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scmarketing
12-02-2007, 11:10 AM
We just added 'motortrend' viideos to each of the boats on the Supra site. 360, handling, hole shot, 0-30, wake height, etc.

These things are difficult to do, take a lot of time, and cost us a good deal of money.

Right now they are still a work in progress. Some loading issues on site. A few clips placed under the wrong boat (those are easily fixed).

I'm really interested in finding out if you think these videos help you better make a selecton on the boat ... or if we are wasting money and time here that could better be spent someplace else.

Let us know what you think. We are considering adding these videos in 2009 model year to this site. It's your website. We want to make it the best we can for you.


Michael


PS: Ed, I expect to hear from you first.

smokedog2
12-02-2007, 01:28 PM
http://www.supraboats.com/sunsport22/index.php?swf=video

03outbackVT
12-02-2007, 02:54 PM
Kudos to you for looking for input directly from your consumer base. It is an extremely under utilized resource.

I did review all of the videos as requested. Realistically, the "my Supra" clip was the only one I found any value in. This clip embodied all of the communication targets from the others but did in much better style. I do not feel the "motortrend" style clips of hole shot, 0-30 etc effectively communicate the message. For whatever reason when doing the same test in the automotive world the message is much better understood and has a tangible feel.

By far the best way to sell a boat is to provide people the experience. Use the money towards regional demo days and I would think your message will be communicated effectively.

my 2 cents...
JC

MasterMind3002
12-02-2007, 04:18 PM
I think the new videos are great!! It allows you to see the boat from different perspectives. Nice addition!! IMHO the more views the better. Now you just need to add a 180 swampturn video for each boat. I'll come down and drive them for you :lol:

04OUTBACK
12-02-2007, 06:11 PM
I think they are neat.. but don't seem to provide too much info that you could not or don't already cover in the MySupra section...
thoughts:
0-30 ... what motor/what prop?
Wake Height - Does not do the boats justice.. not real clear and based on what I see in forums, I have seen much better images that show wake height. Other question there is how much ballast, wakeplate?, etc... You may want to make sure you are reaching full wake potential and it is quite evident that it is large.
Everything else is kinda covered in the mySupra section... I think you edit one video that shows it all.
The Image/video quality seems better in the MySupra clip than the others (SWF videos?)

I like all the videos.. i think they are nice, but not sure if they are worth the trouble you describe.. Make One GOOD video per boat is my suggestion.
When I was in the market to buy, I found the videos on the Moomba site to be helpful in learning about the boats.. It was my first inboard and they were useful to me.
BW

deerfield
12-02-2007, 06:45 PM
scmarketing - I agree with 03outback: the "my Supra" clip is by far the best communication. In a way, video is one dimensional. Adding a narrator with unique voice gives the viewer a more interesting and informative experience. It's important to sink up the voice with the picture. If the narrator is talking about something, then show it in the video, and vice versa. For example, the narrator talks about swing away racks, but the video does not show what this means or how a swing away rack works. There is a tracking video, but little discussion of why this is relevant or the engineering designed into the boat to make this happen. Not everyone knows about tracking. Especially potential customers. Also, might be interesting to see a boat tracking down a fixed line, like a slalom course, to make the point. The young people in the video are nice. But if I'm going to spend $30,000 - $40,000, I want you focused on telling me why. In the end it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with a great boat - functionality, design, price, etc. Sell me on that. Watched these on a Mac computer without any problem. Own a 07 Outback. Previous boat was a Nautique. All said, nice work with the motortrend videos. Keep up the good work. :D - Deerfield

shulaj
12-02-2007, 11:37 PM
I'm a huge fan of SC...but being a new customer last year also gave me insight into your failings with the sales process. I have a marketing background and ran a large web software company I founded, so I know a thing or two about marketing with an on-line presence. Allow me to indulge myself for you.

Firstly, while you have a good web site...it could be better for the 'buyer'. (Note: The forum is the absolute best thing you have on your web site, but as for the forum…you need to change your PHP front end ‘look’ of it so it is more in-tune with some style, and not a flat out PHP site. It’s easy to do. Just make your own SC template for it) Check with your programming guys about it. There is PHP templates you can use to start.

Let’s start with the idea of the videos. Last year, each boat was provided a video on the Moomba site, which was nice to see ‘my’ future boat and stare at the babes...so that was fine. But when it came to a video of a ‘walk-around’ of the boat, you offer nothing.

