Eric Dallin, Active Interest Media V.P. of Innovation & Market Strategy, contacted us last month to see if Formula might be able to help out with a promotion they were putting together with the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and their ad agency, Aqua. The Chamber is on a mission to “put heads in beds” in Fort Lauderdale and make it a destination, and one thing in particular they wanted to promote is all the waterside attractions they have, especially focusing on the ease with which a visitor could spend all the time they wanted accessing them, either by private boat, a rental, or by water taxi; thus, the Dock-n-Dine concept.
The idea was to get a couple of nice boats from manufacturers and take the Chamber and agency reps around and then promote it through AIM, in print and in digital, with advertorials and videos, plus support for greater Fort Lauderdale in advertising. I’m sure most of you have seen ads in Active Interest title newsletters for FLIBS already.
Eric asked if we could use the Formula 457 CCS for this event, and as it turned out the boat was free for May 30th. I got Vic Spellberg to captain the boat and Kevin Fishman, who models and runs chase boats for us, to act as a mate. I was able to attend and flew down May 29th. I got to have a good visit with Eric and Paul Smith, my salesperson for Soundings, that night, and the next day, we all met at 11:00 a.m. at the Docksider in downtown Fort Lauderdale on the New River for appetizers and drinks. A lunch at Pirate Republic Seafood was next, and then a journey to the Intercoastal and up to Kaluz near Commercial Blvd. We planned to stop at Shooters, but the day was passing by quickly, so we went straight to 15th Street Fisheries across from Pier 66 for dinner.
It ended up being a great way to show off the 457 and get it in front of a lot of eyeballs (there was also a Four Winns TH36 there). In addition, editorial personnel from almost all of AIM’s publications– Anglers Journal, Yachts International, Power & Motoryacht, Soundings, Soundings Trade Only, and Passagemaker—were there, including Daniel Harding, Jeanne Craig, Gary Reich and Kenny Wooton, plus group publisher Gary DeSanctis. Only a Sail representative was missing. This was a great way to show our fantastic product off to these boating media folks, as well as the Fort Lauderdale Chamber and agency people, and I got to talk and reconnect with a lot of editorial folks I don’t often see face to face. This was a great event, and will reap editorial rewards for us for some time. They all know what it’s like to cruise around on a Formula Center Console now, and believe me, they were impressed. Read the editorial and the article on his factory visit by Daniel Harding in the latest Power & Motoryacht, and you will see that extends to our company as well!
