What Does DEMA do for You?

How DEMA and the Go Dive Now Campaign are Promoting the Sport of Diving & Helping Members Grow their Businesses

On May 24, 2016 DEMA launched Go Dive Now and has since been leveraging the successful campaign to help grow the Industry. From online advertising to media coverage of the Go Dive Now Pool, Go Dive Now has been hard at work marketing the sport of scuba diving to help DEMA Members reach new customers and grow their businesses.

In addition to ad placements throughout the internet, Go Dive Now’s success is largely attributed to marketing through social media (such as targeted Facebook and YouTube advertising). Facebook ad buys are focused mainly around local DEMA Member retail stores. (Don’t miss out on this invaluable opportunity - become a 2017 DEMA Member to make sure your location is included!)

Touring around the country, “Big Wave” Dave Reidenbach and the Go Dive Now Pool have traveled from Florida to California since the beginning of 2017 to bring the try diving experience to hundreds of event participants. Each pool tour stop has provided opportunities to increase business for the participating local DEMA Member dive centers who volunteer to work the event. Members benefit from the invaluable opportunity to acquire new customers, attract previously-certified divers who may have been inactive for a while, and generate media coverage for their store and for recreational diving, both locally and nationally. And by being part of a potential new diver’s first experience, participating retailers are already building trust and loyalty with potential new customers that could develop into a long-term buying and diving relationship. Sponsored by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors
(PADI) and Scuba Schools International (SSI), and supported by the DEMA Manufacturers Fund and participating DEMA Member Retailers, the Pool will continue its tour as a top consumer event feature throughout 2017 at various consumer-oriented travel, outdoor activity and adventure shows. Retailers who are interested in participating in a scheduled Pool stop or who may be aware of an event with potential for attracting new divers are encouraged to contact Dave Reidenbach at (920) 205-3657 or bigwavedave@dema.org.

Before the official launch of Go Dive Now, the DEMA Board of Directors and Consumer Marketing Committee spent a year developing this campaign and have since continued to evaluate, develop and implement new strategies to best serve the goal of reaching new potential divers. Past and present members of the Consumer Marketing Committee include: Kristin Valette (Chair), Stefanie Cash, William Cline, Derrick Crotts, Stuart Cove, Mike Hollis, Doug McNeese, Jenna Meistrell, and Tim Webb.

More than a way to drive just certifications, Go Dive Now utilizes industry research to locate and target the audiences near DEMA-Member retailers that will be most likely to fully engage in diving, including buying equipment, diving locally and buying dive travel. Go Dive Now, is planned as a multi-year campaign and has been and will continue to be, a collaborative effort amongst industry stakeholders through the gathering of marketing insight, coming together for brainstorming sessions, and sharing media files for promotional efforts.

Support the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act

SUMMARY: In March, the federal "Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2017" (HR 1456) was introduced in the US House of Representatives. This bill makes it illegal to possess, buy, or sell shark fins or any product containing shark fins. TAKE ACTION:DEMA is supporting this bill and asks all members of the diving industry to join us in contacting your legislators to vote for the passage of this important piece of legislation.  You can easily do so by joining DEMA’s campaign to support HR 1456 by clicking here.  When you complete the campaign form, your comments will be sent directly to your representative.

In March the federal “Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2017” (HR 1456) was introduced in the US House of Representatives by Mr. Ed Royce of California (R-CA), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and by Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (I-MP).

This bill makes it illegal to possess, buy, or sell shark fins or any product containing shark fins. A person may possess a shark fin that was lawfully taken consistent with a license or permit under certain circumstances.  Penalties are imposed for violations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Chair Royce has stated that, “The United States can set an example for the rest of the world by shutting down its market for shark fins, which are often harvested by leaving these animals to die a slow and painful death at the bottom of the ocean. There are still 39 states where the purchase of shark fins is legal. The bipartisan Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act is needed to eradicate shark finning for good.”

The demand for fins, the key ingredient in shark fin soup, is one of the greatest threats facing shark populations around the world. Fins from as many as 73 million sharks end up in the global market every year, and more than 70 percent of the most common shark species involved with the fin trade are considered at high or very high risk of extinction. While shark finning is illegal in U.S. waters, shark fins continue to be bought and sold throughout the U.S.  The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act curbs the market for shark fins by making it unlawful to possess, sell or buy fins anywhere in the US.

We strongly urge you to contact your elected representatives in Congress and share how this bill could protect the shark population as well as how your business and the recreational diving industry are made stronger by divers’ ability to see these creatures in the wild.  Your message to your elected officials should be personalized and we encourage you to add details about the work of your organization and how this bill would impact your company and the citizens you serve. 

DEMA is supporting this bill and asks all members of the diving industry to join us in contacting your legislators to vote for the passage of this important piece of legislation.  You can easily do so by joining DEMA’s campaign to support HR 1456 by clicking here.  When you complete the campaign form, your comments will be sent directly to your representative.

If you are able to contact your Representative or Senator, and receive any kind of feedback, please let us know right away.  DEMA will continue to work toward supporting this bill and share updates on this issue as they become available. If you have questions about this issue, please email DEMA at publicpolicy@dema.org or contact us at 858-616-6408.  

DEMA Board of Directors to Meet in Long Beach, CA on May 5th

** Industry Stakeholders Will Attend to Provide Input on Programs & Priorities **

DEMA’s Board of Directors will meet on May 5th in Long Beach, CA to continue the development and implementation of plans to help grow our Industry and maximize DEMA’s benefits for Members. During this particular Board Meeting, Industry Stakeholders will be in attendance to provide their input on priorities for the Association and Industry.

 The Board meeting will begin with the Board approving reports from past and completed activities as part of the “consent agenda.”  For May, the consent agenda will include:

• Board Meeting Minutes, March 2017
• Quarter 1 Financial Update (unaudited)
• Membership Update
• Retailer Resource Committee Report

Following approval of the consent agenda, the Board will meet with Industry Stakeholders to discuss and brainstorm plans for the future. Topics will include consumer research and outreach with the Go Dive Now campaign, public policy initiatives, retail research & engagement, DEMA Show, new programs and priorities for the Association, and more. After the discussion with Industry Stakeholders has concluded, the Board of Directors will reconvene to conduct a strategic analysis of the Stakeholder input.

 The meeting will conclude the afternoon of Friday, May 5th after the Board of Directors has addressed any new business.

More information on DEMA’s Board of Directors and Bylaws is available on the DEMA website. Complete minutes from past Board of Directors Meetings are available to current DEMA Members from the Member Dashboard of www.dema.org.