Read indepth magazine
MYS: TWW Yachts on Creating a Real Time Approach
Thompson, Westwood and White Yachts was born out of demand brought forward by a changing client market, bringing a more direct and bespoke approach thanks to decades of experience. A young and breakthrough house, TWW Yachts speak to us about how the market trends have changed, and how to address those needs.
How people build, and what people buy, all relates to how people want to spend time on the water. This has, without doubt, changed from a world of occasional opulence at sea to living life on the water in complete ease and comfort.
“Trends have changed a lot,” explains David Westwood, Managing Partner of TWW Yachts. “People want to be closer to the sea. Plumb bows seem to be back in fashion, when I was a captain I was skippering a vessel which was 110 years old, and that had a plumb bow [...] big beach clubs and change in layouts. Owner’s are looking for more of an owner’s deck.”
With more people looking to spend longer on the water, visit new and upcoming locations with family and friends, the discussion naturally turned to exploration and its longevity as a trend, or future as a constant in the industry.
“Explorer trends, again I was a skipper on explorer vessels, I don’t think it’s a trend,” adds David Westwood. “I think people have been through the fast semi-displacement yachts, they’ve been through the full-displacement yachts, they’ve done the standard cruising in the Med and the Caribbean. Certainly a couple of owners, specifically the one that’s looking at the 46-metre, is looking to spend more time on board. More volume, [they] carry more toys. There’s more toys on the market. The versatility of explorers is interesting, so yeah I think it’s going to continue.”
As owners demands are changing, as too must the approach to communicate with them. TWW Yachts, as a new brand with in-depth experience, is evolving its approach to create marketing solutions in house with brand-new technology.
“We decided to up our marketing profile, I think the world has moved on in design and media,” concludes David Westwood. “As a company we’ve invested in all the latest technology, we have 3D Matterport imagery, we do it all in-house. We have a young person whose joined our company, he’s doing all the video editing. If we sign a CA or a charter CA, we do a full 3D image of the vessel’s interior and exterior photoshoot, drone footage … the marketing of these vessels is a lot of old school photos. The images we’re taking today is live and real-time imagery, it’s proving to work really well. People get see and feel the boat in real time.”
TWW Yachts is working to bring new sales following the immediate success of Silver Wind’s sale and a new project in terms of the VSY64. For more information on new-builds and new demands, watch the full video above.