Your new Supra website’s idea of the My Supra Video is PERFECT, but you should have ONE video for each boat. KISS – Keep it simple stupid. Attach all those other video’s to the first, and when the ones without sound start….add some quiet music and then do a voice over on the others…where you can have an announcer (a hot chick voice I suspect)..say “here is how Supra’s standard powerplant gets you out of the hole to 30MPH in 4.3 seconds…which is just enough time to hear the echo of your laugh while you howl at the Bayliner guy with the aftermarket piece of crap tower across the bay”. HAHA Then do a voice over for the turns etc etc. This way your money spent is still used for 2008….but next year, you can do less. Most of these videos are too much.

No one wants to click on 6 videos for a boat. That is plain too much. Attach them all and make one GREAT video. But…ADD A NEW VIDEO OF A FULL OUT OF THE WATER WALK AROUND, and tell me why the fins are better than other makes, and why that prop is brass, and how you can easily drain those bags, and how solid the tower is. Also, add ONE MORE video to each…which is called “Boat Options” This video is all the same for all the boats….but it too is a walk around, and it shows you “Here is the teak decking for the rear, as well as the new 400+HP option, and this is why you want to buy perfect pass, and blah blah blah. THAT IS WHAT I WANTED.

Also, ADD A VIDEO of the BUILD PROCESS. I want to see the people hand laying the fiberglass…and putting in the motor bolts. Show me why your boat is as good as the more expensive ones. OK

These eighty-six 30 second videos with no sound serve only to allow you to say “we’ve got more videos than Mastercraft”. Give your dealers a break and give the public what they want….which is FACTORY FRESH and FACTORY CORRECT info with walk-arounds.

Next topic.

Colourizer is nice….but the fact that you make people type in their name and crap is plain stupid and only serves to jam up your dealers in boxes with false names of fake purchasers. Get rid of it. If I want my dealer to know my name, I’ll call him. So build a google map location screen so I can find them visually. Lastly on the topic of the coulourizer (I am Canadian so we spell colour with a ‘u’), I think that you’ve missed an opportunity hear to show actual boats in a huge section called “our customers colours in 2006, 2007)…and showcase your file of real boats. I know I had one of your reps fire me off 40 pics of various colours while I was tormented with images from the colourizer which were just fake pictures. I want the real goods. The web is beautiful for allowing a million images to be seen with just a click. Take advantage of it.

Another idea is the ‘my Moomba’ site, where we owners put our own best three pics of our boats on your site’…and google map it too so we can see who is where…and let us show off our proud Moombas/Supras to your potential customers.

Maybe even allow us to make and submit a “My Moomba/Supra video” and have a contest for the best one. 2 mins max please.

I could go on for an hour…but I get paid big bucks to offer my two cents…and you just got a bargain.

Anyhow…love my boat, LOVE the forum, LOVE your staff, LOVE you guys for asking our opinion….and your web is cute….but could be better.

Again…sorry to be blunt…but that’s what you wanted.

Steve

JoeTechie
12-03-2007, 03:08 PM
I tend to agree with most of the above comments.

The 0-30 is a downright silly video. Some guy raises his hand at 30... so ? Tracking, hole shot, rider to plane, and handling are also just silly for equal reasons. Forge them, they do nothing. Less than nothing - the production value is rterrible on them so they look hand made and not professional at all. I can see someone wanting a static picture of wake height, but that's about it.

The "My Supra" - or hopefully "My Moomba" videos are excellent. Just an expansion of the current videos on the site per boat. As stated above - we as a customer base want to SEE the OPTIONS, not just the standard features(though those are very important as well for comparing boats). Look back through a lot of the posts and you will constantly see people asking "What does the teak swim platform look like ? What does the E paint pattern look like, what does the forward bimini look like. We need an Options page with good pics of everythig that the customizer has in it. Video of some of them would be better if possible. Highlight a few in each one so that they are more visable.
Hell if you had a perfect pass video alone, your dealers could sell dozens more.

We all like seeing what we are getting for our money... but these are not muscle cars (though I guess the comparrison is simple) If they were - everyone would have the 340 (or more) hp in them. Stay away from the motor-trend videos - When Water Ski magazine used to do them , they were well done as a third party test - then it makes sense.

