Press Releases
ALEXANDRIA, VA (December 18, 2014) – The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) held its 2014 State Marketing Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia December 9 - 11, hosting a record-breaking 126 people representing 49 agencies. Focused on the importance of implementing customer engagement strategies, and marketing and communicating with anglers and boaters to increase participation in fishing and boating overall, attendees networked with their peers and heard from marketing and branding experts about how they can engage tomorrow’s customer today.
“There was a lot of discussion around the demographic changes taking place in our country, and how we can keep fishing and boating relevant and top-of-mind,” said RBFF President and CEO Frank Peterson. “We’re collaborating with state agencies to boost participation among current, lapsed and new participants so we can not only meet our mission, but also generate critical funds for state conservation projects.”
During the two-day Workshop, attendees also learned about the state of our current fishing and boating retail environment and improving the online fishing license purchase process. In addition, they received tips on how to use email to drive engagement with their customers and got the latest on RBFF programs and resources.
RBFF thanks the following companies for sponsoring its 2014 State Marketing Workshop: Diamond Sponsor – J.F. Griffin Publishing; Platinum Sponsors – Active Network, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), and Discover Boating; Gold Sponsors – Brandt Information Services, GovDelivery, and Southwick Associates; Silver Sponsors – Allstate, Brunswick, and Ogilvy Public Relations; Bronze Sponsors – the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), the Association of Marina Industries (AMI), Bass Pro Shops, Colle+McVoy, InfoLink, Lopez Negrete Communications and Sky Design.
The State Marketing Workshop was established in 2008 to bring the participants of RBFF’s State Marketing Programs to increase fishing license and boat registration sales, together to share successes and ideas. The Workshop was made available to all 50 states beginning in 2010, and has evolved to also include general marketing education and training.
RBFF’s State Marketing Program efforts this year generated $7 million for state agencies and conservation. In addition, RBFF’s TakeMeFishing.org drove more than 1.2 million referrals to state fishing license pages and more than 150,000 referrals to state boat registration pages in its fiscal year 2014.
About the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF)
RBFF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase participation in recreational angling and boating, thereby protecting and restoring the nation’s aquatic natural resources. RBFF developed the award-winning Take Me Fishing™ campaign to create awareness around boating, fishing and conservation, and educate people about the benefits of participation. Take Me Fishing helps boaters and anglers of all ages and experience levels learn, plan and equip for a day on the water. The campaign website, TakeMeFishing.org, and its new Spanish-language counterpart, VamosAPescar.org, feature how-to videos, information on how to get a fishing license and boat registration, and an interactive state-by-state map that allows visitors to find local boating and fishing spots.
