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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