We are in a period of rapid change. For the boating industry, that includes softening new-boat sales, evolving customer demographics, technology advances and changing consumer expectations. Competition for consumer leisure spending is intensifying, with RVing, travel and powersports pulling wallet share. 

Yes, boating has something no other leisure activity does: life on the water. And yet attracting new owners has waned.

Reversing these trends was central to insights that members of the National Marine Manufacturers Association shared as we shaped the 2026-28 strategic plan. Members asked for a more collective focus on consumer demand. The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, our partners in Discover Boating, heard similar feedback from their dealer members. 

As a result, the Discover Boating Market Expansion Advisory Group was formed. Members were selected for their deep marketing expertise across OEMs and dealerships. They, along with an NMMA board liaison, were asked to answer two questions: How should we define success for Discover Boating, and how do we achieve that success?

The advisory group includes Thomas Bates, chief revenue officer, Correct Craft; Lauren Beckstedt, chief marketing officer, Brunswick Corp.; Bryce Brown, principal, Rocky Mountain Boat Co.; Victor Gonzalez, chief marketing officer, Sportsman Boats; Abbey Heimensen, vice president of marketing, MarineMax; Amber Holm, chief marketing and experience officer, Winnebago Industries; Bryan Seti, vice president, Yamaha Boat Business Unit; and Matt Gruhn, president, MRAA.

They commissioned in-depth consumer research to better understand current and future boat buyers’ size, motivations and barriers to entry. These insights, gathered in partnership with the research firm Ipsos, represent some of the most extensive research that Discover Boating has undertaken. The group also hired a consulting firm to organize their thinking and validate their assumptions.

Defining Roles 

The advisory group uncovered a variety of stakeholder differences in thinking about where Discover Boating should focus its attention. Some manufacturers and dealers expressed the need for Discover Boating to deliver sales leads, while others wanted focus on awareness-driving marketing. The variety of demands and needs had Discover Boating trying to be everything to everyone. This fragmented the work, diluted the impact and, ultimately, created more confusion than clear results.

To determine where Discover Boating should focus, the group assessed the broader marketing landscape, OEM and dealer marketing, and Discover Boating’s focus to identify any gaps or areas of overlap. With rising media costs and increased media fragmentation, buying power for brands has eroded significantly in the past decade. This makes clarity of role paramount: The industry cannot afford myriad priorities for Discover Boating.

What the advisory group uncovered is that OEMs and dealers, for the most part, are not addressing the top of the marketing funnel, leaving a considerable gap that Discover Boating is uniquely positioned to fill. The group also
unanimously agreed that Discover Boating shouldn’t engage consumers as they start exploring a purchase. That is the focus of OEMs and dealers. 

The group defined Discover Boating as a movement to reach and inspire new boaters; a way to fuel the start of the industry marketing funnel, focused squarely at the top; and a way to activate interested shoppers who wish to learn more. Discover Boating is not, according to the group: a lead broker or short-term sales driver, a replacement for OEM or dealer marketing or solely responsible for industry growth.

Overall, Discover Boating is the industry’s only organization focused on top-of-the-funnel consumer marketing, such as building awareness, shaping perceptions and helping new audiences see boating as accessible and relevant. The advisory group clarified that Discover Boating does not generate leads or drive sales. Its role is to build early interest, making it easier and more cost-effective for manufacturers and dealers to reach potential buyers.

Without this shared effort, manufacturers and dealers would need to spend more individually on awareness marketing with less overall impact. Discover Boating expands interest in the category so more consumers enter the funnel engaged. From there, manufacturers and dealers take the lead — identifying prospects, engaging them directly and moving them through the purchase process, including lead generation. They also support the lower funnel through product education, experiences, service and retention.

In short: Discover Boating builds awareness; manufacturers and dealers drive leads and sales.

Health Score Index

The advisory group also established how to measure Discover Boating’s success: reaching more people who could become boaters and inspiring them to engage with boating. This is measured monthly with the Discover Boating Health Score Index, a performance snapshot that combines multiple marketing metrics into one clear measure.

The Health Score Index is our scorecard. If it goes up, it means more people are discovering boating, engaging with it and becoming hand-raisers. When that happens, we will grow boating. 

This index provides the NMMA, MRAA and our members with a shared fact base to understand what’s working, what’s changing and where to focus attention related to Discover Boating. It is intended to support strategic oversight, trend monitoring and prioritization of marketing investments rather than day-to-day operational decisions.

Why This Matters

Discover Boating focuses on getting more people interested in boating. That includes rentals, clubs, shared ownership and, ultimately, boat purchases. Reaching new audiences and acquiring new customers at scale is one of the costliest challenges for any business, which is why the industry pools its resources with Discover Boating — something no single company can do on its own.

Hand-raisers have the potential to become new customers so OEMs, dealers, clubs and rental operators aren’t left competing for the same buyers again and again. Over time, this strategy makes customer acquisition more efficient and more affordable across the industry. Once someone becomes a hand-raiser, the marketing strategies from OEMs, dealers, clubs and rental operators kick into gear.

Bottom Line

Discover Boating cannot grow the market alone, nor can any single company or association. But together, OEMs, dealers, the NMMA and MRAA can keep boating front-of-mind, make entry into the lifestyle easier, and turn inspiration into lifelong participation. The work has begun, the roadmap is clear, and we are excited to build the next wave of growth.

Ellen Bradley is chief marketing officer and senior vice president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

This story originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of Soundings Trade Only.