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There’s nothing like combining my passion for sailing and marketing with an incredible photograph and story that highlights both. The photo is of Alex Thompson wearing Hugo Boss clothes on his IMOCA 60 sailboat Hugo Boss. The marketing messages grab my attention on multiple levels:

1. The Boss logo is on the bottom of the boat as well as the sails. Normally, sailboats sail upright.
2. You are not supposed to see the keels of sailboats when they are sailing. The shock of seeing the keel highlights the uniqueness of the image.
3. I’ve never seen a person stand on the keel of a moving sailboat, another unique feature.
4. No one wears suits when they are sailing.

Behind the scenes there is a lot going on to make this photograph possible. Alex’s crew had to sail the boat on a knife edge of control. An amazing amount of technology let’s the crew maintain the edge. Alex had approximately ten seconds to jump out of a rigid inflatable dinghy to the keel before Hugo Boss was overpowered and rounded up into the wind. While approaching the keel, he and his crew had to be extremely careful to avoid other parts of the boat such as the shaft and prop. With a ten second window, photographer Mark Lloyd, had to be completely prepared to shoot the photograph once Alex was on the keel and the RIB had pulled away.

A lot of vision, planning, teamwork, and execution went into this one image. All that hard work is hidden from us as we get to take in the Hugo Boss marketing message that makes us sit up and take notice.