Face-to-face: Jim O’Toole

Powerboat P1’s CEO talks to us about how he got involved in the series, its rapid growth over the last 12 months and his plans for its future

In a fast-moving championship, full of big personalities, Powerboat P1 CEO Jim O’Toole is the fastest-moving, biggest personality of the lot. As anyone who knows Powerboat P1’s most public face can attest, there isn’t a problem he can’t offer an opinion on, or one that he isn’t prepared to roll up his sleeves and get involved in. Invariably with plenty of gusto, enthusiasm and more than a little personal drive.

Born in Ireland, O’Toole studied modern languages at Queens University in Belfast, before doing a post-graduate tourism marketing course. After working for several marketing firms and PR agencies in music, theatre and sport, he helped create Premiere Consulting, which – between 2000 and 2006 – was integrated into Ogilvy, part of the world-renowned WPP Group.

During this time, he worked for major brands such as IBM, Inmarsat, AIG, Western Union and Vodafone, and global sports organisations, including Manchester United, FIFA, the World Rally Championship and the Williams and Ferrari teams in Formula 1. So, why the sudden switch in August 2007 to the niche world of Powerboat P1?

“I realised I didn’t fit in a big agency and that I’d had enough of the agency life,” O’Toole explains. “I was approached about a job in the Olympics, but it was not my cup of tea. I looked at options in Asia, and commercial director roles in premiership football clubs. Then this thing called Powerboat P1 came up, that I’d never heard of before.”

He was intrigued. “It was different, exciting,” he says. “It looked glamorous. It was clearly a business that, despite being four years old, was a start-up, so the skills and experience I’d had in those situations was an asset. I’ve also worked across a broad range of international sports, with some big brands, and some major rights holders and federations. For me, it was a good way of getting from an agency, where you look after six or seven clients, but you’re always looking over their shoulder – no matter how big – to the next deal. Here, you’re 100 per cent focused on Powerboat P1.”

As with many new Powerboat P1 converts, the clincher was meeting chairman Asif Rangoonwala. “I could see he was a one-off,” O’Toole explains. “A unique individual, who didn’t need to do this, but who believed in it enough to invest significant amounts of money, time, effort and resource. It was clear that the team who launched the championship had done a great job in establishing the championship, but it was the right time for the next set of people, bringing some sports marketing expertise in.”

Jim’s formal introduction to Powerboat P1 as Commercial Director came in August 2007, with three events in seven weeks. It was quickly clear that there was an exciting challenge on Jim’s hands, and a lot of work to take the championship to the next level. With so many stakeholders involved in the championship – from the series’ investors, through the teams, venues and the governing body (the UIM), to event organisers, race sponsors, the media and spectators, it was clear that a lot of priorities would have to be balanced while facilitating significant and rapid change.

Jim’s first target – as he was promoted into a more wide-ranging role as Managing Director in October 2007 – was getting Powerboat P1’s rules re-written. The Evolution and SuperSport classes were separated for better clarity. New, more easily understandable and enforceable power-to-weight ratio regulations were brought in, with engine dyno testing, data logging and better timing for more accurate monitoring.

“This year we’ve satisfied most people’s concerns on the rules front – we’ve been open and honest,” O’Toole says, citing the ‘important test’ of penalising the reigning SuperSport champion #44 Coman Yachts entry for a jump start in the 2008 season-opener in San Benedetto del Tronto. “There wasn’t a word of an issue from them. The important thing is we were prepared to penalise a successful Italian team on home soil. It would have been easy to open ourselves to accusations of favouritism.”

The next focus was the teams. “Last year, they weren’t happy, and we didn’t have enough in both classes to run separate races,” O’Toole says. “The first thing we did was to work on increasing the number of teams to make two classes with meaningful races. We had to work particularly hard with the Italian teams, many of whom had previous grievances with Powerboat P1, and some of whom had had left the championship.

