Power in Partnership: RBFF Brings Fishing to West Marine Stores
By Stephanie Vatalaro
Aug 25, 2022
RBFF leverages partnerships to extend the reach of its Take Me Fishing campaign, and in its’ third year working with West Marine, it rallied around two key research insights to increase participation. Fishing is the #1 activity done on a boat. Women start fishing at a very high rate, but also drop out at a high rate because they don’t see themselves in the sport.
RBFF leverages partnerships to extend the reach of its Take Me Fishing campaign, and in its’ third year working with West Marine, it rallied around two key research insights to increase participation:
- Fishing is the #1 activity done on a boat.
- Women start fishing at a very high rate, but also drop out at a high rate because they don’t see themselves in the sport.
In April, RBFF and West Marine drove customers into four West Marine stores to hear from Take Me Fishing’s Wave Makers on topics of local interest. The four events, which were also broadcast live on social media, promoted fishing to a primarily boating audience, highlighted female anglers and the knowledge of our Wave Makers Ambassadors, and provided an opportunity for content creation for Take Me Fishing’s website and social channels.
Four Wave Makers presented in four West Marine stores each Wednesday in April.
- Nicole Jacobs (@nicolefishing) kicked things off on April 6 in Minnetonka, MN with a talk on crappie spring fishing and bass fishing.
- In the large Sausalito, CA store Annie Nagel (@anniesfishtales) spoke about kayak fishing for beginners
- Snookie Risch (@snookiefishing) brought her expertise to the Norfolk, VA West Marine store to demonstrate how to set up a drop shot rig and when/where/how to fish it
- Amanda and Emily Gale (@galeforcetwins) finished the series with advice on the best rig/lures for mahi and tuna at the flagship Ft. Lauderdale store on April 27th.
The events were promoted heavily by both West Marine and RBFF via traditional media outlets, social media channels, and email. RBFF promoted the series on its consumer and stakeholder social media and via trade PR. All together the events generated:
- Social Media Impressions: 253,073
- Social Media Reach: 263,115
- Social Media Engagements: 10,957
- Email: 18,329 unique opens, 487 clicks (RBFF-only)
- Media Placements: 166 media placements; 240,542,572 reach
Activating around the country created hyper-local content to be shared with both the Take Me Fishing and West Marine audiences, and generated high-quality content in each location to use on TakeMeFishing.org and our social media channels for the months to come.
If you are interested in exploring partnership opportunities, please contact RBFF Director of Partnerships & Development Rachel Auslander at rauslander@rbff.org.
