Inside the Advisory Group-Led Strategy to Accelerate Boating Growth: 4 Key Takeaways

The Market Expansion Advisory Group - marketing leaders from NMMA and MRAA member companies - recently introduced a data-driven strategy designed to accelerate long-term growth for our industry amid shifting consumer behavior and softening.

Their work clarifies marketing roles for Discover Boating, manufacturers and dealers, as well as sharpens Discover Boating's purpose, and introduces a measurable framework to track success over time.

Below are four key takeaways from the Advisory Group's recent member webinar:

Key Takeaway #1: Discover Boating's Unique Role-Building Awareness at the Top of the Industry Marketing Funnel

Discover Boating is an industry-wide movement to attract new people to boating-it is not a lead generator or sales engine. Its role is to:

• Focus on the top of the industry marketing funnel with boating awareness marketing
• Build targeted awareness among people likely to be potential boaters
• Shape positive perceptions of boating that drive boating's relevance
• Inspire new and next-generation audiences to explore becoming a boater

Once consumers engage through Discover Boating platforms, manufacturers and dealers take over, using their own marketing strategies to capture interest, nurture potential boaters, and create leads.

This clarity ensures each part of the boating ecosystem, from Discover Boating to manufacturers to dealers, plays to its strengths-without duplicating effort or diluting impact.

Key Takeaway #2: Coordinated Marketing Efforts Drive Efficient Market Growth

Manufacturers and dealers often lack the scale to drive boating category-level awareness on their own. That's the value of a collective industry effort. Discover Boating fills the awareness marketing gap helping:

• Create an on-ramp for potential boaters
• Improve efficiency across the industry marketing funnel
• Reduce friction for potential boaters

Key Takeaway #3: Strategy Is Grounded in Consumer Research

To inform future marketing work, the Advisory Group commissioned in-depth consumer research from Ipsos, delivering a current, data-driven understanding of:

• Key macro forces shaping today's consumer and future boating demand
• Behaviors and experiences that predict likelihood of owning a boat
• How boat ownership is evolving, who tomorrow's boater will be and what motivates them

Key Takeaway #4: Success Will Be Measured, Not Assumed

This is a multi-year strategy and to measure success, the group developed the Discover Boating Health Score, a new shared metric that measures awareness, engagement, and participation, providing early signals of market momentum. If the Health Score Index increases, together we will grow boating.

Bottom line:

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

This forward-thinking strategy is built on deep consumer insights and will be refined through ongoing testing and validation. The plan will be scaled based on what effectively drives engagement. Growing the industry requires collective effort, and the Advisory Group has developed a framework the entire industry can build on to increase participation and ensure lasting growth.

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