Every few months, I get a press release from an industry organization like the Sporting Goods Manufacturer’s Association (SGMA) or the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) touting new research numbers. Most often, these are attempts to quantify the sporting goods and apparel marketplace by indentifying the number of sports partcipants.
What’s interesting is how the figures differ from study to study and from organization to organization. The fine-points of the research (sample size, definitions, questions) differ, so a true apples-to-apples comparison is difficult. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting the differences in numbers between these biking and hiking participation figures from three different organizations.
Numbers represent participants (in millions) in 2004 or 2005. Data is from recently released reports from the National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA), Sporting Goods Manufacturer’s Association (SGMA) and the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA).
Business Week ran a short article this week on the 36% jump in Apple Macintosh sales in Q1 of this year. While this isn’t exactly an outdoor sports story, a tech industry analyst’s misguided take on the increase reminded me of marketing misconceptions in the outdoor and bike worlds.
The anaylyst attributed Apple’s growing marketshare in the PC market to its new Intel processor—esentially a performance explanation. This is probably a minor reason at best and a holdover from the days when PC makers marketed to geeks on performance specs. PC makers have learned over the years that the way to market to the mainstream is to explain what a PC does, not how fast it does it. (Take note outdoor and bike marketers who continue to focus performance-oriented messages at a tiny population of gear nerds and athletes.)
Apple sales are growing because it’s made its brand synonymous with easy-to-use technology through the world domination of the iPod. Its current ad campaign leverages this brand image by positioning Apple’s PCs as friendly and Windows PCs as out of touch, complicated and bloated with things users don’t want. The iPod, not an Intel processor, is the lever that’s moving the market share needle. It’s the way Apple introduced its brand to the masses. We’ll see if Camelbak can do the same with its bottle.
