WK Beachvolleybal 2015

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure to visit the World Championship Beach Volleyball in Amsterdam as guest of Topsport Amsterdam. I do compliment the organizer TIG and the Dutch Volleyball Federation NEVOBO. They established a great event. And the cities will recover their investments in a great manner. The chosen locations and the large number of spectators and the media attention (66 countries report on the WC Beach Volleyball) play an important role here. I also have to compliment sponsor Transavia. They managed to attract the attention in a surrounding which was full with FIVB sponsors’ displays. It will be interesting to know what the benefits will be.  The repeated association with this dynamic and young sport and target group should lead to Transavia planes being as filled as the tribunes were during the WC. What I found striking during my visit was that it was not tested immediately. The WC has passed the magical number of 100,000 visitors. Would it not be fantastic if you could sell a Transavia ‘hot seat’ to 15 per cent of this number before, during or after the event? Or am I thinking too much like a market vendor?

In any case, Transavia’s website does not mention the partnership with the World Championships Beach Volleyball. One would think you, still bearing in mind the Transavia Beach Babes, could book a flight to a nice beach resort using your WC ticket as a discount voucher.

Anyway, I can only see part of the activation but I do like to take advantage of sales opportunities.

VWS invests in talent was the slogan on the banners. It is great that ‘The Netherlands Ltd’ invests in these kind of events. However, the return could, in my opinion, be much larger in the international field. I see a fantastic meeting point where the industry, sport and authorities from the participating countries can meet. No far travels, just a mission on home soil. The good thing is that the platform is available and the VIP tribunes were not sold out. I believe this is a missed opportunity.

The closure of the evening was a competition with the Brazilian legend Ricardo. What an athlete! It was great to see this man, who is 41 years old, play with so much power. The sport is immensely popular in Brazil. It was the first discipline to be sold out at the coming Olympic Games. Ricardo is one of those sporting icons who could have opened doors for the OSF companies that will participate in the ‘Partners for International Business’ programme in Brazil.

At sunset Amsterdam was still sparkling with energy. Driving back to the South I mused….. if we are able to organize such a great event in The Netherlands, why on earth did we not try to get the European Games? A missed opportunity……

 

John van de Laar