SailGP: Stories From The Stands
In partnership with SailGP, we created Stories From The Stands - a fan-led storytelling series to capture and amplify the fan experience across three flagship events in 2025: New York, Portsmouth, and Abu Dhabi.
The aim was to showcase the emotion, energy, and personal journeys that surround SailGP events around the world. Six storytellers from across the US, Canada, UK, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai were selected, ranging from lifelong sailing enthusiasts to first-time attendees, each offering a unique, first-person perspective.
The series delivered standout results during a key ticketing campaign window between the races in New York and Portsmouth. In this two-week period, one storyteller’s reel was SailGP’s most-viewed Instagram post and two videos ranked among the brand’s top-performing organic content.
By going beyond the racing on the water, Stories From The Stands highlighted the vibrant atmosphere, on-shore activations and activities available for fans at SailGP events. Storytellers used video, digital and analogue photography, and written word to bring their perspectives to life in authentic and imaginative ways.
Released as four jointly branded videos in summer 2025, the series was published as collaboration posts across @SailGP, @GoalClick and the participating storytellers, as well as featuring as YouTube Shorts.
The content resonated with existing fans while opening the door to new audiences, creating a bank of assets that can support future marketing, partnerships, and ticketing initiatives. To conclude the series, we produced a compilation edit using content from four storytellers, designed for paid media campaigns in the lead-up to the Cádiz and Abu Dhabi events.
Our insights included:
Authentic fan perspectives drove relatability - shifting the focus away from technical experts and towards everyday fans made the content feel more accessible, engaging, and emotionally resonant.
First-person storytelling supported audience reach - with an even split between followers and non-followers, the series showed that story-led content could resonate well beyond the existing fanbase.
Built-in conversion pathways maximised impact - the final compilation edit showed how storytelling can move smoothly from brand engagement into commercial activation through a clear ticketing call to action.
The success of Stories From The Stands points to a clear opportunity to scale fan-led storytelling into a broader global content platform. From expanding into new host cities to integrating partner activations and multilingual content, the Goal Click methodology has demonstrated how authentic fan voices can diversify brand storytelling and deepen audience connection by putting fans centre stage.
Click here to explore the full storytelling series.