How often do we say "we need a celebrity" to promote scuba?

[cerich]

The dive industry is clamoring for an celebrity diver because providing a consistent friendly, enjoyable, social, educational and exciting experience when the customer comes in contact with us has proven too difficult. Thus a celebrity that drives them business without them having to do anything is very appealing...and delusional.

 

[CharlesFoster00]

Maybe it's just me, but I think the scuba "industry" would miss the point by making a show about scuba diving. If you want more people to dive, then don't try to make them want the "training, equipment, and boat"... try to make them want the "reef, fish, and beauty". In other words, don't worry about the mechanics of how they get down there (although you might provide a clear and simple path), make them WANT to get down there, and they'll figure out a way. This approach, which combines environmentalism, conservation, science & an appreciation for the natural world allows you to VASTLY increase your potential funding & audience. There are many celebrities involved with conservation, and some involved with aquatic conservation. I'm willing to bet that if the "industry" could get NatGeo to sponsor Hayden Panettiere as the host of a show intended to make people fall in love with our oceans, people would watch -- and then they would dive.

I've never cared what celebrities were doing or endorsing.

However, I'm sure if there were a "reality show" featuring drama queens living together and going diving.
I'm sure the lemmings would latch onto it.

 

[kelemvor]

There are at least two scuba tv shows currently airing. One of them is a "reality" show. They just don't have anyone famous in either of the shows.

"Scuba Nation" and "Ultimate Diver Challenge".

Scubanation episodes tend to focus on a destination or some piece of gear. UDC is a reality show/competition thing. Neither of them revolve around a boat.

Both are obviously low budget productions. I don't see how they could ever afford to hire celebrities given their budget restrictions. If "the dive industry" as a whole wants a celebrity so badly perhaps the industry should create a pool and hire one.

 

[Hawkwood]

Hmm...I don't think anybody has mentioned "Descending". It was a 13 part travel documentary series that focussed on diving and dive destinations.

Very high production quality. Ran for one season. Was a show done by two of the folks who did the travel series "Departures".

https://descendingtv.com/episodes/

 

[ams511]

Hmm...I don't think anybody has mentioned "Descending". It was a 13 part travel documentary series that focussed on diving and dive destinations.

Very high production quality. Ran for one season. Was a show done by two of the folks who did the travel series "Departures".

https://descendingtv.com/episodes/

I may have missed it but no one mentioned "Deep Sea Detectives" either.

---------- Post added April 7th, 2015 at 04:38 PM ----------

There's no drama... there's no intrigue... there's no social experiment... there's no story line.

Sounds like Baywatch, and that show lasted 11 seasons.

 

[RJP]

I'm willing to bet that if the "industry" could get NatGeo to sponsor Hayden Panettiere as the host of a show intended to make people fall in love with our oceans, people would watch -- and then they would dive.

If we could get the Pope to change the Our Father from "... and give us this day, our daily bread..." to "...and give is this day, our daily nitrox fills..." we'd be in good shape. (Though I'm pretty sure the Wonder Bread account would be in jeopardy.)

 

[Z Gear]

There are at least two scuba tv shows currently airing. One of them is a "reality" show. They just don't have anyone famous in either of the shows.

"Scuba Nation" and "Ultimate Diver Challenge".

Scubanation episodes tend to focus on a destination or some piece of gear. UDC is a reality show/competition thing. Neither of them revolve around a boat.

Both are obviously low budget productions. I don't see how they could ever afford to hire celebrities given their budget restrictions. If "the dive industry" as a whole wants a celebrity so badly perhaps the industry should create a pool and hire one.

That's actually a pretty good suggestion.

 

[CharlesFoster00]

How often do we say "we need a celebrity" to promote scuba?

As amusing as it might be to get the pope to endorse scuba, I'm actually pretty serious. I mean, if the question is, "how do we get celebrities to promote scuba diving", then you can't simply dismiss it when someone offers up a celebrity name. In any case, the exact name / identity of the celebrity isn't the important thing. The industry needs to expand it's purpose beyond "supporting sales of equipment and training". I've spent some time (at work) around celebrities, and for a strictly sales oriented approach -- it's going to cost a lot of money. The trick to getting a celebrity onboard is to make sure they feel that you're authentic, and authentically have a purpose that's higher than yourself. Only once you've convinced them that you HONESTLY want their participation because of altruistic reasons will you convince them to help you. Promoting interest in oceans and reefs, for the purposes of conservation and education is one fairly obvious route.

To give an example -- I have a friend who feels strongly about an environmental cause, and has been somewhat successful getting celebrities to endorse his cause. He is generally NOT paying these people to appear, and certainly not paying them anything like what their market rate would command.

I've attached a photo of Mark Ruffalo at one of the events. This is a busy guy, and I'm pretty sure he was not paid a dime to appear.

 

[Hawkwood]

I may have missed it but no one mentioned "Deep Sea Detectives" either.

add...

Dive Detectives

Sea Hunters

 

[RJP]

Found a "reality show" about scuba diving that aired on local cable TV in the late 80's/early 90's. (Which may actually make it one of the very first reality TV shows!)

The episodes have been posted on youtube for posterity...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb6xL8vHKi8TJGdrPEOimkg

The drama! The intrigue! The adventure!

If you have some free time, watch them all and see if you can find the episode that spends seven minutes showing divers handing their gear to the crew and climbing up the ladder... scintillating!