Discover Boating: Promoting the boating lifestyle
Today, March 1st, marks the kick-off of the 2007 Discover Boating campaign. For the next thirteen weeks, ads will run nationally on cable television and in popular lifestyle magazines. Online advertising will run for the rest of the year. Discover Boating represents the largest dollars of the industry’s investment in Grow Boating. The campaign, which promotes the boating lifestyle, has recently been updated with some new ads and an exciting viral component.
GrowBoating.org* has also been updated to highlight some of these exciting developments. Here are some useful links that I think you should know about:
- New Discover Boating commercials
- “Good Run” short film (Discover Boating viral marketing)
- New print ads
- TV advertising schedule
- 2007 Grow Boating Annual Meeting Video: Set for Success
- 2006 Grow Boating Annual Report
As a stakeholder in the recreational boating industry and therefore in the Grow Boating Initiative, I encourage you to view yourself as an extension of the Discover Boating campaign. For example:
- We’ve made it very simple to include the “Good Run” on your website. Instructions are available online.
- You can also link to DiscoverBoating.com from your website. Banner ads, logos and more are available online.
- Marketing materials, such as DVD’s, brochures, window clings, posters and bumper stickers are available and can be ordered online. Artwork for these materials and billboard ads are free.
- Just by registering on GrowBoating.org, dealers will receive a free starter kit of Discover Boating marketing materials.
- NMMA has made their new Discover Boating boat show ads available to boat shows across the country that don’t advertise in NMMA show markets.
- Using consumer research and industry feedback, we’ve assembled a “Best Practices Guide” for handling Discover Boating prospects. The guide focuses on the needs of boat & engine manufacturers and their dealers, and includes a Discover Boating Lead System Tutorial.
With all of us are working to promote the boating lifestyle, and building Discover Boating awareness, we’ll see the greatest return.I encourage all industry stakeholders to visit GrowBoating.org* to find out more about Discover Boating and the other programs associated with the Grow Boating Initiative. * GrowBoating.org is an industry-only website. Contributing boat and engine manufacturers should log in using their issued credentials. Dealers should register as such. All other industry stakeholders should register online as a “stakeholder” and credentials will be emailed to you.Thank you for your ongoing support! And, please let us know what you are doing to help bring Discover Boating home to your business.
Sincerely,
Thom Dammrich
President
Grow Boating, Inc.
A View from Here
April 1st, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Without a solid set of basic boat-handling skills, it is difficult to achieve the boating lifestyle. I believe that a boat is a machine, and that basic skills in operating a boat are necessary to safety and to the enjoyment of the boat, and of the boating lifestyle.
I grow boating by teaching basic boat-handling skills to individuals, giving them a greater chance to become long-term boaters. Once they have the skills, the lifestyle becomes much easier to attain.
What is Grow Boating’s opinion about the importance of boat-handling skills for pleasure boaters? Where and how strongly is that opinion expressed? Is it prominently displayed on the website?
May 7th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Mr. Dammrich, could you provide to us who pay a Grow Boating fee on every engine or boat we buy the following:
How much money did Grow Boating take in 2006?
What was total expenses paid out not including directors/employees?
What was the payroll paid to any and all directors, employees etc?
We would like to see where our money to GROW BOATING has gone.
June 8th, 2007 at 9:30 am
It has been over a month now, Mr. Dammrich. What say you?
June 8th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
FORGET ABOUT A RESPONSE…ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS THEMSELVES…THEY MAKE A LIVING OFF THIS INDUSTRY. THEY DONT WORK IN IT. THIS REALLY SUCKS FOR THE REST OF THE REAL MARINE INDUSTRY WORKERS. ALL THIS TALK IS A JOKE. GROW BOATING. IT GIVES THESE GUYS A WAY TO GET TOGETHER AND SMOOZE..AND DO YOU REALLY THINK THEY CARE ABOUT YOU OR I? IF THERE EVER WAS A REPLY…COUL;D YOU IMAGINE HOW POLITICALLY CORRECT IT WOULD BE? 80 MILLION DOLLARS WAS IN THE GROW BOATING FUND?…DONT SHOW ME A STUPID PIE CHART. SHOW ME THE TRUTH…SHOW ALL OF US THE TRUTH…..HOW ABOUT A FORUM QUESTION ASKING THE REAL MARINE INDUSTRY WORKERS WHAT SUGGESTIONS THEY HAVE?..NAHH..THAT WOULD JUST GET IN THE WAY OF THIER BS AGENDA.
June 16th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Jim, I don’t really expect Mr. Dammrich to respond; but, this is the best I can do. Yet, I do wonder what proportion of the top-tier industry people are immersed in the lifestyle that they are promoting for others, in the Discover Boating and Grow Boating initiatives.
Does their flowery rhetoric pass the smell test? My eyes tell me no. If boating is so great, why do so many boats sit unused in their slips on perfectly gorgeous weekends…month after month? Where are their boating-loving owners?
I would think the simplest way to grow boating is to get current owners to use their boats more. But, then, what is meant by “grow boating”? Does “grow boating” mean “increase the total number of boats”?, or does it mean “increase the usage people get out of their boats”?
October 15th, 2007 at 10:53 am
I attended the Ibex industry breakfast this past Friday. I listened with great interest to Tom deliver the “Grow Boating” state of the union address. I watched as he gave many stats as to why the Grow Boating effort is out preforming other industries by way of “Hits, Clicks and Response Cards” when it comes to reader/watcher’s to Grow Boating marketing. He even show the U-tube tear jerker video.
I travel to most boat shows, factories, dealer locations throughout these United States, and I can say with great authority Grow Boating via NMMA IS NOT WORKING!!!!!!
The very largest supporters of Grow Boating are laying off large numbers of employees. Their factory production lines are slowing to an idle. Some factory locations are closing. The dealer locations have a large built up inventory dragging them down, but still Dammrich is shaking down the industry in a bad economy trying to convince us it’s working, guess what Tom? iT’S NOT WORKING!!!!!
But lets call this effort for what it is, a brazen attempt to pad the pockets of the NMMA and their top managment all at the expenses of the industry itself.
When engine manufacturers contributes $$$$, who actually pays? Does this added cost help our products stay competitive? to other non boating leisure activities? Now you say it’s time for the accessory manufacturers to step up and do their part, are you kidding?
I say it’s time for the industry itself to step up and tell you NO! You cannot show one thread of evidence that Grow Boating is actually doing anything to grow boating, in fact, boating has actually declined since you launched this mess.
I think you should rename it “SLOW BOATING”, as that is actually what is happening.