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The Grow Boating Initiative's mission is to formulate and execute initiatives that promote the boating lifestyle and improve the boating experience, ultimately increasing participation in boating and leading to increases in sales of marine products and services.
- Discover Boating Hits Home Run with “Ultimate Baseball Boat” Promotion
- DiscoverBoating.com Traffic Up 300 Percent Since Ad Campaign Kickoff
- Discover Boating Marketing Materials Now Available Through GrowBoating.org
- Officers Elected By Grow Boating Board of Directors
- 15 Additional Dealerships Become Marine Industry Certified
- NMMA Certification Highlighted on boats.com
- Grow Boating Dashboard Measures Initiative’s Success
- Water Access Task Force Forms Working Groups
- Rising Tide Fund Receives Three New Contributions
Discover Boating Hits Home Run with “Ultimate Baseball Boat” Promotion
 Discover Boating and FOX Sports Net have partnered for an exciting program taking place this summer in McCovey Cove—the wildly popular portion of San Francisco Bay located just beyond the right field wall at AT&T Park—home of the San Francisco Giants. This promotion is part of Discover Boating's PR efforts. One lucky FOX Sports Net viewer (who registered on DiscoverBoating.com) will win the “Ultimate Baseball Boat,” provided by Cope & McPhetres and Kal Kustom/Reinell, when a Giants player hits a home run into the Cove.
Beginning this past Monday, June 5 (and pending when a Giants player hits the first home run into the Cove) the boat will be anchored in McCovey Cove on the following dates:
 Thursday, June 8
Sunday, June 11
Monday, June 19
Sunday, June 25
Wednesday, June 28
Friday, July 14
To date, the promotion has generated more than 13 million consumer media impressions, with coverage on FOX Sports Net in the Bay Area, ESPN/Sports Center, MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, and several local FOX affiliate stations throughout the country.
For more program information, please contact NMMA director of communications Ellen Hopkins at (312)946-6249; ehopkins@nmma.org.
DiscoverBoating.com Traffic Up 300 Percent Since Ad Campaign Kickoff
 The number of visitors to DiscoverBoating.com jumped an amazing 284 percent since the Discover Boating national advertising campaign officially launched on April 1.
Back in March, the number of visits per month to DiscoverBoating.com was approximately 88,000; by the end of May, after eight weeks of national print, television and online advertising, that figure soared to nearly 337,000.
For the month of May alone, DiscoverBoating.com received more than 336,000 visits. As of May 31, the total number of “leads” generated on the site was an impressive 22,089—of which 18,799 were requests for the free “How to Get Started in Boating” DVD.
The top DiscoverBoating.com referring websites last month were Google and Yahoo paid and organic placements, followed by weatherbug.com, cnn.com and weather.com.
For more information, contact Armida Markarova at (312)946-6284; amarkarova@nmma.org.
Discover Boating Marketing Materials Now Available Through GrowBoating.org
 Take advantage of interest generated through the national Discover Boating advertising and marketing campaign by implementing the following ready-to-go local marketing materials in your area:
• Collateral
Were designed with retailers in mind, but are available to everyone. Discover Boating posters, window clings, DVD and bumper stickers.
• Billboards
Customize with your business name and location information.
• Discover Boating logo
Download digital logos from GrowBoating.org for use on banners, buttons, flyers and other collateral materials.
 • Online banner ads
• Advertising & Direct Mail Builder
Professional-quality advertising—no graphic design experience necessary!
For more information, visit GrowBoating.org or e-mail support@GrowBoating.org.
Officers Elected By Grow Boating Board of Directors
 The Grow Boating Board of Directors recently elected officers to serve for its 2006-2007 term. Election results were announced during the first official Grow Boating Board of Directors meeting, which took place Thursday, May 11, in Atlanta.
The following Grow Boating Board members will serve as officers during the 2006-2007 term. Officers will serve one-year terms but may be reelected after their terms expire.
Chairman—Scott Deal, president and CEO, Maverick Boat Co. Inc.
Vice chairman—Kevin Grodzki, president of Mercury Marine’s MerCruiser Business Unit
Treasurer—Rod Malone, president, Ski & Sail Centers
Secretary—Terry Carlson, president, Raymarine Inc.
In addition to the four officers, Bruce Van Wagoner, president of the Marine Unit for GE-Capital Solutions, Commercial Distribution Finance, was also appointed to serve as chairman of the Grow Boating Advisory Council.
To view the complete press release, click here.
http://www.growboating.org/pressroom/pressrelease.aspx?id=12664
15 Additional Dealerships Become Marine Industry Certified
 Since the original group of 28 pilot dealers earned their “Marine Industry Certified” status back in November 2005, 15 more boat dealerships recently became certified under the Grow Boating Initiative’s Marine Industry Dealership Certification program.
