November/December 2002 Perfect Synergy
California Diving News and the SCUBA Show, two consumer properties, work together to create a cross-promotional dynamo.
by Martha Collins
It’s not every day that a consumer magazine launches a show. And it didn’t happen overnight. First, in 1984, Dale and Kim Sheckler launched California Diving News (CDN), a consumer magazine, out of their Torrance, CA, home. Then, in 1988, the two launched the SCUBA Show as the perfect tie-in for their magazine.
Both properties tap the thriving California diving market, which has more than 500,000 certified divers. But more important, the partnership creates a unique synergy. The results: After 215 issues, California Diving News has tripled in size and circulation and has matched the print circulation with an equal number of Web readers. And after 15 years, the SCUBA Show has doubled the number of both exhibitors and attendees.
Getting started
Neither Dale nor Kim had publishing or show management experience when they decided to dive in. Dale, a native Californian, has been scuba diving since age 14. He worked as a Houston-based commercial diver, inspecting pipelines and working on oil rigs, for six years before he and Kim returned to California to launch the magazine. At first, Dale published the magazine and Kim, a nurse, helped part time with accounting. Two years later, she gave up nursing to work full time on the magazine.
It took the Shecklers a year of living off their savings to make the magazine financially self-supporting. “The biggest challenge was selling advertising. Unfortunately, someone tried to launch a magazine six months before ours and had taken ad money and never published,” Dale says. He gradually persuaded equipment manufacturers and dive shops to advertise, and advertisers now also include boat services and travel companies specializing in dive trips.
The tabloid-sized magazine offers detailed dive and boat schedules, diving advice, equipment reviews and features. The first issue was 12 pages and 12,000 copies. CDN now averages 36 to 40 pages with more than 30,000 readers. It’s distributed free through dive stores, clubs and boats in California, as well as dive stores in Arizona and Nevada. Much of the copy is also available on the Web site at www.saintbrendan.com. Paid subscriptions go largely out of state (about 900 at $22 a year).
Then the Shecklers decided to start the SCUBA Show. “While there was already a national trade show, no show geared to consumers was available in the western United States,” says Kim. “We knew it was a big step, but we had the magazine to back us up with advertising and promotion.”
The first SCUBA Show, held in a hotel ballroom, had 103 exhibitors and 5,600 attendees. “That show just made it into the black, and it’s been profitable ever since,” Dale says.
From 1989 to 1999, the show was held aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, and grew to 153 exhibitors. “We moved to the Long Beach Convention Center for 2000 because we had a waiting list of 30,” says Kim. “Because the convention center is more expensive, we eliminated the Friday evening hours, shortening the show to Saturday and Sunday only.” In 1999, the last three-day show aboard the Queen Mary had 11,108 attendees. In 2000, the first two-day show had 10,039, and in 2002 there were 10,496 attendees, mostly from southern California, but some from northern California and out of state, Kim reports.
The SCUBA Show has several revenue sources in addition to booth sales. Admission costs $8 in advance or with a coupon and $9 at the door. A one-day seminar pass costs $19 in advance (order forms in CDN, mailings and at the Web site) or $25 on-site. Sponsorships include the Film Festival, Demo Pool and Saturday Evening Casino Party. And exhibitors pay to participate in the Demonstration Program or the Film Festival.
Integrating sales
The show’s location provides some unique advantages — California is the largest diving market in the United States, according to the Diving Equipment Marketing Association (DEMA). And the show and magazine have no direct competition. “If you want to sell a new snorkel and you’ve sold it to California and Florida divers, you’ve covered 80 percent of the market. And we’re the only diving publication for California consumers,” Dale explains.
CDN and the SCUBA Show operate under a parent company the Shecklers named the Saint Brendan Corp., after an 11th century priest known as the patron saint of seafarers. Total annual corporate revenue is more than $500,000 — about 60 percent from the magazine and 40 percent from the show.
Synergy is apparent throughout this organization. “The magazine and show help each other in terms of advertising and booth sales. Our primary tool for promoting the magazine is the show, and vice versa,” says Dale. “It was hard to attract national advertisers to the magazine at first. But once we added the show, national exhibitors began to take ads because advertising in the magazine before the show is a good way to drive traffic to their booths.” The Shecklers do a follow-up mailing explaining how the magazine influences show attendance and encouraging exhibitors to advertise so they can continue to attract the kind of attention they enjoyed at the show.
Magazine ad revenue increases as much as 40 percent around the time of the show, but the Shecklers attribute that rise in part to the fact that the sport is seasonal and it’s a summer event. “About 60 percent of magazine advertisers are also exhibitors. But the percentage of exhibitors who are advertisers is only about 30 percent, in part because one-third of exhibitors are travel companies, and I don’t write about travel in the magazine,” Dale says.
Magazine advertisers who buy a one-third page or larger ad get a banner on the Saint Brendan Web site. An exhibitor purchasing a large booth and frequent magazine ads may receive a discount on advertising in the 32-page show program. In addition, exhibit space confirmation letters include information about advertising in the magazine. And exhibitors get a year’s subscription free.
