2006 Should be Best Yet

There are reasons galore why everyone in the boating industry should be optimistic about 2006. Boat sales are off to a great start in Washington State. The national Grow Boating marketing program kicks off this month and we have added new events and increased the budget for our own Northwest Grow Boating program.

Let’s look at the good news:

1. Boat sales for January and February are up in both units and dollars. Unit sales were up 9 percent and dollars were up 20 percent. Residents of the State of Washington have already spent $27M in the first two months of the year on new boat sales.

2. Boat sales for 2006 (in units) are projected to be up at least that much over last year. Total boat sales in 2006 could approach $1B.

3. The national Grow Boating marketing program kicks in this month and by the time you read this, you may already be seeing television spots and magazine ads.

4. The NMTA regional Grow Boating program also starts our annual spring drive to promote the benefits of boating. Over the next four months, you will see and hear radio, print and TV spots along with two special events inviting people to get out on the water for free boat rides.

Here are the details:

Boat Sales – For the last three and a half years, we have been collecting boat sales data through a partnership with the University of Washington Sea Grant Program. You can visit www.nmta.net at any time to see the latest reports, which we post quarterly. This tool is getting more and more valuable as we start to develop a history. Although it is just three-plus years, at least we are now able to do some year-over-year comparisons.

This year, we couldn’t wait till the end of 1st quarter so we asked the UW to pull the data for just January and February. As I said, the results are very encouraging. Next month we will post the full data on the first quarter and you will be able to see details such as length class, hull type and county by county information.

Projected Boat Sales – For the past six months we have been working with a UW Professor Daniel Huppert and one of his graduate students, Tyler Davis, from the University of Washington’s School of Marine Affairs. Their assignment was to see if they could develop an Economic Forecasting Model for Recreational Boat Sales in Washington State. Last month they finished the initial phase of the project and their first effort to project future boat sales predicts a significant increase in sales for 2006. That’s exciting news, but it needs to be taken with a small grain of salt given that our best data only goes back three-plus years and predicting the future is difficult at best. Having said that, the forecasting model should only get better and better over time and it will be interesting to see at the end of the year just how this first projection comes out.

National Grow Boating Marketing Campaign – This program, which seems long overdue to me, will go public this month. Every member of NMTA should be receiving monthly reports directly from the National Marine Manufactures’ Association (NMMA). I also assume that you have all seen information in the industry magazines over the past year. If you want a quick recap, visit www.growboating.org.

As Thom Dammrich, NMMA president points out, the Grow Boating campaign is much more than just the marketing plan, but the television and print ads are now on the air and in the magazines. About $12M will be spent nationally to try to grow boating this year and all those TV spots, all those magazine ads and all the public relations efforts by NMMA should raise the awareness of boating and translate into increased boat purchases and hopefully increased boat usage by current boat owners.

Northwest Grow Boating Campaign – We are just finishing the third year of our own Grow Boating campaign. As far as I know, our program is the largest and most comprehensive regional program in the country. Funded by a surcharge on space at the Seattle Boat Show, the program raised $210,000 this year. Here is a quick rundown of seven elements in our grow boating program:

• New this year – We are creating a free boat ride event in Tacoma on Father’s Day weekend, June 17-18, patterned after our successful Boatstock event in Renton. The event will take place at the beautiful brand new Dock Street Marina on the Foss Waterway in downtown Tacoma.
• New this year – A newspaper campaign in April that will run every Sunday in the six largest newspapers in Western Washington, encouraging readers to get started in boating and to visit www.DiscoverNorthwestBoating.com for more information.
• New this year – A radio campaign during the first week of May will encourage people to get out on the water this summer; the spots will use the Opening Day of Boating Season to raise awareness that “Life just Gets Better on a Boat.” The call to action will be driving people www.DiscoverNorthwestBoating.com.
• New this year – A second radio campaign during the last week of May will lead up to the Memorial Day weekend; the spots will use the holiday weekend to encourage people to get a boat and take advantage of the wide range of boating opportunities we have in the Northwest. The call to action will be driving people www.DiscoverNorthwestBoating.com.
• 4th Annual Boatstock - will be held July 22-23 as part of Renton River Days. Last year our dealers gave over 700 rides to 1,900 people over the two days. Each year the event has almost doubled the attendees and rides given. Who knows what will happen this year, but however it turns out… lots of people will get out on the water for free and see that nothing brings families together like boating.
• 3rd Annual Northwest Salmon Derby Series – The derby series has two clear goals: 1. Get anglers out on the water fishing; and 2: Get those who do fish, to fish more often. This series has been a tremendous success starting with six derbies in year one. Eight derbies in year two and 10 this year. So far, three derbies have been held this year. The Series provides plenty of opportunities for anglers and lapsed anglers to use their boats more often this summer. Details at www.DiscoverNorthwestFishing.com.
• Television Campaign – For the third year in a row, we will have a northwest TV spot on the air in June that will encourage people to get started in boating. Our spot has a very local feel, opening with a shot of Pike Place Market. It has a number of different shots showing the wide variety of boating in the northwest and the call to action is driving viewers to www.DiscoverNorthwestBoating.com.

As you can imagine, I hope that all of these efforts translate into a great 2006 year for each of our 850+ members. Rome was not built in a day and patience is a virtue but I’m anxious to see what the results will be at the end of the year. Thanks to all the volunteer leadership on our Grow Boating Committee and our Board of Trustees for supporting these innovative and forward-thinking initiatives.

With warm regards,

Michael Campbell
President
michael@nmta.net

P.S. New boat sales in the State of Washington have increased each of the past three years in contrast to national sales.