Divers Direct

Based in: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Description: Diver's Direct is America's largest and most experienced dive retailer, stocking more than 25,000 different products for SCUBA divers and snorkelers. The company focuses its business on the catalog, retail, Internet and travel market segments. In addition to its Deerfield Beach headquarters/outlet store, Divers Direct operates Divers Direct Outlet stores in Orlando, West Palm Beach, Florida City, Key Largo, Key West and Fort Lauderdale. The company also has World Water Sports store in the Florida Keys.

Goal: Generate media coverage for Diver's Direct to encourage interest in scuba diving and thus, help drive sales to the company stores, web site and catalogs.

Success: Boardroom Communications approach to handling the public relations for Divers Direct was two-pronged. On a local level, we worked to generate interest and enthusiasm about diving and the company by approaching the media with various news and activities about the company. On the national level, we repeated the interest but rather than focusing on the stores, we encouraged interest in the catalog and the Internet services.

The response in both cases was - and continues to be - very positive and very effective.
From the Keynoter, Key Largo Independent, Key West Citizen to the Miami Herald, information about Divers Direct is constantly included - sales news, events, quotes from owner Kevin Senecal, etc. Florida Trend, the Sun Sentinel, the Palm Beach Post, and the electronic media (WPLG - TV 10, WJNO News Radio 1290, WIOD Newsradio 610) have all conducted interviews with Divers Direct executives. The company has also received exposure in The Robb Report and USA Today.

Boardroom Communications capitalized on the tremendous Florida Keys Spiegel Grove event to position Divers Direct management as experts in the dive industry, and to promote diving in general. We have gone to business writers to talk about the business of running a national dive shop, to sports reporters to relate the activity of diving.

On a national level, our targets have been mainstream diving magazines as well as catalog reports. Divers Direct has been included in publications such as Rodale's Scuba Diving, Catalog Age, Dive Report, Florida Scuba News, The Captain's Table, and the Boating News. With regular frequency, Divers Direct remains in the front of the minds of diving enthusiasts, the audience most important to the company.

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