International Boat Industry – June-July 2019

40 JUNE–JULY 2019 | International Boat Industry ibinews.com

Markets & Regions

Q&A | BRUNSWICK/FREEDOM BOAT CLUB

of our membership on the boats. We know pretty

quickly if there’s something wrong with the boats.”

Will you take or more national marketing approach

or will it remain largely market by market?

JG: “That’s something we’ve been working on for

really the last 12 months; a national marketing and

branding campaign for the club. We have always

taken the tact internally that our franchisees are

better tailored to spend their money in their market

but as we now hope to leverage the Brunswick brand

and the resources that they have, I think that is top

of the list here.

BP: “The team here [FBC] has really done a nice job

understanding how to connect with the specific

consumer and what Brunswick brings to the table

is a lot of capability as you think about data and

analytics, some of the customer insights, and so

it will be a really nice synergistic partnership.

The insight from Freedom in local knowledge

and expertise couple with our capability to really

be strategic and make some smart investments

nationally and locally.

CC: “And just to add to that, my hypothesis is

one of the inhibitors to growth in the boat

club segment right now is awareness; that the

opportunity exists. I believe that today’s news and

all of the resources that we will put behind it in

partnership with John is not only going to benefit

Freedom Boat Club, but it’s going to benefit a lot of

the other players that are in this space – looking to

attract new boaters to the water – and that’s very

exciting. Because while Brunswick and Freedom

Boat Club intend to lead the industry in helping

attract the next generation of boaters, we certainly

recognise that’s not something we want to do on

our own, so we are very supportive of other folks

who are after that ambition as well.”

Have you established specific growth goals or

a timeline?

CC: “There aren’t any specific key performance

indicators, but I would say broadly is that John

and his team have built tremendous inertia and

momentum over the past three to five years and

part of my job is to make sure none of that is

inhibited moving forward. I would suggest this will

likely create a new wave of interest from operators

that want to become a franchisee and open markets

and will continue to tackle those as they come.

JG: “It’s always been our goal, even with this

acquisition, we want to grow as quickly as we

can but still maintain the support level for our

franchisees. Growth is extremely important, but we

want to do it right and we’re going to continue that

philosophy.

Where does the international component fall in

the priority list?

JG: “We have a great relationship with Jeanneau

throughout Europe; we do have a couple of

franchise owners that are Jeanneau dealers and I

know the relationship that Brunswick has with

Mercury is extremely important to them and I

think the intent is we are going to continue with

the relationships that we have and hopefully

leverage some new ones and not only support the

franchisees we currently have but to grow there the

same way we’re doing it now.

CC: “There’s a lot of opportunity that remains

in open markets in the United States, there’s a

lot of opportunity in Canada, there are emerging

opportunities in Europe, and even other continents

that John is starting to explore as well, so it doesn’t

have to be an either-or, it can be an end, if you

will. John will be exploring all of those avenues

and trying to do it in a thoughtful manner where

Freedom grows at a responsible pace.

Complete Climate Solutions: Heating, Cooling & Roofs

 Cecil Cohn, Brunswick Boating Services Network