Dear Boating & Fishing Partners,

Today is an exciting day in RBFF history, as we take our established and successful Take Me Fishing™ brand to the next level. We are proud to announce the re-launch of the Take Me Fishing campaign with a new look and feel and state-of-the-art Web site.

NEW CREATIVE
After six years of advertising, research showed us that the Take Me Fishing message was creating awareness, but not a conversion to participation in boating and fishing. As a result, we decided last fall to take a different approach. Working with our marketing committee, we selected a new advertising agency, Colle+McVoy. Following that, we updated the Take Me Fishing creative, redesigned the Web site, improved our media buy and mix, implemented a critically important direct mail marketing component and integrated our public relations efforts.

The new Take Me Fishing campaign more strongly encourages participation in boating and fishing and focuses on the excitement and memories associated with both activities. The campaign blends the picturesque beauty of nature, the excitement of the sport and the idea of memories all into a single image, punctuated with playful headlines that infuse an element of fun into every treatment.

Additionally, boating plays a prominent role in the campaign. Most of the imagery features boats, and boating is purposely mentioned and woven in to all of our media outreach. We're also using the Take Me Fishing Web site, print advertising and events to generate prospects for Grow Boating, Inc.

NEW WEB SITE
The centerpiece of the new Take Me Fishing campaign is the new TakeMeFishing.org Web site, which will be the key destination where we drive participants to take action. Whether it's planning a trip, buying a fishing license, designing your dream boat, or checking out the latest equipment, TakeMeFishing.org will be the most comprehensive boating and fishing Web site available nationwide.

We blended AnglersLegacy.org into the new TakeMeFishing.org Web site to create a single online destination for boaters and anglers of all ages and experience levels. Leveraging this online community as a one-stop resource will increase visibility for the Anglers’ Legacy program. A social network component will be added this summer.

Several new features have been added to the Web site to keep visitors actively engaged. Among these features are:

Boat Selection Tool:
• Find the boat that’s right for you based on your boating and fishing lifestyle.  
• Compare boats, find links to manufacturers and register for a free Get Started in Boating DVD (in conjunction with Discover Boating).

Fishopedia:
• Truly the A - Z of fishing, Fishopedia will educate visitors about specific fish, where they live and how to catch them.
• Information will feature an engaging mix of copy, visuals and animations.

Hot Spots:
• Visitors can search through 12,000 locations for boating and fishing and learn how to get to each destination. Google mapping will pinpoint boating and fishing locations for you and provide additional information including address and phone number.
• In the future, registered members will be able to add locations, rate locations and review them, while communicating with fellow anglers.

Little Lunkers:
• A portion of the site devoted to the youngest of fishing enthusiasts.
• Features fun games that focus on teaching kids about boating and fishing.
• Games include: Fish Memory Game, Create a Fish, Fish Finder and Fish Hangman.
• Allows kids to post pictures of their proud catches.

State Pages:
• Pages for every state that provide access to local fishing and boating information.
• The pages contain links to information about: Where to buy a license, Where to boat and fish, Local events and Conservation efforts.
All of these new dynamic features on TakeMeFishing.org will help RBFF to achieve its overall goal of increasing boating and fishing participation. NOTE – Some content is still being moved onto the new Web site. If you're having trouble locating a particular item, please check back! The content migration will be complete by the end of April.

NEW ADVERTISING PLAN
This year we will advertise not only nationally, but also regionally. We’re improving our traditional advertising buy to include regional radio, more online and print advertising. For the first time, we're conducting simultaneous direct mail marketing in 30 states to help sell fishing licenses and we’re solidly integrating public relations efforts to support the campaign. We’re pleased to announce that we'll be advertising for 12 months a year instead of three (with the same-sized media budget)!

NEW MATERIALS FOR STAKEHOLDERS
New Take Me Fishing materials will be available FREE for those stakeholders who want to be part of the action!

Available Now
• New Take Me Fishing Logo & Guidelines – available on RBFF.org, our stakeholder Web site.

Coming Soon
• Event Planning Kit – For aquatic educators and communities to plan boating and fishing events. We'll send an announcement as soon as it's available and information will be posted on RBFF.org.

Available in June
• Marketing Guide – New customizable marketing materials to help you promote boating and fishing. The materials, which will display our dynamic new creative application, feature a "wood grain" background and icons for boating, fishing, family and conservation. We'll send an announcement as soon as it's available and information will be posted on RBFF.org.

Please join us in embracing the new look and feel of Take Me Fishing while capturing the excitement and the memories associated with boating and fishing.
Sincerely,


Frank Peterson
President & CEO