If you owned Hobie Cat Company or Performance Catamarans, how would you go about marketing, advertising, promoting your boats, in the United States, to (1) get new sailors and/or (2) get monohull sailors to switch to catamarans?

Mary,

This is just an idea:-

Our schools actively promote traditional sports like football, netball, soccer, cricket and basketball etc.
as mainstream sports. How many kids go to school and don't end up kicking around a football. On the other hand, how many kids go through school and don't get to try a sailboat.

The companies mentioned could take a longer term veiw of the market and actively work at getting sailing promoted as a mainstream sport throughout the school system.

Their involvemnet could be in not only providing some funds but they could be actively involved in attracting sponsorship from other companies and lobying the school system to accept sailing as a mainstream sport.

They could also provide organisers to conduct meetings and get parents involved in organising activities to cut some of the running costs.

I know their business is selling boats but they could take a longer term veiw and work now at creating a market that will pay off downstream. To keep their setup cost down they could buy back some of the used boats that are sitting in peoples backyards. Once acquired they could be rented out at the sports sessions to help recover the costs.

Something like this needs a solid foundation as well as motivated volunteers. To make this work long term the solid foundation would organise things and help motivate the volunteers. This function would be best served by companies that will eventually profit from its success.

Possibly with a well thought out business plan these companies could structure this so their costs are recovered and the setup becomes financially self sufficient with the added bonus of creating a market.

There is something a bit like this being organised in Australia in what is essentially the monohull community and schools that want to be involved in the program.

Actually one of our local sailing clubs got some boats and offerred sailing as a sport to the local schools (setup funded by the sailing club).

I was talking to the Sailing Master and he expected the schools to take it on just for the summer months. Turns out it runs all summer and all winter in all but very strong winds. Now if we could get the big Cat companies behind this just maybe we can change the world.

As I said, just a thought-

Regards,
Phill

Identify demand: EUROPE has demand and can afford the product and have the TIME to actually use the product.

Produce technologically advanced and affordable unit to meet market demand and establish master distributor to reach end users through boat shows.

Maximize the profitability to the dealer and master distributor so that they can afford local advertising and promotion of the sport through electronic and print media and local shows.

Focus 80% of your advertising money and marketing on the 20% of the clients that make you the most money and cater to their needs.

That's what's really happening with the profitable companies who produce catamarans these days. Will it allow for massive market growth? No. It doesn't matter though. None of them could meet a dramatic increase in sales if they had to. Hobie Cat has the most scaleability with the Plastic Fantastics (Wave, bravo etc). Performance could meet increases in demand of MAYBE 100% annually which would still be less than a couple of thousand units per year worldwide. Anything much more dramatic than that and the company would need a complete restructure in my opinion.

Think about that. 280 million people in the US....Combined I do believe (Although could be wrong on this (Jack? Matt?) that the total US consumption of beach catamarans is less than 3000 per year when you combine Hobie and Performance. It may even be under 1500 units domestically.

The market is offshore and to resorts. They should concentrate their efforts there as there are the three keys to boat consumption:

They can afford it with better earning to expenses ratios and the dollar is weak.

They have access to the water through clubs and lenient zoning rules.

They have the time as the rest of the world doesn't work the same insane schedules Americans work trying to get ahead. (Generally)

So you are saying there is no point in trying to market to the U.S. public, and that even if somebody came up with a brilliant idea, the companies would not be able to build enough boats to satisfy the increased demand.

I guess that ends this thread. Thanks for keeping people from wasting their creative energy on a lost cause.

Actually that is a correct statement. If somehow the public became interested in catamarans and there were orders placed for 5000 Inters, 5000 Tigers and 5000 Waves in a single year, I believe that only the waves could be produced at close to that volume and that the Inters and Tigers would take up to 2-3 years to deliver if the companies invested thousands of dollars in ramping up.. The public isn't going to wait 2 years for an Inter or Tiger.

Even demand of 15,000 units is pretty pitiful.

