By the signature of an exclusive three-year title sponsorship deal with the yachtsman Roland Jourdain, Veolia Environnement makes a deeper commitment to sailing.
From 2007 to 2009, Veolia Environnement's colors and values will be carried on all the oceans of the globe by Roland Jourdain
Henri Proglio, Veolia Environnement CEO and Roland Jourdain.Photothèque VEOLIA - Christophe Majani d'Inguimbert
Veolia Environnement concluded its first sponsorship deal in oceanracing with the yachtsman Roland Jourdain in October 2004. Two years later, by winning the 8th edition of the single-handed transatlantic race "La route du Rhum", the yachtsman fromQuimper (France) at the helm of a yacht co-sponsored by Veolia and Sill concluded the initialprogram with a resounding success.
The whole experience was far more than just a sporting success. Over a period of threeyears, and on the strength of a second-ranking partnership, Veolia Environnement's commitment to sailing had become recognized and appreciated by the general public and underscored the company's conviction that ocean racing was an excellent fit with both itsbusiness and its values. The strong relationship that developed with this remarkable yachtsman, nicknamed "Bilou", convinced both parties to build on their mutual trust andcontinue their voyage together.
Veolia Environnement and the yachtsman have therefore decided to team up for a further period of 3 years.
From round the world races to Atlantic crossings - a program made to measure
The world's leading company in environmental services markets its innovative technologies to companies and local authorities all over the world. Skill, professionalism and international reach are quite therefore naturally at the core of the sporting program. A full and ambitious program covering three major races a year, including the Barcelona World Race in 2007, the eagerly awaited Vendée Globe in 2008 and the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2009.
Experts in endurance, cut out for long-distance racing and single-handed ocean crossings, the skipper and his "IMOCA class" monohull yacht are eagerly awaiting its launch in June following a major refit during the winter, that will enable them to compete in the next two round-the-world races - the highpoints of the ocean-racing calendar for the years ahead.
Photothèque VEOLIA - Christophe Majani d'Inguimbert
An interactive website to promote the partnership
In addition to being a backdrop for magnificent sporting exploits, ocean racing also calls on universal human and environmental values, which transcend eras, cultures and borders.
Engaged in four businesses which are vital for the future of our world and the people who live in it - water management, waste recycling, energy services and transportation of people and freight - Veolia Environnement is a natural partner for these adventures.
To express the spirit of this partnership and promote it throughout the globe, Veolia Environnement will soon be developing a multimedia platform for its employees and the public at large.
The company wishes to unite its 300 000 employees around this project and will devise dedicated communication programs for their benefit through the usual channels like the inhouse magazine and the Intranet. In doing so, it will encourage broad based involvement in Roland Jourdain's adventure on the website specially dedicated to this partnership.
The website will be highly interactive and will appeal to internet users interested in the sea, nature and the environment. The overarching theme will be the environment and it will be a platform for sharing outstanding photographs of our planet.
It will be updated regularly with news of the skipper's races, his results, his radio messages, and videos, as well as news flashes and maps. When he is not taking part in a race, he will regularly add his own photos and slide shows, taken during his travels on the oceans but also overland, to the extensive photo library. Other well-known photographers will also exhibit their work in the same spirit.
Environmental experts, renowned for their research on the natural environment, will add their comments to these pictures so as to stimulate site visitors' imagination and give them a better understanding of nature and its laws.
Visitors will be able to contribute their own comments and propose their own pictures. The best contributions will be selected on the basis of themes chosen by Roland Jourdain and endorsed by Veolia Environnement.
Photo équipe Photothèque VEOLIA/Andia - Franck Betermin
Humanist, outgoing, a lover of nature and sea, the yachtsman has enthusiastically agreed to act as an itinerant webmaster to site visitors all over the world. Over and above his personal testimony, it is his own views that he will present and it is through his eyes that thousands of people will perceive, as never before, the beauties - but also the fragility - of our planet earth and its oceans.
With no borders and no limits, the platform will become a meeting and rallying point, constantly enriched by institutional and media partnerships, games and dedicated blogs.
A skipper, a yacht, a sponsor, the sea ...and thousands of men and women who care passionately for the world around them: this is the state of mind that the new website will represent.