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Paul Poole (South East Asia) Co., Ltd – The Sponsorship Experts is an independent marketing consultancy based in Bangkok, Thailand specializing in commercial sponsorship & partnership marketing, working with both rights holders and brands - acting as a catalyst by bringing them together and maximizing the relationship.

They have packaged, sold and managed sponsorship & partnership opportunities for a wide range of rights holders and worked with many of the world's leading brands to source and engage the right sponsorships & partnerships for them to maximize. 

We don’t need no education

Born in the South West of England in 1970, like many successful entrepreneurs Paul Poole (seen above being married in London) didn’t feel the need to finish high school, moving to Brighton on the South East coast of England at age 16, before moving to London at age 22. He sat his exams but never stayed around to get the results – to this day, he doesn’t know if he passed or not, but the London bookies favour the odds. Brighton had a reputation as a cool, fun party town and Paul fitted right in, working for many of the town’s high profile nightclubs as a promoter.

On arriving in Brighton he quickly became friends with many of the towns celebrity residents including probably its most famous in recent years, Norman Cook aka Fat Boy Slim, the world famous British DJ and former musician with the Housemartins, Freak Power and Beats International.

Paul’s parents were a bit perplexed as they had hoped he would join the Royal Air Force; his father was a member of the Royal Engineers and worked for the Ministry of Defense. But Paul decided he didn’t want to wear a blue uniform, he wanted to wear blue jeans instead. But we are jumping ahead…

It must be noted that Paul was quite an accomplished swimmer in his younger days training at Kelly College in Tavistock which has produced several elite international swimmers, including over eighty Great Britain Senior International swimmers and medalists in the Olympic Games and European Championships.

The Jean Genie'

At age 18, Paul was spotted by Wrangler Jeans and he joined them as their promotion representative. He was with Wrangler for five years, where he learned all aspects of the marketing business and even though he was still quite young he was seen as “the person who knew what was going on, and who was putting the ‘cool’ back into Wrangler”; he oversaw several AD campaigns by AD agency Simons Palmer Denton Clemmow and Johnson using the tag line “Be a name, not a number” in a direct reference to Levi’s 501’s supremacy, which got him noticed by the jeans giant.

At age 22, Paul (hanging out above with trendy friends) was headhunted not by a tribe in Papua New Guinea, but by that jeans giant, the number one jeans company in the world, Levi Strauss & Co. - it was the first time Levi’s had ever hired someone from a competitive jeans brand. Paul spent five years at Levi’s, ending up as their UK Marketing Manager, overseeing a number of iconic AD campaigns by AD agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, including “Originals stand the test of time”, featuring a young Brad Pitt, and never wishing to forget his friends where he brokered a deal to buy the right’s to one of Norman Cook’s Freak Power tunes “Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out ? for the AD “Taxi”.

Paul defines Wrangler as his school days and Levi’s as his college days. Here he worked with some of the most creative people in “Cool Britannia” including photographers Nick Knight and Glen Luchford, art directors Stephen Male and Phil Bicker, fashion stylists Simon Foxton and Edward Enninful. It was also here that Paul first explored sponsorship with bands including Jamiroquai and Massive Attack.

At age 26, Paul was approached by American fashion icon Ralph Lauren and the company had him launch Polo Jeans throughout Europe and the Middle East. Then at age 28, he was headhunted by the irreverent Italian jeans brand Diesel, where he worked closely with the owner Renzo Rosso “The Jeans Genius” and helped grow the brand through a number of controversial AD campaigns, including the “Nun’s wearing jeans” AD which was withdrawn after complaints were upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority along with controversial sponsorships, including the “Gumball3000” rally, which Paul participates in most years with former British supermodel and close friend Jodie Kidd. By this time, Paul had spent almost half his life marketing jeans, and/or maybe more importantly by having fun.

In his last few months at Diesel, Paul worked with close friend Scott King (the former art director for i-D magazine) who ran an art group called ‘CRASH!’ After getting in touch with Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Director Phillip Dodd, Paul and Scott staged a self-funded art exhibition called ‘CRASH!’ at the ICA; the critics weighed in calling Paul and Scott culturalpreneurs, which they embraced positively launching the ‘Culturepreneuer Network’, an initiative designed to improve the dialogue between the arts and business which was acquired by London based Cult Brand in 2012.

At about the same time, Paul (seen above on the superyacht Silolona)helped another close friend Malcolm McLaren (the former manager of the Sex Pistols) run as an independent candidate for mayor of London with the slogan, “It’s the most important job in London; don’t give it to a politician”. The campaign was funded and managed by Alan McGee, the former boss of Creation records who discovered Oasis. Paul also ran an art exhibition about Malcolm’s life using fruit machines, called the “Casino of Authenticity & Karaoke” as Malcolm always said his life was like a game of chance.

Paul then hung up his blue jeans, putting on a black suit, joining the board of PR21 an Edelman company, moving on to the board of Cohn & Wolf a WPP company, with a creative development brief for clients including; Orange, Coca Cola, Cadbury Trebor Bassett and Guinness UDV. In 2002, Paul left to set up his own consultancy in London, Paul Poole Ltd, later renamed Paul Poole (Europe) Co., Ltd. (‘PP(E)CL’), though still working closely with those two companies through his own consultancy, as well as consulting for a number of the world’s leading brands, agencies and cultural organizations, focusing on three core markets, North America (based in New York), Europe (based in London) and South East Asia (based in Bangkok). Essentially, he carried on doing exactly what he had been doing for the previous 15 years, but working for himself. In essence, the culturalpreneur headhunted himself.

