RJP says there is no "scuba industry." I thought this was a forum for the scuba industry. I was hoping to get feed back from people who owned businesses that sold scuba diving activities or products. It's interesting to hear everyone's impressions.
The existence of a forum doesn't create the industry. It merely signifies the existence of "an affinity group" honestly. But I don't say this to be glib; I know you don't think the forum creates an industry... but the idea that there's an "affinity group" rather than "an industry" is the very essence of the problem. Let's look at the definitions of these two
An "industry" is a particular sector of business(es) concerned with the output of a specified product or service. eg the automotive industry, the steel industry, the foodservice industry, etc.
An affinity group is a group of people, often informal, formed around a common interest or shared experiences. Examples include such things as social clubs, activist groups, hobby groups, etc
Sure, there are several businesses that loosely align around a scuba diver, but effectively the "scuba diver" is merely a common target audience of several smaller business types that each have something to sell to members of that target audience. The only thing that these disparete things have in common is a customer.
You would never look at restaurants, cooking schools, supermarkets, cutlery manufacturers, hot-dog carts, pasta companies, appliance manufacturers, and the place on highway 33 that sells dinettes and kitchen tables and lump them all together into a group called "the eating industry" would you?
Would you combine beauty salons, woman's clothing, cosmetics, Lean Cuisine, laundry detergents, tampon manufacturers, and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology into something called "the female industry"?
So why look at dive resorts, training agencies, LDSs, gear manufacturers, instructors, tourism associations, liveaboards, speargun companies, and flashlight makers as comprising a "diving industry"?
I know it sounds silly, but the folly underscores the issue. Would Burger King, Doritos, Albertsons, Corningware, The Culinary Institute of America, the guy selling kebabs on the corner of 42nd & 5th, the Florida Citrus Board, and "Bruce The Dinette King" all band together to promote eating? (And please, don't anyone say "that's a stupid analogy... people have to eat to survive" because that's not the point.)
The problem is, there really is no one who benefits from "marketing diving" from a "create more divers" standpoint. (Before you say "that's not true" I'll admit that there's an exception that virtually proves the rule, which I'll discuss below.)
Think about it this way...
If you're Atomic, do you need to create more divers...
... or do you need to steal market share from AquaLung, Scuba Pro, etc, and then get existing divers who rent to buy their own gear, and existing divers who own their own gear to upgrade their gear?
If you're PADI, do you need to create more divers...
... or do you need to steal market share from NAUI, SSI, etc, and then maybe get more existing divers to pursue additional training?
If you're the Bonaire Tourist Board, do you need to create more divers...
...or do you need to convince current divers that Bonaire is a better destination than Cayman Islands?
If you're Aggressor Fleet, do you need to create more divers...
... or do you need to get more divers to take liveaboard trips, and get those people to come on your boat instead of Explorer Ventures, and get more current liveaboard divers to take more than one trip a year?
If you're The Plaza Resort, do you need to create more divers...
...or do you need to convince people coming to Bonaire to stay with you instead of Buddy Dive, and to sign up for extra nights, and come back next year?
If you're Tobin from DSS, do you need to create more divers...
...or do you need to convince more people buying plates and wings that your's are better than DR's and Halcyon's, and maybe convert BCD divers into BP/W divers?
As mentioned further above, there is one possible exeception to my suggestion that "no one benefits from creating new divers" and that exception is the LDS and independent instructors.
But here's the crux of the problem...
The people with the
MOST money and marketing know-how (gear manufacturers, training agencies, tourism boards, etc) have the
LEAST vested interests in creating new divers.
By contrast, the people with the
MOST vested interest in creating new divers (LDSs and instructors) have the
LEAST amount of resources and marketing know-how.
If there was a "a diving industry" the solution would be a good trade association. Such an association would take money from everyone who shares the common target audience of "divers" and embark upon a campaign of creating more divers. They would also help everyone understand and manage/leverage/overcome social, political, legal, regulatory, environmental, and technological issues and opportunities that prevented/encourged the creation of new divers and/or limited the diving opportunities of existing divers.
In theory, this is easy. In reallity, such an organization cannot exist. Why?
DEMA, ostensibly a trade association charged with the interests of "the diving industry" is over-represented by gear and travel. So beyond, the fact that it is a trade association representing "an industry that doesn't exist" it is dominated by the interests of parties who don't have any real interest in creating new divers. Strategically, having an association who's stated goals are inconsistent with the business goals of it's membership is a strategic non-starter anyway... but also accounts for lip-service programs like "Be A Diver" which is a campaign that I would frankly be embarrased to be associated with, from a strategic, creative, and tactical execution standpoint. (And trust me, I've been associated with some real doozies over the past 25 years.) I reviewed the entire marketing and media plan back in 2007, and I'm sure if you search my username and "DEMA" you can find my various, specific critiques of the campaign.
I need to get in the car to drive home, but will rejoin the conversation. I've spent considerable time (and a fair bit of money) trying to figure out how to combine my profession (ad agency exec) and my passion (scuba diving) and I would love to figure out how to do it. If people like me can get millions of people to treat diseases that don't really exist, buy shampoo that you don't need, pay $50,000 for a Lexus that is really a $30,000 Toyota with $7,500 worth of options, and use a certain laundry detergent because you'll be less of a good mother if you don't... we can certainly get people to want to scuba dive.
[video=youtube;el66jnuItYc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el66jnuItYc[/video]
Right now, I think I'm gonna plan a new trend.
Because the line on the graph's getting low and we can't have that.
And you think you're immune.
But I can sell you anything!
Anything from a thin safety-pin to pork-pie hat