Boating Industry Canada June 2015 - (Page 20)
aD nauseam
What have you
done for us lately?
pontoon boats, that's it? really?
Lead by companies like Bennington, high-style pontoons are bringing
innovation and excitement, but are other boat styles blazing new trails?
BY JOHN MORRIS
DeaLers are DOInG a lot to sell boats, that's for sure. But
perhaps dealers are facing an obstacle that is beyond their
capacity. In past discussions in this space we have looked at
ways to grow and promote your business, but that's not always
enough. It's time to look further up the chain to the manufacturers and look at what they are doing, or not doing, to make
it possible to sell boats to Canadians.
Perhaps the manufacturers are letting us down by failing to
invest in new designs, hot looks and features that will inspire
existing boaters to trade up and make it irresistible for new
boaters to buy. Or maybe it's just all they can do to tweak the
trim stripes, put in a different drive and reprint the catalogue.
Even this is no small task, to be sure.
Sometimes it appears that builders try to harvest the low
hanging fruit without much effort. There's a bump in pontoon boat sales and suddenly everyone has new pontoon
boats. But what else have manufacturers introduced that has
hooked consumers? Where are the new designs and ideas
that good dealers need?
To be fair, boat manufacturers update and dust off their
lines regularly. But creating a new rationale for purchase
needs more than that. Where is the new revolution, the new
wakeboarding? Is anyone up there searching for some brilliant innovations?
20
Boating Industry Canada
JUNE 2015
some past successes...
Over the years, I have had the privilege of seeing manufacturers at their best and not quite best. One of my first assignments as a freelancer at Canadian Yachting in the 80s was to
attend the re-launch of Grew Boats, a Canadian company that
traced its esteemed roots in Penatanguishene in the 20s. My
point here is not the nostalgia but rather the very exciting and
promising future that was presented to us by wunderkind
genius Jerry Goodis who brought huge credentials from his
advertising background to the about to re-blossom brand.
After all, he was the guy who coined "We care about the shape
you're in" for WonderBra, and "Harvey's makes your hamburger a beautiful thing." His magic touch would now propel Grew
to success.
We can debate the logo and the look and many other
aspects of the Grew rebirth but in the end, the company went
into receivership in 2011 after some very tough decades. To me
it appeared that while Grew had the marketing right, their
boats really didn't have much to offer that their competitors
didn't beyond heritage and a sweet logo.
Case # 2 - Beneteau
Another one of my early assignments took me to Marion, SC,
where Beneteau was establishing an American facility to build
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Boating Industry Canada June 2015
Insight
Industry News
Impact: Rob Rule
Industry: Marine Tech Crisis
GE Spotlight
Ad Nauseam
Marketing: Beating the Boomer Bust
Made In Canada: Sideshift Thrusters
Made In Canada: Nova Braid
The Boat Shop: NMEA
The Boat Shop: ABYC
Boating Industry Canada June 2015
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https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/october2016
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https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/june2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/april2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/february2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/december2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/october2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/august2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/june2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/april2015
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