Waterski Magazine

[WakenSki]

It's just hard to own a Tige, then open up the mag and see the likes of Moomba, Gekko and Calabria - and not one of OUR boats! Sure hope Tige can turn it around. Anybody hear how the other big name manufacturers are weathering the storm?

[chpthril]

I guess I'm the only one that looks at this as not being a sign that Tige is doing bad, or 'missed out' on something! I'd say it was a smart move to not spend the money on a fading industry (print media). The cost to return on this has probably dropped through the floor.

It cost us $1200 a yr just to get our name and address in the local Yellow pages, and that was out share of the add divided with 5 other agents. That was the only active advertising we did. Heck in 01, i ran a simple help wanted add in the paper, 1 week - print, 3 weeks online cost me $900

[dogbert]

I guess I'm the only one that looks at this as not being a sign that Tige is doing bad, or 'missed out' on something! I'd say it was a smart move to not spend the money on a fading industry (print media). The cost to return on this has probably dropped through the floor.

It cost us $1200 a yr just to get our name and address in the local Yellow pages, and that was out share of the add divided with 5 other agents. That was the only active advertising we did. Heck in 01, i ran a simple help wanted add in the paper, 1 week - print, 3 weeks online cost me $900

I'm right there with you. Marketing has changed. Print media is so old school.

[illiniboarder88]

I'm torn on the magazine issue. On one hand, I think it's a prudent decision financially. I respect the fact that Tige is avoiding unnecessary expense in these tough times. On the other hand, Tige tends to take a beating on some of the online forums. A consumer buying a new boat is left with Tige websites and forums such as wakeworld or wakeboarder.com. Participation in the buyers' guides puts your info out there via an independent third party while still allowing you to tailor what you want printed. Third party productions will be perceived by many consumers as having more credibility than will a company's website. That being said, weathering tough times is probably the most important thing right now.

As for the rumor of shutting the plant down for a month, there can be a variety of reasons for that. One may be to avoid expense and unnecessary inventory buildup. Another would be to allow for maintenance or to rework some production processes and layouts. Still another would be forcing employees to step away and take a break. All of these make sense. Routine maintenance does need to be done, and failure to do it can lead to great expense and delays. Just my 2 cents worth.

[69BUG]

must not be advertising enough in there mag!

Yep that’s how it works

I was on a racing team that sponsor advertised allot in a mag…… and the team won team of the year hummmmmmm? Wonder why? Money talks, just look at our government Tige’ should have been in there

[dgutz]

regarding recent boat buyers guides

In the current economic conditions, we have spent a lot of time assessing the necessary expenses of our marketing dollars. During this downturn we have chosen..............

^^ The formal version.

The truth is that right now we have to continue to be smart and effective in all areas of marketing. Our goal is to sell boats. In order to do this, we have to market our company and our product in the areas that will have the most impact and continue to generates the most leads. Leads = Boats Sales.

That being said, we chose to forgo advertising in the most recent issues of Waterski/Wakeboarding Mag. We feel that print media buyers guides are not the most valuable and effective source of boat information that they were in generations past. We are confident in our decision, as well as our presence and product validation online (including tigeowners). Our main focus is to promote our product in any and all areas that will continue to grow our brand. We have no intentions of ending our print media. We are not closing any doors. We are now back to our regular production schedule after an awesome holiday break (09 product launch was a big one!). And we are stoked about showing off the new product this boat show season. We have every intention to grow our presence in the market and let our boats do the talking!

To a great 2009! d

[chpthril]

Thanks for the update, D

[TeamAllen]

X2. Thanks for the response!

[da.bell]

x3