Let's talk about Boating Awards in Asia
by Guy Nowell 24 Apr 11:00 BST
Boating Awards in Asia © FreePix
It's Boating Awards season in Asia. Time to put on the dinner jacket or the little black dress, and get up on stage for some accolades and the grip-and-grin photos. There's been one recently in Shanghai, and there's another coming up in Singapore. So let's talk about Boating Awards in Asia: some people won't like this at all, but that's how it is when you point out that the Emperor has no clothes.
All names have been omitted in order to protect the guilty.
Over the years, we (Asia Yacht Press) have been involved in Awards from all the angles. We have been party to starting an Awards event, we have reported Awards events many times, we have been party to judging them, and we have participated in handing them out. We have what can fairly be called an "intimate" knowledge of Awards and how they are distributed.
This is what you need to know, especially if you are buying a boat and might be swayed by the apparent prestige that an Award confers.
1. Awards run by media organisations are driven by advertising revenue, not by finely-considered judgements of excellence from knowledgeable industry experts.
There's a good reason for this. Most magazines today survive by selling advertising, not by selling magazines. Next time you pick up a 'free' magazine full of expensive boats and glossy lifestyle stories, and printed on very expensive paper, stop and wonder who is paying for it all. Not you - but the advertisers who are paying a small fortune for the back cover. For the advertisers, Awards are a 'thank you' for their advertising contracts - and we even know of occasions when the getting of an Award was written into the contract at the very beginning.
There is a story from a Volvo Ocean Race of yesteryear, in which the senior Volvo rep at a meeting had to remind those present that "this is not about yacht racing... this is about selling lorries." Similarly, Awards are not altruistic handouts designed to recognise excellence and brilliance, carefully and cautiously assessed by respected senior industry players: they are a means of generating advertising revenue. There's no such thing a free lunch, and Awards are paid for either upfront or after the event.
Once upon a time, as previous owners of a boating magazine, we were offered an Award for "The Best Boating Magazine in Asia". Thank you, that would be very nice. "All you have to do is book (buy) a full page ad in our magazine, and then book (pay for) a table of 12 at the Awards Dinner." OK, I'll talk to my business partners. A week we were advised that we could have second prize, but that "first place has been reserved by another boating magazine."
2. Awards criteria are neither transparent, objective, nor defined. Cut your cloth to fit whoever is paying for the new suit.
Some years ago, we were owners of a luxury boating magazine, and were invited to participate in the setting-up of an Awards event in China. We carefully analysed some existing programmes to get some idea of what categories we might need to address, and quickly noted that the awards specifications (eg 'Best Motor Yacht, 100-150 feet') were far from standardised. In fact, they differed every year, and bore a remarkably strong correlation to the boats featured in the advertising in the magazine concerned. Surprise!
Then there was the trade magazine owned by a friend who invited me to photograph their Awards Dinner. These people really had it licked. There was a long explanation during dinner of the methodology behind making the Awards, but the publisher had already explained it to me beforehand. "The companies pay for ads in the magazine, and they write (and pay for) the stories that feature themselves. They pay to be nominated for an award, they pay for a table at the dinner, and they pay for another ad afterwards that says 'we won an Award'". On this occasion the free dinner was pretty good, but I still insisted on being paid to take the photographs - it seemed only fair.
3. Judges are usually working with minimal information.
Did you ever imagine that Awards decisions were made by a group of Wise Men conferring at length about the pros and cons of a recently-premièred 80-footer? Or even assumed that the sagacious judges had actually been on board - or even simply seen - the boats under consideration? No chance.
When I was invited to be a judge for an Awards event, I asked when I got see the boats that had been nominated. Drive them around. Open a few lockers. See what happens in the galley when you open the throttles on the fly bridge. Fiddle with a decibel meter in the Owners' Suite.
No chance. I was told that "the judging panel are well-read and well-informed. They can do the research on line." Which means that they are reading sales brochures written by the builders themselves, and/or magazine 'reviews' concocted by the magazine - the Awards organiser. So, no bias there. A judge for one of the more prestigious boating awards shows in Asia told me that he usually had to be reminded to cast his votes at the last minute before showtime. "I just stick a pin in the list of nominees a few times and come up with some answers."
There are a great many things that you can quantify about a yacht, be it sail or motor, but at the end of the day it is as much about whether the client likes the interior design and the colour of the cushions as it is about the deadrise or the prismatic coefficient of the hull. A dealer for one of the production sailing boat brands told us that he went on a factory training course to learn how to sell boats. "First, you must identify the person in control of the cheque book. That will be the one wearing the skirt..." Really. This was in France, but maybe times have changed!
What is serious about this black-tie exercise in dissembling is that there must be people out there who take the 'results' seriously. Asia is still a small and immature market, whatever the PR fluff people tell us, and Awards will sway the decisions of the uninformed and naïve. In Europe, the major manufacturers and builders invite boating journalists for a three-day bunfight somewhere nice (Cannes, anyone?), and let them loose on all their new models in order to kick the tyres, count the revs, and measure the heel angle in a full-powered tight turn. It's a salutary experience, and very educational. Conversely, I have experienced 'sea trials' in Hong Kong that consisted of a very sedate trip from the typhoon shelter to a Hong Kong south side anchorage and back again, at a speed gentle enough not to disturb the bubbles in the prosecco. And definitely no hands-on driving.
When you read in the Boating media that the Splash 45m has been awarded 'Best Interior Design in Asia', just remember that the judges have probably not been on board to take a look - at this boat or at its competitors in the class - and the decision was made through an advertising contract, and maybe because the magazine editor's girlfriend likes the electric blue upholstery.
And when the Andante 100 is named as the 'Best Displacement Superyacht in Asia between 99 and 101 feet' it may be because the builders or agents took out a year's advertising contract with the magazine promoting the Awards. If the Sardine Tuna 50 is named as the 'Best Hybrid Snorkel-Aspirated Yacht', you may like to check where the builders place their ads.
In Asia, Boating Awards just aren't credible. They are no more than an excuse for a splashy and media-worthy party, with lots of self-congratulatory hand shaking and back slapping. Some while back a major Asian 'name' received an Award for being 'Charter Broker of the Year' without ever having chartered anything at all. "Another one for the trophy cabinet," observed the broker who spilled the beans.
4. This can be fixed
Ideally, Awards should be assessed and awarded by a disinterested third party, assessed by industry experts, and awarded by someone other than one of the Asian boating media organisations. To make them credible they need to be administered by the local industry associations, but that would demand a level of commitment and coordination as yet unknown.
There are such awards being run in the Asia-Pacific region, and the Australian Marine Industry Awards will be presented during the ASMEX 2024 Conference in May. The recipients of these Awards have been nominated by the industry, the judging panel are industry experts, and the categories remain consistent and a reflection of the growth and development of the industry in the region. Transparency reigns supreme. You can check it out
Everyone loves a gala dinner, and as they say, "Winners are Grinners", so let’s hope the Asian Boating Award cleans up its act so that Awards really do recognise the best of the best in boating and contribute towards developing the professionalism of the industry.
Meanwhile, buy an ad, pass me the pincushion and a full glass, and I'll vote for the boat with the DD flybridge.