No one would have more to gain from the sport coming back than Sailing Pro Shop...I'd love to see demand return but there are constraints now in place that will not allow this to occur.

Don't get mad at me for stating facts...

Well, I'll share my thinking, anyway.

I figure if Hobie Cat Company moved East, it would save shipping costs for the factory, the dealers, and/or the consumers.

The dealers might be able to have better profit margins.

Hobie would be closer to their primary markets, which are the East Coast dealers who sell to the Caribbean island resorts and ship out of ports in Florida.

And they would also be more centrally located in the main population center of the United States.

They would also be closer to the majority of the people who sail their boats and might be able to have more influence on the fleets than when they are 3,000 miles away.

I don't know, but I would guess that they sell more kayaks in the East, as well as sailboats.

But my big vision is of Hobie Cat Company setting up shop on the shore of a lake somewhere in the East, so they can:

1. Have a place where people can come to actually try out all the different models of their sailboats and other products.
2. Have a learn-to-sail program.
3. Hold racing clinics for specific models of their boats.
4. Host some regattas.
5. Have tours of the manufacturing facility.
6. Include a display room (a sort of museum) of all the Hobie products and a history of the company and of Hobie Alter.

I think such a facility would be able to get a lot more people into catamaran sailing and would also be tremendous support for the dealers.

Right now people who are interested in getting a catamaran have no way of trying out different boats to decide what they want to get. And people are always asking me where they can go to learn how to sail in general or to sail a catamaran in particular.

A place like this has been a dream of mine for years. And I realize the whole idea is probably too expensive for Hobie Cat Company to do. But I still think it is a great idea.

Speaking for my church.

We are one of the biggest fleet on the east coast, a lot of Hobies. Fleet renewal and upgrades is in the air (big time).
When you talk with boat builders representatives about getting some promotional stuff (race marks etc...), or sponsoring events to promote their product: nothing. They just do not give a #$##$, the big void.

Boat shows: Annapolis 2004. Performance, not here. Hobie: just Wave and Getaway, no good stuff.

Sailing schools:
We have hard time to create a Youth program/sailing school here at Sandy Hook Bay Cat Club. Several reasons for this, but one of it is finances.

When I wrote to Hobie to get a preferential quote on Waves, arguing that they should be very interrested to touch this way new customers who could become "Hobie", they gave me prices which did not even beat the ones proposed by the local dealer. Again: big void.

I think there is no willing at all to do any promotion. They must consider they sell enough boats.

Kind of depressing, I do not feel this major trend of sailing being the "big thing" that we can find in Europe.


Jacques Pierret
SHBCC Race Officer

We need to get cat sailing on TV. There are lots of channels now that have airtime to fill up. There are lots of channels that feature sports that a very few people actually participate in. For example, the Xtreme network in Canada, not sure if its in the US) has 24 hour wakeboarding, BMXing, surfing, windsurfing etc. How many people in Canada surf?? not many. (or the US for that matter)

Its sad that we can't get an hour a week on this channel. All they need to provide would be a camera crew. Put them on a crash boat or the RC boat and have someone knowledgeable do some commentary.

I think racing is secondary to fun.

1. Build real websites and do a pull campaign. Nacra's is pathetic. Hobie's is average. Neither are well known in comparison to other sport activity websites.

2. Video brochers. Hobie has a couple that don't look exciting. Nacra has none. Excitement and fun in a group is the key. Pander to all age groups, not just people with families. Jeezzz, we build copper bar and can make it look some-what interesting in our catalogs and videos. They can't with a moving boat?

3. Modern dealership model. Take a page out of the automotive industry's playbook. Big, regional dealerships run by the factory in high-traffic areas. New and pre-owned.
Sorry to say it but mom and pop dealers aren't going to get the job done. Limited inventory means no touching. No one will buy into a $6000+ activity sight unseen.

4. Some kind of public relations. Right now if there is a big event, no one knows about it outside of hard-core race sailors. No one will sponsor a big event if there is no production value. Why put a sticker on a boat if no one is there to see it other than contestants? Commercial? Ad campaign? Marketing materials (calendars, junk mail)...

