The Spark

The Magenta Project is a global initiative driving equity and inclusion across sailing and the wider marine industry.

In 2025, it launched 2x25, the most ambitious equity and inclusion review ever undertaken in sailing.

Building on the landmark 2019 Women in Sailing Strategic Review, where 59% of women reported discrimination and 80% said gender imbalance was a problem, 2x25 expands the lens to include race, age and ability.

It aims to create the clearest picture yet of how far the sport has come, and how far it still has to go.

Backed by 11th Hour Racing and supported by World Sailing, the study runs across 2025 and will inform a new roadmap for equity and inclusion across global sailing.

New Season was brought in to lead communications and storytelling, turning data into dialogue, and ensuring 2x25 reached athletes, leaders and fans across every level of the industry.

Finding the message

Our task was to make the research feel human.

We positioned 2x25 as a collective call to action, inviting everyone in sailing to help shape a more inclusive future.

The message was clear: we cannot fix what we do not measure.

All communications were built around three principles that guided every release, post and partnership announcement:

• Change begins with measurement.
• Transparency builds trust.
• Every voice matters.

Leaders from 11th Hour Racing and World Sailing endorsed the research as a vital step towards accountability and progress, while athletes such as Giulia Conti, Isabella Bertold and Liv Mackay shared personal reflections that brought the message to life.

Their voices turned statistics into stories, connecting inclusion with belonging, and data with emotion.

Turning insight into reach

Through targeted media outreach, 2x25 reached audiences well beyond sailing.

Coverage appeared in The Telegraph, Female Athlete Collective, New Zealand Herald and a range of leading sailing and industry outlets, reaching more than 3.5 million people across 20 countries.

Every piece of coverage reinforced the same goal, to move inclusion from a discussion point to a shared responsibility.

Building conversation through content

Beyond traditional media, we developed a digital storytelling framework to help The Magenta Project sustain visibility and engagement throughout the research phase.

The tone was open and inclusive, ensuring people at every level of the sport could see themselves in the story.

This approach helped reposition 2x25 from a technical research project into a genuine movement for accountability and action.

The shift

For years, discussions about inclusion in sailing were shaped by anecdote and opinion. 2x25 replaces assumption with evidence and helps the industry take ownership of progress.

By connecting data, storytelling and shared responsibility, The Magenta Project is helping the industry move from awareness to action.

For New Season, this collaboration showed the power of communications to turn research into movement, and to help an entire industry see that change is something we can all help steer.

In their words

The Magenta Project CEO Victoria Low:

"We felt very strongly that to amplify this project we needed to move away from a standard comms format. We wanted a different approach, one that very much focused on the key strategic pillars for the review and also ensured that we reached new audiences. James and his team developed a bespoke strategy that addressed the uniqueness of the research project, while also ensuring that our key markets were not ignored.

"With the launch of the results due in early 2026, James and his team are now looking at how they can best amplify these to ensure maximum reach. These results of the 2x25 Review will make uncomfortable reading for the sailing and wider marine industry, so our comms need to be based on positive, collective responsibility, as well as a call to action for positive change across the maritime ecosphere."