One night in Bangkok

In June of 2004, Paul came to Thailand to set up his consultancy in Bangkok, Paul Poole (South East Asia) Co., Ltd (‘PP(SEA)CL’), and in January of 2005, he moved here full-time; the background to this was he met his Thai now ex-wife while she was taking her PhD at Chelsea, which was affiliated with the London Institute (now the University of the Arts London), one of PP(E)CL clients. The couple met in 2000 and married at Chelsea Old Town Hall on London’s King’s Road in November of 2004, where countless A-list celebrities have tied the knot.

The first client PP(SEA)CL had in Thailand was the Samui Regatta; Paul had been visiting Samui for a decade so when Marc Ribail, then a member of the organizing committee, heard he was moving here he asked Paul and his newly formed team to address the events lack of sponsorship which they did for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 editions bringing government agencies such as the Tourism and Sports Authorities of Thailand and numerous international brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Mount Gay Rum aboard. 

PP(SEA)CL’s client base has grown from 10 clients in 2005 to 50 clients today from marathons and triathlons in Phuket, to football and motorsports in Buriram, to Muay Thai and mixed martial arts in Bangkok, to boat shows and yacht races in Pattaya. Paul estimates that 90 percent of his consultancy’s work is sports-related, with 10 percent non-sport and most of their work comes from referrals. Paul (above relaxing at Ocean Marina) says his consultancy is the only company in Thailand that specializes exclusively in all facets of commercial sponsorship & partnership marketing from both the sell and buy side. 

When it comes to selling sponsorship Paul and his team work for an event or similar platform, structuring sponsorship packages, building sales materials, developing sales targets and then selling the opportunity across many different industry categories.

But they also work for companies, who are considering; justifying; re–appraising; negotiating; implementing; exploiting and measuring sponsorship, and Paul and his team broker, manage and measure sponsorship deals for them. Paul’s consultancy only takes on companies in these areas that they have a history with vis-?-vis companies that have been sponsors of the events and platforms they represent. 

Although Paul’s consultancy offers a number of products, services and training workshops their most popular is their full scale service and entry level partial packaging product, for example Phuket Raceweek took their full scale service each year for seven successive years until the event was sold to new rights holders in 2013, and the Phuket International Boat Show (PIMEX) take their entry-level partial packaging product each year, and 2016 will see their 10th successive year.

Full scale service clients pay PP(SEA)CL a fee based on daily rates of 45,000THB, and a success commission of 20 percent of the monetary sponsorship they deliver, no commission is paid on any non-monetary sponsorship they deliver vis-?-vis value in-kind.

Entry level partial packaging product clients pay PP(SEA)CL a one off fee of 225,000THB and a success commission of 10 percent of the monetary and non-monetary sponsorship they deliver.

Paul’s consultancy take on just six full scale service clients in any one year each with an average annual contract length of seven months (a month to set up followed by a six-month dedicated sales campaign), however; they can take up to 52 entry level clients in any one year again each with an average annual contract length of seven months (a month to set up but at this level there is no dedicated sales campaign).

Paul (boating with friends above) and his team use the latest Salesforce application, which can provide up to the second reports on sales activity which allows them to analyze data to estimate how much money will be raised and timescales, at the time of publishing their average return on investment across their full scale service and entry level clients was eight-to-one. 

Paul has a passion for brands and his client’s pay for his know-how. He’s not interested in Mom and Pop’s corner shops, but in sourcing the best brand fit for the events or platforms he and his team work for; so if they’re representing a yacht race or a boat show they want the best brands in these areas.

Paul and his team want the sponsorship to work for all parties; their main objectives are to increase the commercial value, reduce the costs and increase the quality and quantity media coverage of the events and platforms they represent, along with all sponsors realizing a return on investment and/or a return on objective.

Paul says that, in the past, sponsorship in this region was sourced mainly through coercion, corruption or nepotism, but his consultancy sells events and platforms on their merit which ensures a win-win position for all parties. 

Sponsorship, Paul knows it backwards, forwards and sideways - thinking of staging an event, contact him and tell him you are expecting an eight-fold return on your investment.

See what he can do for you, he’s always pleased to provide free quotations/consultations.

www.paulpoole.co.th / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Paul Poole (South East Asia) Co., Ltd – The Sponsorship Experts are a member of the Asian Sponsorship Association and subscribe to Asia Sponsorship News the leading market intelligence service for the sponsorship industry in Asia, which provides them with unrivalled market intelligence; insight, reports, analysis and case studies. Their yachting-related clients at time of publication include; Asian Yachting Grand Prix Championship, Go Yachting / MarineScene.Asia, Kamolwan Chanyim (Bam), Neptune Regatta, Ocean Marina Pattaya Boat Show, Patinyakorn Buranrom (Ging), and the Phuket International Boat Show (PIMEX).