, I currently have over 40,000 most of whom are high school and college students who are highly motivated and engaged in the social tools when making buying decisions for everything. My sponsors benefit from this because I often talk about them and their products while I post throughout the days of training and travel.
I haven’t put limits on what I will do for the companies who help me make my dreams come true. Imagine having your branding not just on my truck, trailer and boat but also rebrand my website with your image and name (think of changing followmetorio.com to OlympicSailingCampaign.com), me posting videos about your products and how I am using them on a daily basis and even adding a small section to your website and in your retail locations featuring the products I use and and recommend where I link to and send customers to those sites each and every day! I can also 
make appearances in retail locations, at meetings or events and talk to my generation about your products and how much I rely on them each day regardless of what I am doing or where I am training…the possibilities are endless!
It comes down to the fact that I am an athlete that needs your support and just like I am doing whatever I need to do to achieve my goal of Olympic Gold, I will do whatever I can to support you when you sponsor my trainning. I will provide more value to your brand than you could ever expect. I understand that the more value I deliver the more you appreciate sponsoring me and therefore will continue to support me through the many years of Olympic level sailing I have ahead of me.
If you haven’t considered sponsoring sailing before, I get it. Sailing isn’t exactly a mainstream sport in America but know this, your support of my campaign…your belief in me and my efforts to work hard and be the best I can be will give you 
more than simply exposure on my boat, it will give you access to me and through that increased exposure to my generation through my fanbase and those they influence each and every day. Plus you will know every day that you are supporting the hardest working and most active young and engaging athlete today. Weather you call it sponsorship, or an employment contract or simply pay me for services I deliver, I am all yours.
Give me a call today and lets set up a time to meet about what value I can deliver to you when you sponsor my campaign. I will make it happen for you!