Fairline Yachts

Fairline Yachts is a leading luxury yacht brand, delivering British craftsmanship with power, performance and style. Its reputation for making iconic hand-built motor yachts is world renowned, combined with a restless energy to continue to surpass expectations with each new model.

Fairline offers four distinct ranges: the F//LINE, Targa, Phantom and Squadron, with a choice of yachts from 33ft to 68ft. MTM was tasked with launching its latest launch, the Phantom 65, to the world’s media.

Steeped in history, with the first Phantom launched in 1974, the new 65 reimagines the product range, with the first sportsbridge in the range. With several other sportsbridge competitors of the same size, it was crucial the media took notice of how Fairline was changing the landscape with vast feelings of space and light.

MTM had a three pronged approach of showcasing the Phantom 65 to the world’s media. This included managing its world debut at Cannes Yachting Festival, followed by sea trials in Europe and the United States to provide industry media with the opportunity to see how the yacht performs on the water.

The Cannes Yachting Festival debut included the delivery of a bespoke press event with key media attending the show, and providing the opportunity to hear from the Fairline team about the development of the Phantom 65 and the opportunity to get on board.

The European sea trial took place in La Napoule, just along the coast from Cannes in the south of France in the month following its world debut, with this specific element of the project needing to deliver quality media coverage, showcasing the Phantom 65 to existing Fairline owners, plus potential new owners. For all US based media, we followed with a sea trial out of Fort Lauderdale that attracted a range of key media from across North and South America.

Boat shows are notoriously busy on press day, with yacht brands launching new products all day. Working in the lead up to the event as well as on the day, the MTM team ensured Fairline’s launch was not to be missed and secured key media attendance at Fairline’s press call as well one-to-one interviews. For the sea trial, to ensure key European yachting and luxury lifestyle media would attend and subsequently produce features and reviews of the boat following their attendance, we demonstrated an attractive, exclusive, and streamlined offering. Having been given a broad range of deliverables to ensure an end-to-end experience for the media, MTM organised all travel, accommodation, sea trial sessions and communications before working to ensure the best coverage was produced as a result.

With the trip planned only three weeks after the Cannes Yachting Festival and many media also attending the Monaco Yacht Show the week before the sea trial, we had the challenge of encouraging journalists to make yet another trip to the south of France, when many would be facing deadlines for writing up their features from the shows.

For the European sea trial, the PR team shortlisted key European media titles aimed at Fairline’s target audience, which included Forbes, Motorboat and Yachting (MBY), Yacht Buyer, Vela e Motore, Yachts France, Yachts by Neptune, Monda Barca Market, Nautica, and Barche a Motore. Both in-house and freelance journalists were invited to attend, and for those who were unable to attend in person, we arranged separate virtual interviews to try and maximise coverage.

The yacht was having its official photoshoot at the end of the sea trial, so we were able to provide the media with imagery that was not available during the Cannes Yachting Festival, when the other interviews took place. This ensured those attending the sea trial had something new for their readers.

One of the core objectives of the sea trails was to ensure we communicated the luxury lifestyle that owning a Fairline offers to the attending journalists. This included chauffeur driven transport from Nice airport, a five-star hotel stay as well as exclusive lunches/dinners with the Fairline team. The media enjoyed exclusive time on the yacht as well as being teamed with those who spoke the same language to ensure their enjoyment was maximised.

Once the Phantom 65 was in US waters with good weather, a US sea trial was organised to ensure key media stateside had the opportunity to get on board. These titles included Power and Motoryacht, BOAT International, Robb Report, Yachting and Boattest.com.