Is the Old Normal the Wrong Normal?
Posted by Pete Robbins on Jun 1st 2023
About a month ago, YouTube star, Opens angler and Bassmaster Classic qualifier Ben Milliken posted a picture of his boat on social media. It was quite nice, but not exceptional, not the type of craft that would be out of place at a local fruit jar or Federation derby.
“When is 6th Sense going to wrap your boat?” a commenter asked. “They are missing out on some prime marketing space.”
“Never,” Milliken replied. “Boat wraps don’t sell products.”
I instantly respected this guy a lot more. He certainly could have a wrapped boat – either paid for out of his own pocket or from one of his sponsor partners – but he doesn’t see the value. What I read into that is not that he doesn’t see the value because he already has 525,000 YouTube subscribers, but rather that it’s true across the board. For well over two decades, we’ve been telling ourselves a lie.
At this point, not only do the legit moneymaking pros have wraps on their boats, but so too do the vast majority of Open level anglers and more than enough weekend warriors. It used to be odd for me to go out on the river on a random Saturday and see a wrapped boat – now it’s unusual when I don’t, even when there are no mid-level or high-level tournaments going on.
We’ve reached a tipping point. Everyone sees that everyone else at their level is fully-wrapped, so they think it’s the thing to do. It’s hypernormalized, but never analyzed.
Has anyone ever looked at whether the time and expense of wrapping a boat pays dividends? Does it even pay for itself? I don’t want to hear about “impressions” and “impact,” but rather cold, hard numbers. And for a guy like Milliken, would broadcasting his presence actually harm his ability to compete insofar as it would attract lookers and competitors?
I guess my opinion doesn’t matter on this. Nothing I write is going to prevent the next up-and-comer from getting his boat and possibly his truck wrapped. There will be no math involved, no assessment of whether it’s really “worth it.” Maybe for some it is – I’m willing to be convinced – but there’s a lot of groupthink in our sport, and it was nice to see that not everyone accepts it without question.