While I can admire and appreciate many of the new rods. I still fish and shop for the old Orvis Superfines. Now an heirloom quality bamboo rod? That's another story. I'm still dreaming. LOL
Printable View
While I can admire and appreciate many of the new rods. I still fish and shop for the old Orvis Superfines. Now an heirloom quality bamboo rod? That's another story. I'm still dreaming. LOL
Two things bother me about the contemporary mindset of many of our industry leaders today. But I'll add a caveat right up front. Not all of them are this way, and the current economic situation is shaking things up a bit. First, most of their business models are still predicated on "the boom" brought on by "the movie" in the 90s. They still sit on their haunches waiting for consumers to walk in or call and buy stuff just because they made it, brought it to market, or because it's in their shop. They invest very little in growing their consumer base and creating incentives. It's very much a business as usual mentality based on a peak business cycle when that peak is long gone. Second, they indeed feel a sense of entitlement that I like to compare to the "rockstar" mentality. I'll give a couple of examples that I think are the most ridiculous, but pretty much apply across the board.
Say a couple of guys partner up on a fly fishing video that sells really well. "Really well" in the fly fishing world is probably to the tune of 75,000 or so copies at a wholesale price of $15 per copy, but let's make it a round 100k and $20 to be generous and include direct sales profits. That's $200k. Divide that by 2 fellas IF they self-produced, directed, and distributed the video (which is unlikely). Now subtract the costs of production, which probably tallied about $25,000 each. So each guy made $75,000 on a project that took them all year to realize the benefits from. Best estimates, there are about 2-3 million avid fly anglers in this country of which we're assuming 100k bought their video including sell-through at retail. Now, let's assume that each buyer shared the film with 3 people. So 300k anglers saw the movie. IF all 300k really liked it, they have 300k "fans." Seriously, fly fishing is NOT a significant sub-culture in Americana...or even contemporary popular culture. I'll say two words: Charlie Sheen. This completely out of his mind creep signed up for Twitter and had a million fans in an hour!
Strangers recognize me almost every event I go to now, but I can't take myself seriously. I have more Facebook friends than many of the types I'm writing about, but I can't take myself seriously. I'm just a fly fisherman. I stand in the water and catch fish, help a few people do the same, and a few other people goofing off just like I do recognize me when I show up at gatherings of like-minded goof-offs. Big deal!
A lot of guides seem to suffer from this same malady. That one really amazes me! Guides...no matter how popular or successful...are servants, sherpas, who work their butts off to take other people fishing and try to provide them with the Great White Angler experience of a lifetime. It is supposed to be all about the client. However, I see far too much advertising literature and meet far too many guides and outfitters who present the image that says, "You'll be darned lucky if I allow you to fish with me." I guess that sort of reverse psychology sales tactic (known as the takeaway) might work on some prospective clients who have very little experience hiring guides or outfitters, but it's really being misapplied. The takeaway is an aggressive sales tactic that is only truly successful when applied with subtlety and finesse at the end of an otherwise successful sales interaction at the end of which the prospect hesitates too long. It is supposed to be the last-ditch effort. In marketing literature like brochures, websites, magazine ads, etc. it will rarely succeed. And an arrogant attitude at the booth during shows results in clients who book in spite of your persona, not because of it. So guides and outfitters like this are wasting their marketing dollars and working against themselves at shows. Guides and outfitters who understand "the people business" and who know that hunting and fishing trips are entertainment and service industry and convey that it is all about the prospective client are wildly successful...even if their credentials and success rates are inferior to their competition.
I gave those two examples above, but I see this apply to mfgs, retailers, and folks across the gamut in the industry. I once had a Sage rep and former AFFTA President walk up behind me and grab me by the shirt collar and speak to me very gruffly, interrupting my conversation with another Sage Rep whom I knew personally and was inquiring about his home and family after a major hurricane had struck his hometown the week before a show. The guy was newly appointed to some stupid position within an org I was a volunteer with, and he thought I didn't "belong" in the Sage booth talking to anyone without his permission! LMAO He was darned lucky I didn't cold cock him right there on the floor of FFRT in Denver! I had never even met the guy. That was the way he introduced himself. In no other industry I'm familiar with (well, not a LEGAL industry) do people behave this way in this day and age.
OK, I've gone on for far too long. I hope I've contributed something of value to someone.
I have not bought a new rod, exception one old bamboo, in the past four years. I have not spent much on fly tying materials in the past few years, except hooks.
I use the hooks up fairly fast and have been working on using up many of the materials that I have on hand.
Not helping the industry much, but still, catching abou the same number of fish.
Rick
I have 2 'official' surveys which show there are 12 - 22 MILLION fly fishers in the US. I don't believe either one. I once questioned a company who had taken once of these surveys as to how they got their numbers. Random phone calls. Ya right. I don't know any actual figures but I suspect what some of the ad agencies who work for various rod manufacturers may be working from wrong impressions.
Almost every fly rod I own was "obsolete" when I bought it. The few that were not will never be.
Actually, that's 2 million, not 200k, which will tend to have an effect on the rest of your numbers. ;)Quote:
let's make it a round 100k and $20 to be generous and include direct sales profits. That's $200k.
Point taken, though.
LF,
I was careful to use the word "avid" in my estimate of "best estimates." One of the federally funded studies done a few years ago was a mail-in survey that asked how often and by what means people fished as part of the survey questions. It concluded there were about 13 million Americans who had ever fly fished. Of those, about 6 million fly fished at least once in the past year. The study group considered them "fly anglers." I don't. Many of them most likely had just tried it for the first time. Many more probably only fly fish once every so many years. If I take a ride in a hot air balloon on vacation, does that make me a balloonist? About 3 million fly fished more than once in the course of the previous year. And about 2 million said they fly fished more than 6 times. I would consider those who fly fished more than once to be mostly casual fly anglers and those who fished more than 6 times "avid" fly anglers. The latter would be the only group likely to buy fly fishing videos. This is actually marketing demographics 101 stuff. But folks in the fly fishing industry aren't very hip on this stuff. It's actually odd. With my background in the hunting business and as head of ad sales for Outdoors Yellow Pages, I've had these types of discussions with a lot of folks across the hook & bullet industry. A lot of the other sectors are far more tuned in and market savvy on average. I'm usually impressed by relatively few senior execs in our industry, where the dominant strategy is a very myopic, "That's the way we've always done it."
Well, two million is a nice chunk of change for any fly fisher, regardless of which way you slice it, but when I said point taken, I meant that even without the examples, you could have simply said "You don't work on the front lines of the fly fishing industry to get rich."
Ah, but my point was that...in the big picture...even wild celebrity in the fly fishing business is comparatively insignificant. Besides, my example was over-simplified and very generous for the sake of clarity. The underlying point is that we...as a community...have a strong tendancy to take ourselves way too seriously, and I was attempting to establish some realistic perspective. Ego is what drives a sense of entitlement. And the ego in this business is laughable. It's just fishing.