“We explained our straight line on the way the series would be run. One side white; the other black. No wibbly-wobbly lines. No grey areas. No compromises. I don’t want to be everyone’s best buddy, or get invited to their daughter’s wedding. Sometimes they’ll hate us because we make decisions against them. Other times they’ll respect us because we’re doing a good job. But we’ll always be fair. The fact I speak Italian helped hugely, particularly during the year, being able to communicate openly and honestly.

“At the end of the day, they’re racers – they just want the chance to compete and win on a fair and level playing field. As long as we continue to deliver that, I think we’ll have their respect and support. We’ve had a couple of issues to deal with this year – but nothing major, and things can happen any time. The teams realise the effort and investment we’ve made in the rules, and the weight they carry. As a result they’re a lot more trusting, and more focused on their own activity.”

While O’Toole was working on the rules and teams through 2008, he was also setting up a new structure behind the scenes to better run and promote the championship. (“We weren’t quite fit for purpose last year,” he admits). Experienced motorsport sponsorship manager Robert Wicks came in as Sales and Marketing Director, while the Volvo Ocean Race’s Andy Hindley took a new role as Racing and Event Director. A raft of new personnel in marketing, PR and race organisation helped the championship launch into 2008 on a new high.

Solidifying Powerboat P1’s commercial stream was also high on the agenda. “The more money we have, the more we can invest in better venues, better TV production, and better PR – all the things that improve the product,” O’Toole says. And, as the results have shown, Powerboat P1 has taken steady – but noticeable – steps forward this year.

O’Toole says that 2009 will be a case of fine-tuning the rapid change from 2007 to 2008, while ratifying the few mistakes of 2008 and some of the remaining concerns. “Andy is working hard on further clarifying the rules, having learnt from what we did this year,” O’Toole says. “Robert and I are also working on re-packaging the whole sponsorship proposition, which will become venue based while also continuing to attract a number of ongoing sponsors.”

Maintaining Powerboat P1’s growth into new venues – particularly emerging sports hotspots, outside of powerboating’s traditional European base – is a careful balancing act that Jim is keen to maintain. “We got one or two milestones we need to reach,” he says. “We need to race in the USA. It won’t happen next year, and probably not in 2010, but we’d like to be there in 2011. We don’t want to upset the natural balance of domestic US series, but we’re talking to several North American teams about coming here, helping us change the flavour of Powerboat P1, making it easier to import.

“A foray into the Middle East is high on our agenda for next year. We’ve also been talking to cities in China, but that may be a step too far, too soon in terms of logistics and growth of the championship. We want to consolidate the European venues that have been a success – such as Italy, Spain and Portugal – and then look from there.”

Powerboat P1 is geared towards helping boat manufacturers and marine suppliers, develop, test and promote their products, but Jim is also keen to see a balance that helps ensure a broad depth and growth of competitors. “In the past, the series has been 20 per cent factory-backed boats and 80 percent privateers,” he explains. “This year we’ve stepped it up to perhaps 35 per cent manufacturer teams. Next year, it could be 50/50, but I’d never want to go above 80/20, otherwise we’d lose that backbone of truly enthusiastic privateer racers and that sense of adventure.

“If we had 15 competitive boats in both classes, that would be a big step forward – the nature of the product would change completely. So we’re working hard on attracting viable, well-financed and supported teams for 2009.”

And it’s those teams – and their efforts – that demonstrate why O’Toole is such a powerhouse of energy in delivering the right Powerboat P1 product. It’s not just about satisfying his own (admittedly hyper) drive, it’s as much about repaying the team’s loyalty and efforts. “One thing I have hugely admired this year is the sheer investment in terms of work, time, money, resource and effort that the teams put into this championship,” he says. “No teams, means no show. Without that, we’d be dead.

“If we can give them exposure and respect, then, by-and-large, they’ll be happy. They’ll always want more, and they’ll all want different things. But this year we’ve made a big step forward together. There’s still a long, long way to go, and we don’t want to blow our own trumpet that we’re the biggest and the best, because we’re not. But this year has been a good development process.”