Boating Industry Marketing Leaders Unveil Direction to Accelerate Market Expansion

The Market Expansion Advisory Group, comprised of marketing leaders from member companies of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA), announced details of their market expansion strategy to accelerate long-term industry growth amid changing consumer behavior and slowed boat sales.

Collective NMMA and MRAA member feedback made it clear that clarifying Discover Boating's mandate and establishing a measurable framework are critical to achieving greater market impact. To answer the member need, NMMA Board of Directors chair, Bill Yeargin, formed the Market Expansion Advisory Group comprised of industry marketing experts across both the manufacturer and dealer landscape.

The Market Expansion Advisory Group includes: Abbey Heimensen, Vice President of Marketing, MarineMax; Amber Holm, Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, Winnebago Industries; Bryan Seti, Vice President, Yamaha; Bryce Brown, Principal, Colorado Water Sports; Lauren Beckstedt, Chief Marketing Officer, Brunswick; Thomas Bates, Chief Revenue Officer, Correct Craft; Victor Gonzalez, Chief Marketing Officer, Sportsman Boats; and, Matt Gruhn, President, MRAA.

The Group came together to reassess Discover Boating's role and how success is measured in response to evolving market conditions and consumer needs. To inform this work, the Group aligned on the core challenges facing market growth, evaluated the end-to-end industry marketing funnel to identify gaps and opportunities, and clarified the most effective roles for Discover Boating, manufacturers, and dealers. The Group also affirmed the need for new consumer research to ground future marketing work in a current, data-driven understanding of who today's (and tomorrow's) boaters are and what motivates them. Leading global research firm, Ipsos, was commissioned by the Group and their findings are being shared with NMMA and MRAA members via multiple webinars, reports and research materials in the coming months.

"The work of this member-led Advisory Group is an important step forward for our industry, bringing together manufacturers, dealers and Discover Boating around a shared growth strategy," said Thomas Bates, Chief Revenue Officer, Correct Craft. "By clarifying roles, grounding the work in consumer research and committing to measurable outcomes, we're building a more coordinated and effective approach to expanding boating participation over the long term."

"This is bigger than a campaign; it's about how we work together to serve a changing consumer through shared resources that allow us to accomplish what no single entity can accomplish on its own," said Lauren Beckstedt, Chief Marketing Officer, Brunswick Corp. "Like any good marketing effort, the group ensured decisions are rooted in data and partnership and bring clear measures of success for Discover Boating that ignite industry action."

Industry Roles in Fostering Market Expansion

The resulting Advisory Group assessment concluded that Discover Boating is an industry-wide movement to attract new people to boating-versus a near-term lead or sales generator. Its purpose is to reach, inspire and start engaging consumers by building awareness, shaping perceptions and helping new and next-generation audiences see boating as accessible and relevant to their lives.

The Group's decision to focus Discover Boating on awareness came as a result of a collective recognition that it is more efficient for Discover Boating to play that role since manufacturers and dealers often do not have the scale or focus on higher funnel awareness marketing efforts. Without Discover Boating, there is a gap in filling the top of the marketing funnel with new audiences that, if left unaddressed, would deteriorate boating participation and sales and increase marketing costs for manufacturers and dealers.

"Growing the boating market starts by reaching people who may not yet see boating as accessible or relevant to their lives. Through broad, category-level awareness marketing via Discover Boating, we can introduce boating to targeted audiences and create curiosity that expands the top of the funnel and brings more people in," said Bryan Seti, Vice President, Yamaha Boat Business Unit. "From our work as an Advisory Group, it became clear Discover Boating can't solve growth on its own, so we have to be more disciplined in working together to connect the dots across Discover Boating, manufacturer and dealer marketing efforts."

As Discover Boating drives category awareness and consideration, manufacturers and dealers play a critical role in industry performance marketing-converting interest into ownership and long-term engagement. Then, through an improved hand-off and coordinated efforts, manufacturers and dealers connect with and nurture consumers when they're actively exploring boating, provide clear product information and offers, and guide them from initial interest through the purchase process.

Dealers ultimately lead the ownership experience, supporting onboarding, service, and retention, while manufacturers reinforce brand value and innovation. Together, their efforts activate the lower marketing funnel, turning category demand into measurable sales, loyalty and sustained growth for the industry.

Discover Boating, manufacturers and dealers each play distinct but connected roles in growing the boating market. Together, they move consumers from awareness to ownership, accelerating category expansion and long-term participation.

"Market growth is a team sport. Manufacturers, dealers, and associations each have a role, and we're prepared to take bold, coordinated steps forward," said Abbey Heimensen, Vice President, MarineMax. "By defining distinct marketing roles and committing to clear, measurable outcomes, we can build momentum to strengthen the future of boating."

A New Way to Measure Success

To ensure the industry is focused on what drives long-term growth, success for Discover Boating is measured at the top and middle of the marketing funnel-where new demand is created. The Group identified key indicators to track whether more people are discovering boating, learning more and engaging with manufacturers, dealers, clubs or education pathways. These measures provide early, leading signals of market health, helping the industry understand whether awareness, interest, and engagement are expanding over time.

These key indicators come together in the Discover Boating Health Score, a shared framework that serves as a scoreboard for market momentum. The Health Score tracks indicators such as reach and market visibility, audience penetration, content and event engagement, and boating participation. The Health Score signals that more target customers are being reached, more people are searching for boating, engaging with educational content on the Discover Boating site and finding pathways into the industry, providing a consistent, transparent way to assess progress and align efforts around building a stronger foundation for future participation.

"This is a turning point for how we grow boating and the work led by the Advisory Group gives us a more connected industry-wide approach," said Bryce Brown, Principal, Colorado Water Sports. "With clearer marketing roles and a shared measurement framework, dealers, manufacturers and Discover Boating can work in sync to strengthen the future of our industry."

"Growing boating participation starts with growing boating interest and that means measuring what happens before someone ever steps into a dealership or marina," said Amber Holm, Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, Winnebago Industries. "The Discover Boating Health Score gives us a clear, shared view of whether we're truly expanding awareness, sparking curiosity and guiding more people toward real entry points into the lifestyle. It's the kind of transparent, early signal our industry needs to stay aligned, accountable and building momentum for long-term growth."

The Path Forward: Test, Build, Expand

Looking ahead, Discover Boating will advance a "crawl, walk, run" approach over multiple years. The "crawl" phase begins this spring with rigorous testing and validation of audience targeting that leverages new Ipsos research and boater registration trend data from Info-Link, creative concepts, media channels and activation formats. This includes building a plan rooted in data and a test-and-learn strategy, as well as understanding the funding required to be effective.

The Advisory Group is building the plan and will present their recommendation to the NMMA and MRAA Boards of Directors. From there, the "walk" and "run" phases will be dependent on investment necessary to kickstart growth.

"This new forward-looking approach will be grounded in consumer insight, built through testing and validation, and scaled based on what proves to drive engagement," said Victor Gonzalez, Chief Marketing Officer, Sportsman Boats. "There is work to be done to grow the industry and as a collective Advisory Group, we have helped create a framework to get there with a model the industry can build on to expand participation and sustain growth."

New consumer research from Ipsos, member webinars and industry updates will be rolled out in the coming weeks to provide further insights.

Click here to view a recorded webinar with members of the Advisory Group.

For questions or more information, please contact NMMA's Maggie Maskery at [email protected].