A recent thread got me thinking... if windsurfing were a brand, how would you market it? What images would you use?
Assume that we want to grow the market across all windsuirfing segments and demographics.
What four images would you choose?
A lady wavesailor,
A cool young guy freestyling
Slowboat & friends speed sailing,
A family with a young child using a kids rig
/Sorry, I never come troll in your area but that was just too funny. Had to be done 
Select to expand quoteWindxtasy said..
A lady wavesailor,
A cool young guy freestyling
Slowboat & friends speed sailing,
A family with a young child using a kids rig
ditto ditto, but I do love the dude sailing over the falls, made me laugh
Here's a great image to inspire people. Not!! Our President for Windsurfing Tasmania trying to encourage us to go in the Easter Wave Sailing Classic.
It would be hard to market nowadays. Kids ( and society in general) want instant gratification. They are not interested in spending time mastering something difficult, they need it quick and easy. In my time I've seen all the spinoff sports to the sports I loved. Skateboarding spewed out rollerblades for those who found it too hard to grab a board while in the air. Surfing spewed out boogers for those who couldn't stand up or now sup for those who like to stand up but can't transition from lying down paddling to their feet. And windsurfing came up with kitesurfing.
Select to expand quoteKazza said..
Here's a great image to inspire people. Not!! Our President for Windsurfing Tasmania trying to encourage us to go in the Easter Wave Sailing Classic.
tell him he has wayyyy to much downhaul. I don't think that Naish is meant to have a leech as floppy as that 
While I always think appealing to kids is great and worthwhile, i really think the target market should be a bit older. 25-35 year olds are prime candidates for the following reasons.
1.Windsurfing gear is expensive and requires a certain level of disposable income that is more common in the 25 - 35 year old demographic.
2. 25-35 year olds are the main adult demographic involved in sports / exercise ( have a look around the gym and see who is there)
3. Windsurfing appeals to people who actually like the feeling of learning things in a progressive fashion ( not impatient 15 year olds).
4. Surfing scares quite a few people as the fear of waves is there from day one. Windsurfing only gets scary when you progress a bit but the feeling of moving powered by the wind is there from day one. I have taught my girlfriend and her friend in the last few months. They love the fact that when you feel scared or outta control you can just sheet out or let go and it all stops.
Given this thought, and that you are appealing to people learning, and you can emphasise the social aspect of the sport - my suggestion for images would be people ( male and female together) planing together along on freeride boards with nice clear water, sunshine and scenery. or alternately someone carving a gybe around someone sitting on their board against a nice shoreline.
Select to expand quotepaddymac said..
A recent thread got me thinking... if windsurfing were a brand, how would you market it? What images would you use?
Assume that we want to grow the market across all windsuirfing segments and demographics.
What four images would you choose?
if i had the job to market windsurfing,i would just ring col and use what he has done ,also like alot of frans work to ,thats my two bobs worth
Marketing Windsurfing in the long, distant, historical past (feel old now?) was so much easier because it looked like this:
A Sailboarder makes his way to the shops for some new clogs.
Now there's beginner gear, family gear, wave, freestyle, freeride, slalom, race, light wind, cross-atlantic, red bull extreme... it's no longer a simple, one-dimensional sport.
I guess you have to find your target market first. I'm not sure who they are, used to be 20-30 year olds, I guess it still holds. Mostly male. Guys that want a moderate adrenaline rush, in the water, and have probably sailed or skated or surfed or similar in the past.
...Snowboarders. The two seasons line up nicely too.
market windsurfing ??
must be winter down under now
i am deciding "do i stay or do i go"
no marketing required
just need to convince the better half
A good way to market it would be by giving everyone the opportunity to try it. Unless you know someone that can give you an introduction to the sport its a big commitment to fork out a $1000 + just see see if you're going to like it. Even then its not easy as you need to know how to rig the gear and learn to sail it.
If we had a rental / lesson place at easily accessible locations or weekends away it would give more people the opportunity to try and maybe get hooked on the sport.
Select to expand quoteMrCranky said..
Even the most amazing windsurfing vids on youtube have bugger-all views.
Most windsurfers who are right into it, the total addicts, are too busy doing it to watch it on youtube. Youtube is for things that are so new that people go to investigate it online to see what it is about.
Windsurfers would come here for advice or maybe watch an instructional vid on youtube, but you will not find people (who don't windsurf) looking for it on youtube en masse like you might with kitesurfing or wingsuits or a new class of idiocy like Jackass
Eg - millions play chess but how many hits are there for chess videos......?
Thus I don't think it is a good indicator.
