Introducing the core team that are working with me to deliver on both Project Plastic Soup and the sailing awareness campaign.

Leanne, Georgia and Levi Rose:

It goes without saying that a project this large in scale, requiring this much dedication, motivation, desire and belief is simply not possible without the absolute support of my immediate family. They have to put up with my complete focus, 5:00am starts and so much more…thanks team, it will be worth it in the end! XXX

Josh Tucker-Co Skipper:

Josh is for me personally a very important part of the team, he has not only taken me under his wing in sail training but we have got to know each other well enough in a fairly short time to know we are capable of double handed racing together, this will be put to the test in the coming months as we campaign the Team David Rose Offshore Plastic Soup Mini Transat (more on that later) In addition to training and being my sailing partner, Josh will become the the boat captain for the team. Josh has an extensive and very successful yachting career to date including over 80,000 nautical miles on boats as diverse as Hugo Boss the Open 60, Maximus the 100 ft maxi and his own SR 26 Jagged Edge.

Simon Kozak-Director of Marketing and Communications:

Simon has over twenty years experience working in the marketing and communications industry the last 10 being at senior management level, including Board Director positions with Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO, indie hot shop The Yellow Submarine and Carlson Marketing Group where he was deputy MD for the UK. He has been resident in NZ since 2004. Simon’s experience spans a number of market categories notably,

• Sports- New Zealand Water Polo, Hyundai A League ,Gym Sports NZ and David Rose Off Shore
• Travel and Tourism- Scottish Tourist Board, Visit Britain AU/NZ
• IT and Telecommunications- IBM, O2, British Telecom, Ericsson Mobile phones
• Financial Services- NatWest Bank, ANZ, GE Money
• FMCG- Nestle, Sara Lee, GSK Consumer Brands

He also has over 7 years of experience working on Social Marketing cause related government business within the UK as a Director of a Central Office of Information rostered agency. Government clients include Ministries of Defence, Education and Science and the Home Office.

Simon was lead planner for the UK Government anti crime campaign and pioneered the concept of Corporate Partnerships that successfully united private sector corporate brands with Government to focus their budgets and channels to conjointly communicate public service messages about how to help reduce car crime and burglary. The campaign was described as “peerless” by Home Office Minister John Denham and duly won an industry effectiveness award.

Simon is an expert in sponsorship activation and optimisation, within New Zealand he has recently launched the National Water Competence Program promoted by John Key and funded by Ribena via NZ Water Polo. Prior to that he was responsible for the Kick Bullying Out of Schools campaign that united national charity Kids Line with Hyundai A League soccer.

Nigel Waters – Sponsor Director:

Nigel has developed a reputation for generating large amounts of money for well known brands across the full spectrum of ‘new’ revenue streams open to them; chiefly sponsorship but also licensing, affinity and sales promotion. Having developed this skill set working for a London based sports marketing agency, his career spiked in 2001 following the brokering of what still remains as the largest ever cosmetic endorsement – between Elizabeth Arden and Catherine Zeta Jones. As a direct result of this, successive roles at Premier League Clubs Tottenham Hotspur (Head of Sponsorship) and Fulham FC (Head of Sales) followed before Nigel returned to his licensing background by accepting the role of Head of Affinity for FTSE 100 listed magazine publisher EMAP – developing brand extensions for titles such as ‘FHM’ and ‘Heat’. After 2 successful years, he was tempted to Australia following an invitation to open the Sydney office of a global sales promotions agency. From a standing start, he led it to back-to-back $1M profits before moving on to NZ with his Kiwi born wife to develop opportunities in this new territory.

4PRO Eyewear

The Wonderful Michelle and Alan Beach of 4Pro (the very best sunglasses in the world) designed right here in Auckland, New Zeland are now supplying David Rose Offshore with the much required eye protection on this enormous journey.

“As you place a pair of 4PRO High Performance sunglasses in front of your eyes, you’ll instantly discover that they’re like no others you’ve ever worn. You’ll begin to see the world with crystal clarity, seemingly mono-toned greens suddenly show themselves in a spectrum of hues while subtle shades of reds, blues and yellows stand out with strengthened intensity, bringing the world into sharp focus.” Check out www.4proeyewear.com

Leon, as the name suggests is my brother, my big little brother as he towers me in height. Leon is a fantastic professional photographer and helped out with the headshots for the team. He was into sailing before me and I would imagine there is going to be some great shots coming off the training sessions soon when we drag him out onto the water.

PHI Creative:

I had been working with Robin Fenn and Lukas Kelly and they were the obvious choice to approach regarding design and working with Simon and I on the brand, the boys along with Jess, Jeremy and the rest of the staff.

The net result is a look and feel that sits perfectly with our core values and objectives..they are currently developing the plastic soup website as phase one of the roll out online.

William and Cam from Explore NZ, Sail NZ, Lion NZ, Dolphin Discoveries,  and Auckland Whale and Dolphin Discovery have been nothing short of fantastic with their support from the very beginning. They have done everything from letting me use their boardroom and offices, bounce ideas off them and much more.

I would also like to thank the many people that have contributed and believed in this campaign who haven’t been named here, you know who you all are…THANKS! dR