Aqua Lung?
- Thread starter BClendening
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In the mid 70's to late 1980's Aqualung had both identity and quality problems - and during that decade they also tended to market their stuff very heavily through mail order retailers such as Central Skin Divers, and Berry Scuba. The mail order versus LDS argument raged in much the same way as the internet versus LDS argument does now, but with a few differences - there was a bit more control through publishers and dive stores than their is now. Rodales started publishing a dive magazine to compete with Skin Diver (a magazine that sold substantial ad space to mail order retailers) and broke into the maket by refusing to sell adds to on line retailers. It worked because dive shops stopped selling Skin Diver and pushed Rodale's instead and Skin diver dissappeared by the mid 1990's. Skin Diver was a much better magazine but that had nothing to do with it. Of course then the internet retailers sprang up and nothing was really gained by local dealers. The only clear winner was Rodales, and they are often accused of biased gear reviews with the result that some brands refuse to submit equipment to them. And to be honest being supported by manufacturer ads does tend to create a stong incentive to downplay a bad review of a crappy product being marketed by a company that buys a lot of advertising space.
However, what also changed during this same transition period was Aqualung's marketing strategy and their product quality. They have returned to their roots so to speak in being primarily LDS centered in terms of their distribution and marketing and it has worked for them as they have one of the largest dealer networks around and that helps them maintain quality service to go with quality products. It deos not mean their products are totally absent from the internet retailers, but it does mean they still go out of their way not to be labeled as a brand that is marketed through the internet. They been there and done that in the 70's and 80's and it dd not work so hot for them. So I think their hesitancy to associate with any internet entity is understandable.
However, what also changed during this same transition period was Aqualung's marketing strategy and their product quality. They have returned to their roots so to speak in being primarily LDS centered in terms of their distribution and marketing and it has worked for them as they have one of the largest dealer networks around and that helps them maintain quality service to go with quality products. It deos not mean their products are totally absent from the internet retailers, but it does mean they still go out of their way not to be labeled as a brand that is marketed through the internet. They been there and done that in the 70's and 80's and it dd not work so hot for them. So I think their hesitancy to associate with any internet entity is understandable.
Noboundaries
Guest
If I remember right, Jacques-Yves Cousteau created Aqua Lung. How can you go wrong?
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