Cross promoting
“The magazine has helped the show by promoting it to potential attendees. In the months leading up to the show, I try to mention it in the magazine whenever possible. If I write about a new piece of dive gear, I’ll mention the company’s Web site and booth number,” says Dale. “We put a full-page SCUBA Show ad in the October edition because that’s when we attend the DEMA show and distribute the magazine at our booth.”
The May issue with the show insert, which includes information on attending and exhibiting, is mailed to the combined list of CDN subscribers and past attendees (25,000). And, in addition to its usual distribution, the June issue is available at the show. The higher circulation is used as an incentive to sell more ads in May and June.
Show attendees complete CDN reader surveys as entries for door prizes, and nearly half indicate they learned about the show through the magazine. “Through these surveys, we learn what diving equipment respondents plan to purchase in the next year, then use that information to promote advertising and exhibit sales,” Kim says.
To further promote the show, the Shecklers send press releases to local travel and leisure magazines. And the week before the show, they run an ad in the Los Angeles Times that includes a $1 off coupon and buy 60-second radio spots on a local
rock station.
The show’s only national promotion agreement is with Sport Diver, a Los Angeles-based international dive magazine with 290,000 circulation. The SCUBA Show places a one-time ad in Sport Diver a month before the show. In exchange, Sport Diver sponsors the SCUBA Show poster and the $1-off-admission coupons.
A family affair
The Shecklers live and work in a six-bedroom home in Torrance, CA. Two of the bedrooms serve as offices. “We’ve never had more than four full-time people including ourselves, and the staff is mostly family,” Kim says.
Dale is Editor/Publisher of CDN and Producer of the show. Kim is Executive Director of the show and Executive Editor of the magazine. He’s primarily in charge of the magazine and she of the show, but each works on both. Dale handles writing (with freelance help), editing, layout, photography and circulation, as well as advertising sales for the magazine and the show program. Kim sells booth space, manages the show, writes for the magazine, assists with advertising sales and handles accounting for Saint Brendan. Together, they help the Seminar Director, a part-time employee, choose topics and speakers.
Christopher, the Shecklers’ 24-year-old son, works as Staff Coordinator for the show, and Lisa DuRoss, a cousin, is Office Manager and also helps with advertising sales. Mary Lou Reed, Kim’s mother, works part time helping edit CDN and handling exhibitor registration on-site. The Shecklers’ other two sons help whenever they can. Reed, 18, works in the office, and Eric, 12, is earning his diving certificate.
“California Diving News and the SCUBA Show have been successful because of hard work, perseverance and faith, and the fact that we work very well together and are willing to learn,” Kim says.
Dale agrees: “I knew how to weld and dig underwater, but I didn’t know the sports diving business. Kim was a nurse. And all we knew about doing a show was that we’d been to shows. Sometimes you just have to dive in.”
Martha Collins covers the exhibition, convention and meeting industries as a freelance writer/editor. E-mail: mccwriter@aol.com
Official name: SCUBA Show 2002
Show owner: Saint Brendan Corp.
Web address: www.saintbrendan.com
Dates: June 29-30, 2002
Location: Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, CA
Number of exhibitors: 240 in 57,000 square feet
Exhibitor profile: Equipment manufacturers, worldwide travel destinations, dive industry retailers and scuba diving certification agencies
Number of attendees: 10,496
Attendee profile: Eighty percent are certified scuba divers who come to learn about new equipment, locations and vacations. Twenty percent are noncertified divers looking for information on how to get started and/or certified.
Promoting Synergy
The promotional calendar for the SCUBA Show demonstrates the synergy between the show and California Diving News (CDN). After each show, all exhibitors get a free magazine subscription. And promotions for the next show begin 10 months before the event.
Ten months out
• Mail exhibitor packet and contract to previous year’s exhibitors. Packet features two pages of information on CDN, including ad rates and a discount offer for new advertisers.
Eight months out
• Mail postcard reminder to previous exhibitors and complete information packet to others in the industry.
Six months out
• CDN runs quarter-page, two-color ad for SCUBA Show.
Five months out
• Mail complete packet to non-exhibitors with map showing booths still available.
• CDN runs quarter-page, two-color ad for SCUBA Show.
Four months out
• CDN runs half-page, two-color ad for SCUBA Show
Three months out
• CDN runs half-page, two-color ad for SCUBA Show
Two months out
• CDN features four-page, two-color insert with information for attendees on advance orders of general admission and seminar passes, Casino Party reservations, event schedule, seminar descriptions, hotels, directions and parking.
• Mail the insert alone to the combined CDN subscription list and past show attendees (25,000 total)
• Mail $1 discount coupons and posters to all CDN distribution points
One month out
• Mail May issue of CDN to combined list of subscribers and past show attendees
• CDN features preview article on SCUBA Show (part one) and includes same attendee insert as April issue.
Two weeks out
• CDN features preview article on SCUBA Show (part two) and full-page, two-color ad
One week out
• Mail $1 off postcard reminder to combined list of CDN subscribers and past show attendees.
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