I would also say that the bikinis do NOT offend me. Nor do the guys with their shirts off. They are just window dressing. Sorry ed.

my $0.02,

-Joe

Laz
12-03-2007, 09:28 PM
I think the short videos are a waste of time. The agree with other posters that the my supra video was good.

When I was looking at the Outback, I really wanted to see a video of people using the boat for skiing. I would love to see a My Moomba Outback video with Terry Winter showing him going through a slalom course and explaining why he likes the Outback so much.

The hole shot and tracking shot don't make much sense to me as you have to be on the boat or being pulled by it to get any sense of the boats capabilities.

Waterski Magazine has a virtual testdrive feature that I found much more informative than the new videos.

Now that I own a Moomba, it was the best purchase I have ever made.

Laz

04OUTBACK
12-03-2007, 09:49 PM
Joe,
Good point about options/accessories... It would be a touch helpful to include pictures of the options/accessories. I can speak that when I was in the market for an LSV this August, neither the catalog or website included all accesories/options.. There were several options I would like to have seen...

BW

scmarketing
12-03-2007, 09:57 PM
I really appreciate the insight. Lots of good thoughts and ideas worthy of full consideration. Whether we get it all done ... who knows? But, you guys taking the time to give me input is as much as any marketing person can ask for. On the days when y'all aren't complaining that we have (too many women in bikinis) (too few women in bikinis) (the wrong women in bikinis)
(clothing optional), its a pleasure to listen to you.

Keep talking. We will keep listening.

04OUTBACK
12-03-2007, 11:31 PM
You know, SC, just like many websites have a Hi Res and Low res site (or Flash / no flash), I guess you could have a Hi Bikini and Low Bikini website option on the front page... HA.. don't spend too much time on the low bikini version...


BW

BensonWdby
12-03-2007, 11:59 PM
I agree that the short videos are trivial by themselves. I could see maybe a longer video and the links on the left take you to index points in the video? But then they play the remaining video.

Definitely bikinis. I think more men make buying decisions on boats, and women are less likely to be turned off by girl eye candy than guys are of guy eye candy (does that exist?),

I also like the the idea of showing the dry land hull features as the lead-in to the on-water section where you demonstrate them. Example, 'These are the tracking fins for guaranteeing the truest straight line pull on the market.....' Then rotating 360 on the dry land feature as you explain it. Then show tracking if you need to, but maybe add some head on performance with a CG center line showing the boat following that line as someone skis and wakeboards. Yes I think skiing should be shown as well, even though it is not really a ski boat.

Same with wakeplate - actually show it actuate on dry land and then find a way to demonstrate more effectively on water. The current wake video is useless - nothing to compare it to. Maybe a split screen screen (over-under) showing the lowest wake at 36 and the best wakeboard/trick wake.

Narration. I think mixing up the narrators would help. Personally I did not care much for the guys voice. I could see alternating male and female narrators either strategically or just every-other would help hold interest and minimize someone bailing out if one voice turns them off or is bored. If you have a different voice for every segment the narration becomes kind of a series of testimonials.

Music - very good idea. Different music for each segment.

I think a video is an important marketing tool for presenting on the web.

Good luck
Dave

Buttafewcoe
12-04-2007, 12:11 PM
Definitely headed in the right direction. Some good input from above reponders. I like the idea of the comparison vids, plate up vs. plate down, etc.
.
Sure, board shorts and tank tops would be ok. After all, more girls and women are getting involved water sports, dress 'em up like the athletes they can be. We've lost more than one set of bikini bottoms while the ladies have been on the wakeboards. :P Next time they came out, they had board shorts.
.
Hope this helps
.
B

zegm
12-04-2007, 03:15 PM
I excitedly went to the Supra site to watch the videos. After clicking on each to see the content I must admit I was a little disappointed as I did not really get much information out of the video. I think the videos on the Moomba site are pretty good as they are. Like others on this post I would include in the website what the options look like. I am going to order a boat very soon and being a Teak deck person I have wanted to see what it looks like. The only way I have been able to do this was to use the search field in the forum and look at some owners boats. The colorizer is better than nothing but again real pictures would be better. As a current MasterCraft owner I must say after test driving and spending some time on a couple of Moombas in my area has convinced me you guys are doing a Great Job! I have decided that spending 15k more on a name is really stupid and I will go where I will get the best value for my dollar-----Moomba!!!!

PS The bikinis are fine as they are!