Major PWC Brands Embrace Unique Marketing

Various promotions kick off season

Sea-Doo, Yamaha, and Kawasaki have all pursued some interesting marketing avenues this season, as brands continue to look beyond the traditional print media to get their message out to the public.

Yamaha kicked things off by turning to an independent filmmaker’s website, poptent.net. An online community of filmmakers, actors, comedians, and more, Poptent gives its members an incredible opportunity — the chance to produce an online video for major companies that want them to explore and create branded messaging for the Internet age. Yamaha’s proposal asked that interested participants “reimagine” the brand in a short film. The catch? The company insisted that traditional props, like WaveRunners, boats, waterways, docks, etc, be nowhere in the picture.

“We wanted to see videos that are entirely different than anything else we’ve done in the past and the Poptent community responded as hoped,” said Yamaha WaterCraft’s National Marketing Manager Bryan Seti. “By not letting the creators use Yamaha products, boats, docks or anything else that has been featured in past Yamaha spots, we pushed hard for fresh and original thinking.”

And fresh and original is what they got. A total of 57 submissions were entered into the competition. Yamaha reps chose two favorites, and opened the question of which was best to online voting.

The two finalists couldn’t be more different. One tells the tale of two neighbors, one who is into everything “extreme” and the other who enjoys a Yamaha jet boat with his family. The other video is simply a clip of a guy hitting his friend in the face with a fish, along with the tag line that it’s just “not the same” as riding a WaveRunner.

The production quality and acting in the two final submissions is impressive. View them both below.

Sea-Doo, meanwhile, pursued its search for the company’s Ultimate Fan. The contest, appropriately dubbed “The Ultimate Sea-Doo Fan,” was designed to find someone who, according to Sea-Doo, “feels more at home on their watercraft than in their actual home; who spends large amounts of time trying to figure out a way to ride their watercraft to work; who daydreams about being on the water while skydiving; a real fanatic to become an ambassador for Sea-Doo.”

Aside from Internet fame, two finalists would receive the chance to attend the 2012 Sea-Doo product introduction. One winner would take home the grand prize, consisting of a trip to the 2012 World Finals, GoPro camera, Sea-Doo riding gear and accessories, iCatch trailer, and a brand new 2012 model. The bonus? A cool $2,000 to fund a summer’s worth of Sea-Doo related travel.

Sea-Doo Ultimate Fan hopeful Kevin Wassum enjoys a quiet moment on his RTX 215 he calls The Red Dragon.

Brad Hackleman, 28, from Pasadena, California and Kevin Wassum, 30, from Tampa, Florida, were the lucky finalists. The contest is currently now open to the public, where followers of Sea-Doo’s Facebook fan page will be able to partially affect the outcome by voting for their favorite. Each finalist’s personal info is included for review, including photos on Flickr and videos on YouTube that reflect how they use their craft. Finalists also have the chance to make their case for why they should be deemed the Ultimate Fan, as well as indicate what “style” of rider they are, from years riding, to how often they ride per year, how far, riding group size, and preferred playground.

Check out the progress at ultimateseadoofan.com.

And what of Kawasaki? The company has been promoting their new Ultra 300X through a spring contest featuring NASCAR racer Clint Bowyer. The contest invited consumers to visit a Kawasaki dealership where they would receive a special “water-activated” game piece. Dunk that sucker and a secret code is reveal, which could then be entered online at a contest website. Instant prizes were available, but the grand prize included the chance to travel to Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri for a chance to challenge Bowyer himself in a drag race. The race is scheduled to take place this July during the Three Rivers PWC Charity Ride, a 240-mile journey on the Osage, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers culminating at the foot of the St. Louis Arch.

“Clint is a PWC owner and it seemed like a natural fit,” explained Kawasaki’s Greg Lasiewski. “He wanted to do something for the local area, and suggested that we tie in this promotion with the Three Rivers YMCA fundraiser. They will be riding from the dam at Lake of the Ozarks 240 miles to the St. Louis Arch in one day.”

Making the contest even more unique? Kawasaki made available customizable emails for friends to “taunt” each other to enter. The email, which appeared to come from both the friend and Bowyer himself, made reference to unique things about the recipient, like hometown and place of business.

And to think, they used to accomplish all this with a page in a magazine…