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..MrCranky said..
Even the most amazing windsurfing vids on youtube have bugger-all views.
Most windsurfers who are right into it, the total addicts, are too busy doing it to watch it on youtube. Youtube is for things that are so new that people go to investigate it online to see what it is about.
Windsurfers would come here for advice or maybe watch an instructional vid on youtube, but you will not find people (who don't windsurf) looking for it on youtube en masse like you might with kitesurfing or wingsuits or a new class of idiocy like Jackass
Eg - millions play chess but how many hits are there for chess videos......?
Thus I don't think it is a good indicator.
Remember, at least 100 views on those Chess videos are from me..
Garry Kasparov has some sweet moves..
Select to expand quotedan berry said..
It would be hard to market nowadays. Kids ( and society in general) want instant gratification. They are not interested in spending time mastering something difficult, they need it quick and easy. In my time I've seen all the spinoff sports to the sports I loved. Skateboarding spewed out rollerblades for those who found it too hard to grab a board while in the air. Surfing spewed out boogers for those who couldn't stand up or now sup for those who like to stand up but can't transition from lying down paddling to their feet. And windsurfing came up with kitesurfing.
Green thumbs for this dribble really ?
Pretty hard for kids to come on here and respond to being "not interested in spending time mastering something difficult"
Select to expand quotebrett_perth said..dan berry said..Green thumbs for this dribble really ?
It would be hard to market nowadays. Kids ( and society in general) want instant gratification. They are not interested in spending time mastering something difficult, they need it quick and easy. In my time I've seen all the spinoff sports to the sports I loved. Skateboarding spewed out rollerblades for those who found it too hard to grab a board while in the air. Surfing spewed out boogers for those who couldn't stand up or now sup for those who like to stand up but can't transition from lying down paddling to their feet. And windsurfing came up with kitesurfing.
Pretty hard for kids to come on here and respond to being "not interested in spending time mastering something difficult"
Looks like somebody owns a booger, a SUP and also kites?
Select to expand quoteWaiting4wind said..
...
If we had a rental / lesson place at easily accessible locations or weekends away it would give more people the opportunity to try and maybe get hooked on the sport.
You can rent windsurf gear. Our local store has a beach cafe and they hire out windsurf gear. I often see guys slogging around on the rental gear.
That's how I got started in the 80's. Had a lesson and fell off the whole time. Went back a few days later and rented a board and went whoosh out, tacked and whoosh back! Rented a few more times then bought my own rig for $800, which was outrageously expensive! :-)
As for instant gratification, kiting can take 6-12 weeks to get competent at. Once you get past that initial stage it's much easier to progress to an intermediate level that allows you to do more stuff than the equivalent level of windsurf skill.
I'm a tourist in Japan at the moment. I've seen old beer and cigarette posters showing windsurfing. It was really popular and cool here back in the 80's!
A few days ago I saw some Bic Techo's out and a few slalom boards and some wave boards etc. I went into a shop and there was bits and pieces of stuff and the shop owner gave me a DVD of the Sometime World cup in 1986. Back then there were hundreds of thousands of $ comps here in Japan, thick glossy magazines etc.
Today at Kamukura there was a few sails sloshing about and some seriously funny attempts by beginners to get things happening. I saw a guy get worked carrying his rig down to the beach and try and make it look like he meant to do it - he started doing some stretching on his sail - with his pink life jacket on. I helped a guy rig his relatively new combat wave as he had no idea, his wetsuit was a brand called Rash! There were about a hundred surfers out and heaps of SUckPs doing very little of the almost flat ocean.
I enjoyed the temples and a walk around town, the people watching and the sushi and beer.
The young Japanese were enjoying brands of this and that and their smart phones. Definitely not windsurfing - or kitesurfing!
I'd give the job to the Horicultural Industry Network.
If they can promote celery, then they can sell anything to anyone.
Local shops to supply me with shed loads of gear, air fares, accomodation, beer & skittles.
I could then retire and tour the country promoting the lifestyle.
So, how about it industry folk?
New marketing slogen "Windsurfing---The perfect hobbie for when you retire."
Like Mark said, if people are interested in a sport they watch lots of vids on the net (Utube etc) but no dancer vids on the net ever get many hits so there is not alot of interest these days.
But then again, alot of the older crew dont know how to turn a computer on so its probly not fair to say its a sign of interest in windsurfing.
Select to expand quoteHausey said..
The young Japanese were enjoying brands of this and that and their smart phones. Definitely not windsurfing - or kitesurfing!
That's because Japanese people are weird, especially the kids.
No really, they are.
