Why No Boat Commercials?
 

I was watching the tv last night when this Honda commercial comes on...It was just a collage of everything they do and had little clips showing their dirtbikes, atv's, cars, motorcycles and finally their boat motors.

It dawned on me then, that it was like the first time I have ever seen anything even remotely boat related in tv advertizing.

There's commercials for damn near everything that can be bought on this planet but no Boat Commercials. I wonder why! The only other time you see a boat is in that Chevy commercial towing the Formula.

Just thinking outloud...any thought?

Saw an add for Honda's new jet-ski the other day.
During one of the offshore races on Speed Channel there was an add for Formula.

But you're right, there's little or no advertising from the manufacturers.

The other night I was watching "American Thunder" and they ran a Cigarette ad I hadn't seen in a while.

The House of Boats has a 30 sec commercial running on CNN and another station here in Orlando.
marc:)

You'd think that manufacturer's would be all over it...

Especially with all the recent incentives and such occurring within the last year. A few 30sec spots could potentially motivate a large audience.

gdfatha, is that a local dealership?
I'd really like to see some manufacturer ads.

I forgot, that yes, I have seen a few(Formula and Cig) run on speedchannel during race coverage but that's about it.

Interesting topic raised.

You won't see National broadcast (TV) advertising from a boat manufacturer - especially a custom manufacturer that produces in low volume. About the closest you'll get to seeing a high performance boat get national exposure is the current Lincoln LS ad that has the sweet Cigarette running along-side in the Keys. "I gotta get one of those". Great ad.

It's all about economics; mass advertising is expensive, and product doesn't have mass appeal. Unit sales and total gross margins of these boats don't support the overall marketing expense. Qualified audience is hard to find....lots of waste.

Targeted cable media that has an enthusiast viewer base, and specific programming that would appeal to it (i.e. SpeedChanel, TNN, etc) might work...if spot costs are low enough and programming matches with target demographic.

Highly targeted media and direct response marketing media (print ads, direct mail, opt-in e-mail, other online) makes much more sense. I'm amazed that manufacturers don't do more of this.

In my opinion, manufacturers are completely "missing the boat" (sorry) by not leveraging the incredible repurchase (brand loyalty) and customer referral behavior that their customers usually exhibit (providing satisfactory product and service experience). Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)is what we direct and relationship marketing types call it.

Think about it; how many customers do you think you've referred to your dealer? How many times have you talked-up the brand or model of boat you own to someone you know is a qualified and in-market buyer? Thanks to you, the enthusiastic boat owner, that translates into additional unit sales and profits for your dealer and/or the builder.

Have you ever been pursuaded to purchase another boat brand based on someone else's referral to a competitor, despite your high level of product satisfaction with the boat you're coming out of? Would you have remained loyal to your current boat brand if there were, say, a preferred customer program, or repurchase incentive.......or just a deeper sense of "connection" to your brand built from frequent communcations from the factory or dealership?

Big opportunity for boat builders to address these areas. From Bayliner -- to Cigarette. Same for cars. motorcycles. RV's....you get the pic.

Sorry for the somewhat OT -- but had to comment. I do this stuff.

dh

I dont think there are as many people going to drop $200,000.00 for a boat as are willing to spend 5.00 for a six pack, or a trip to McD's. Anyways we know where to find what we want.:)

I can understand no big ticket boats commercials
but why no,
regal or bayliner commercials, basic runabouts, or even float boats? not even in localized markets( near water) the only boat commercial I've ever remember seeing is for ranger on the fishing shows on espn early sat mornings!

I guess the return on investment isn't there

Mattyboy

In2Deep,
Thanks for the thoughtful insight. Sounds like you know the ins-and-outs of the advert. business.

I know it may be a little silly for, say, someone like cigarette or a similar custom low-volume manufacturer to run national ads, because it's only a very small target market that would be influenced and chances are that, like you mentioned, those people already know what's out there and what's to their likeing.

But for bayliner, sea ray, Baja and a few others who have large dealer networks and high-production volumes I think it would work.

There also may be very rich people out there that are looking for new ways to spend their money...If outerlimits could sell one 51 for every couple hundred thousand dollars spent on advertising then there would be a good profit...:(