There is a void in cat sailing. I don't see an "image" in it anymore. I swear the first factory to paint a new exciting image, press the flesh a little and get some boats out in public will attract new sailors. Create the market. Jump in bed with other companies. Relate the product to a lifestyle. It is just a void held together by small groups of fleets right now. As the members grow older, the void deepens.

And I 100% agree. It is like the factory's are burdened to make boats. Like me the consumer, would like a boat, but at the factory there is a manager saying "Not another customer", "I don't want to build these damn things".

???

If they gave boats away for free everyone would want one!
Well...not everyone but a lot of people.

When we used to keep our boats on the beach at Topanga, there wasn't one weekend that someone didn't come up to us and ask about renting or getting a ride on the cats, all summer long. On an average weekend, we would have 2-6 boats set up.

It's all about visibility and ease of access to try out the boats. Our beach was right next to the highway so it was easy to get to. When we were out in the water flying a hull, it was easy to watch and get people interested. It's got to look like fun!

Question is would they buy a boat if they could? Depends upon the follow up. Maybe.

The other issue for us is the ease of launch and setup. Having a boat on the sand at the water's edge is way more inviting than trailering and storage and mast raising. Here in Socal, getting that kind of access is a problem. We battled for a long time with the County until they allowed it but only in very limited areas.

If the cat mfgs wanted to help build demand, they would need to be involved in opening easy (and reasonably priced) launch areas.

On the other hand, I have been involved with a sailing program at UCLA the past 7 years, teaching monos and cats. Our cat classes were some of the hardest to fill.

Sheldon
P-18

I think the way to go is to make it "cool" again. I'd go the movie route a la "The Italian Job" that movie did more for the Mini Cooper than all print media combined. Buy a script featuring Hobies, hire some hot actors and actresses and viola...instant street cred and coolness.

^ that doesn't work long-term, and the cost of pulling this kind of thing would offset any short-term gains.

I have to agree with Flounder. I think imagewise the Hobie Cat company has flatlined. When I think of the word "Hobie" I get images of the T-shirts and clothing so hot in the 80's. When I look at the Hobie sails of today I get that same image (something from back in the 80's), which is pathetic. What young person is going to move an inch to look into a sport that looks so pathetically outdated?

When I went to see the boats of the Tybee 500 earlier this year I was pleasantly surprised to see all the hot boats with their hot graphics, and all the colors etc. That's what this sport is supposed to look like. People looking for a thrill wouldn't go buy a 1980's Honda Gold Wing today to strut around in. That's what I think all these Hobies look like. Old Hondas.

Even the photos I saw of the Hobie 16 (worlds?) in Mexico looked like images from the 80's. What a missed opportunity to make the sport look hot! Does Hobie have a graphics deparment or do they have the guy operating the rotomolder do that?

I agree with that the first guy to make these boats and this sport look Hot again is the guy that's going to get this sport moving. The visual aspect of cat sailing needs a major overhaul.

It appears to me...

Have you seen Jan de Boer's NACRA video online, the one made in Mauritius? There's a good start.

Marketing to kids: well, good luck. For the same price, used or new, rug rats can get on something way faster that's way easier to operate. Ergo the 'jet ski.'

If, that is, you can get the curtain climbers to get out from in front of the video game or the television.


You'd have much better luck getting monohullers to be interested, and marketing directly to yacht clubs with fast fun video and visuals (refer Jan de Boer Catamarans' video above) would likely be a good tack to take. Of course... a lot of those people like the onedesign thing, which at this point multihull'ers don't have to offer.

I don't know about elsewhere, but in my personal experience, I'm seeing adults (25+) either return to sailing cats or get interested in them for the first time, buying used cats and sailing more for fun than serious racing. New people's new people to the sport, regardless of age... and older new people don't have the disposable income to purchase the latest thing, and they care less for onedesign racing (INITIALLY!) than the best boat fitting their various needs...