All newly-certified dealerships participated in a Marine Industry Dealership Certification Launch Workshop and met all program requirements as verified by a third-party administrator prior to earning their “certified” status. These dealerships include the following:
A to Z Boatworks, Scituate, Massachusetts
Allen Harbor Marine Service, Harwich Port, Massachusetts
Atwood Lake Boats, Mineral City, Ohio
Boat Town, Austin, Texas
Bosun’s Marine, Mashpee, Massachusetts
Crews N II Outboard, Jacksonville, Florida
Edwards Boatyard Inc., East Falmouth, Massachusetts
Legendary Marine, Destin, Florida
Longshore Boats, Charleston, South Carolina
Marine Connection, West Palm Beach, Florida
McMachen Marine Inc., Harrison Township, Michigan
South Shore Marine, Huron, Ohio
Spicer’s Boat City, Houghton Lake, Michigan
Strong’s Marine of Southampton, Southampton, New York
Strong’s Marine LLC, Mattituck, New York
For more information on the Marine Industry Dealership Certification program, contact program manager Elizabeth McAllister at (312)946-6500; emcallister@dealercertification.org.
NMMA Certification Highlighted on boats.com
 NMMA recently announced an initiative with internet retailer boats.com to help educate the public about the many advantages of purchasing new boats that are NMMA Certified.
On its homepage, www.boats.com, boats.com highlights the NMMA Certification program. When visitors to the site search for a new boat, the results will return all boats within their specifications and those models that are “NMMA Certified” will display the “NMMA Certified” logo next to the listing. Each logo is then linked to a dedicated page of information detailing the extra requirements and safety features associated with boats that are NMMA Certified to ABYC standards.
In addition to mention on its homepage, boats.com also highlights the NMMA Certification program through its Navigator Newsletter. The electronic newsletter, which is published monthly, features the “NMMA Certified” logo and alerts subscribers that boats.com features NMMA Certified boats on its website.
For more information, contact internet marketing manager Armida Markarova at (312)946-6284; amarkarova@nmma.org.
Grow Boating Dashboard Measures Initiative’s Success
 To date, the Grow Boating Initiative’s biggest splash has come with the launch of the Discover Boating national advertising campaign. But it’s important to remember while the advertising campaign is the most visible sign of Grow Boating’s progress, it is by no means the only way the initiative is progressing. It is critical the industry recognizes a system is firmly in place by which we can consistently measure and update the results of all programs associated with Grow Boating.
These results are posted on the Grow Boating Dashboard, a real-time progress report of tangible results produced by the Grow Boating Initiative. The Dashboard is available on GrowBoating.org for all industry stakeholders to view and is updated regularly. All areas related to Grow Boating are being measured; the measurements are then used to set benchmarks for progress toward Grow Boating Initiative goals and objectives.
Quantifiable progress indicators, or “gauges” on the Dashboard include:
• Funds collected by Engine Assessment and the Rising Tide Fund
• Requests for free “How to get started in Boating” DVDs
• PR impressions generated
• Number of certified manufacturers
• Number of certified dealerships
• Website visits
• Ad campaign impressions
• Leads generated
Ongoing measurement of each program enables the Grow Boating Board of Directors to assess whether key components of the initiative are working as intended. The Dashboard helps Grow Boating programs maintain proper focus, as well as effectively identifies potential areas for change, should any gauge on the Dashboard under-perform.
All Grow Boating activities and programs are aimed at moving the needle on each gauge forward, and the Dashboard ensures we remain on course to achieve this goal.
For more information, contact Grow Boating director Steve Tadd at (312)946-6246; stadd@nmma.org.
Water Access Task Force Forms Working Groups
The Grow Boating Initiative’s Water Access Task Force met for the third time on Wednesday, May 3, immediately following commencement of the 2006 American Boating Congress in Washington, D.C.
During the meeting, task force members reviewed the draft of the strategic plan first introduced in Miami this past February. The group also divided itself into five working groups, each headed by a different member of the WATF:
• Influence government decision-making to preserve and grow boating access
Facilitator: Ken Stead, Southwest Florida Marine Trades Association
• Create new opportunities by partnering with government to access public lands currently underutilized
Facilitator: Stan Johnson, Marinas International
• Improve policy, permitting and regulatory environment
Facilitator: Ryck Lydecker, BoatU.S.
•Better, more efficient use of waterfront space and technology
Facilitator: George Bonelli, SailTime
• Cross-cutting support
Facilitator: Tom Errath, Brunswick
The five working groups will meet independently of one another in the coming months, and the entire Water Access Task Force will reconvene in November at IBEX 2006 in Miami.
For more information, contact Steve Tadd at (312)946-6246; stadd@nmma.org.
Rising Tide Fund Receives Three New Contributions
 Three more industry stakeholders—Commerce Bank N.A., Merrick Bank and Textron Financial—recently contributed to the Grow Boating Initiative’s Rising Tide Fund, a voluntary means of pledging support to the industry-wide effort. Commerce, Merrick and Textron join 17 other industry stakeholders who have already contributed to Rising Tide Fund.
Established in January 2006, the Rising Tide Fund is a means by which industry stakeholders can pledge voluntary contributions at varying levels of commitment to the Grow Boating Initiative. The three-year pledge can be made at the following levels: Participant ($1-$2,999); Bronze ($3,000-$14,999); Silver ($15,000-$29,999); Gold ($30,000-$74,999); Platinum ($75,000-$149,999); Double Platinum ($150,000-$224,999); and Triple Platinum ($225,000-$299,999).
Commerce and Merrick both contributed at the Bronze Level, while Textron is a Gold Level supporter.
For additional information about The Rising Tide Fund, or to download a pledge form, visit GrowBoating.org and click on “The Rising Tide Fund” link, or contact Grow Boating manager Freya Olsen at (312) 946-6255; folsen@nmma.org.
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