Discover Boating and Progressive Insurance, a longstanding sponsor of Discover Boating boat and sport shows, announce a new, year-round collaboration to help educate and engage new and existing boaters on boating safety. Leveraging Discover Boating’s position in the market as the consumer-facing arm of the recreational boating industry and Progressive as a leader in boat insurance covering over one million watercraft, the collaboration now includes a focus on safety content and awareness efforts through various marketing and PR channels.
“With more than a million new boaters entering the market over the past few years, safety education is a top priority for Discover Boating to ensure boaters feel confident on the water, which translates into a safer, more fun boating experience,” says Ellen Bradley, senior vice president and chief brand officer for NMMA. “As part of our expanded partnership with Progressive, we are working to strengthen Discover Boating’s educational resources and deliver practical safety resources that support boaters throughout their boating experience, no matter if they’re new or a long-time boating enthusiast.”
From launching a new digital video series to reimagining 2023 boat shows and hosting an immersive press trip this summer, Progressive and Discover Boating’s strategic efforts to raise awareness on boating safety have reached millions of consumers since kicking off earlier this year.
A few highlights include:
- Discover Boating Safety Basics Video Series, Presented with Progressive Insurance®: This series features five short-form episodes answering some of the most asked questions from boaters related to safety including watersports, carriage and capacity requirements, tips for boat captains, celebrating safely on the water, and passenger etiquette. To date, the series has garnered 1.5 million views with 752,000 views of the "Celebrate Safely" video.
- Takeaway: Launching relevant, short-form safety videos during peak boating season is proving to engage new boaters who desire this type of snackable, educational content.
- Public Service Announcements (PSA): A television PSA campaign, featuring videos from the “Safety Basics Video Series”, has achieved considerable pick-up within just one month of distribution and generated more than $818,000 in donated media value from media around the U.S. Since July, the PSAs have aired 2,000 times across local, regional and national TV networks including ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX affiliates driving 13 million impressions. The videos are also airing on Connected TV (streaming platforms such as Apple TV and ROKU) and have a view through rate (VTR) of 99%, which is higher than the industry average of 89% (source: Connect360 Multimedia).
- Takeaway: The videos resonate with TV producers who are looking to fill airtime with compelling content that raises public awareness on important issues like boating safety.
- Press Event: Discover Boating and Progressive hosted an immersive press event in Charleston, S.C. with national consumer lifestyle media and content creators to generate boating-related content and stories while providing educational tips and raising awareness for how people can get on the water this summer.
- Takeaway: Immersing attendees in the boating lifestyle with hands-on experiences and safety tips allows national press and influencers to gain a deeper understanding to help tell our story to their audiences.
- 2023 Discover Boating Boat & Sport Shows, in Partnership with Progressive Insurance®: Millions of consumers were reached through a broad spectrum of marketing and PR channels to retain and attract core boaters and boat show customers to Discover Boating boat shows, while attracting the next generation of boating enthusiasts. The NMMA-produced boat shows featured new elements to engage audiences and enhance their 360-degree experience. One of these new elements was the launch of the enhanced Boat Finder tool, which attracted more than 160,000 unique visitors in just over two months, allowing them to shop the latest boat models in a market. As part of this experience, visitors received helpful information from Progressive on the importance of boat insurance in the buying process. View Highlights Reel.
- Takeaway: With 2023 NMMA-owned boat shows under the Discover Boating brand for the first-time, there were natural increases in awareness, reach and impact. Capitalizing on our expanded relationship and as long-time sponsors of NMMA-owned boat shows, Progressive and Discover Boating were able to provide additional continuity for boaters and prospective boaters as they navigated the boat-shopping and owning experience – all of which will continue into the 2024 show season with plans for more immersive experiences around boating safety and education in partnership with Progressive.
“For more than a decade, we have worked with NMMA and Discover Boating to deliver world-class boat and sport shows, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Discover Boating to enhance the attendee experience at shows for boating enthusiasts,” said Eric Doubler, Progressive Recreational Lines Direct Business Leader. “Taking our collaboration one step further to provide more safety education resources will help us engage the new boaters who entered the market and build their confidence, so they have more fun on the water.”
For more information about Discover Boating’s collaboration with Progressive, please contact NMMA’s Ellen Bradley at [email protected]. |