But then, I seem to be the only one who has made the above observation, judging from Internet chat...

sea ya
tami

Mary,

IF I owned the cat manufacturers, I'd focus on marketing in its broadest terms - starting with some research into target markets to establish if the potential demand really exists. Generating the demand is another approach - and well covered by previous contributors.

My take on it is that we do not own the manufacturers, so a more pertinent questions would be 'What can we sailors do to promote our sport?'

In the UK, cat sailing is usually a club-based activity, so I suggest the promotion starts there. We (Dee Sailing Club) are planning to do just that in our area (Wirral), in the following ways:

Open Days - walk up and ride. We organise one each year, with sailors lending gear and helms taking punters out for a spin. We often recruit crews in this manner, which is the start to getting them into the sport as helms.
Publicity in the local press - of Open Races and Open Days, or anything that can justify a photo of a cat flying a hull appearing in the paper. The local press is especially important because the readership live near the coast.
Advertise the Open Days in local Schools and Sailing Schools, as well as youth organisations such as the Scouts, Sea Cadets, and so on.
We'd like to attract windsurfers, since they are typically out of the same mould as cat sailors, and relatively cash-rich and have the time to enjoy themselves. One approach we'd like to try is to sail right next to their marine lake, under spinni power with a hull in the air - the only problem is shallow water on the sea-side of the retaining wall!

We should focus on what we can do at a local level - the makers will scale up when the demand comes! Either that or put the prices up!

Cheers
Simon

Simon,

That's crazy and would never work (except for on a very small level). Seeing a black and white photo of a cat flying a hull in the local paper is going to do nothing to draw people into the sport, not much anyway. What you suggest would require a unified, organized, and sustained effort by all clubs etc. at the same time, and I don't think that can happen.

I don't think Hobie Alter had the mentality of only converting existing monosailors to catamaran sailing as a way to advance his business.
I think the reason all catamarans are thought of as "Hobie Cats" to the general public is because their appeal reached way beyond the sailing community. And that's what needs to be done to make them "pop" again. And to do that you've got to make them look good.

Don't be so negative! If we each got one person into the sport, we would double our numbers. No manufacturer will do that without setting their mind to it. I think the manufacturers know exactly what to do to promote the sport, if they wanted to. I'd guess that it suits them to have relatively small numbers sold at high margin. We can bemoan our lot, or do something about it - such as dragging people in, or creating promotional vidoes, such as the Spitfire sailors did at Weston (with some involvement from Reg White, but largely self-effort). My point is that it is obvious what the manufacturers should do to promote the sport. I cannot imagaine they are sat round their boardrooms wondering what on earth they can do to grow the sport and find themselves fresh out of ideas - to the extent that I think they don't want to grow the sport.

Let's focus on what we can do (which for some of you may include influencing the manufacturers - but not in my case!).

Cheers
Simon

Cheers

Simon, it is always good to keep reminding the fleets of the things they can do to promote at the local level, but that has been covered in other threads in this forum and several times in my magazine. Many of the fleets do all the things you suggested, and everything helps.

However, this thread is the first time we have talked about what the manufacturers themselves could be doing.

For instance, if they cannot afford to advertise in the large sailing magazines and in the general circulation magazines, they could at least bombard publications with press releases and photos and filler tidbits just to keep their name, and catamarans, in front of the public.

Just as an example, when I was working for newspapers, I used to get press releases all the time about all sorts of events, sport and otherwise. They would be generic stories about the event, which might have taken place on the other side of the country or the other side of the world, but if some person from our coverage area was involved in the event or won a trophy or whatever, their name would be highlighted in the press release so the newspaper could follow up and personalize the story to lead with the name of that local person. If they sent a picture, so much the better. Often this would result in a full feature story about that person and his or her particular hobby or sport. Small newspapers, in particular, love this sort of thing.

But, to my knowledge, our sailboat manufacturers do not send out such press releases. (Maybe I'm wrong.)

Another example is that they could send out a story and photos about how the rotomolding process works to create a sailboat. I would love to use an article like that, and I'm sure other publications would use it, too.