PADI and Sport Diver Magazine announce GO DIVE program

New National Promotion from PADI and Sport Diver Targets New Divers to Go Dive with Your Facility

PADI and Sport Diver magazine are again combining efforts, but - this time they’re looking to increase the number of new divers entering PADI Dive Centers and Resorts. Beginning in January 2006, Sport Diver will launch a new direct marketing promotion targeting PADI Discover Scuba Diving participants who tried scuba diving within the last year.

The joint PADI and Sport Diver Go Dive promotion provides prospective divers with incentives to learn to scuba dive at a local PADI Dive Center or Resort. The two-part promotion includes an initial mailing to 50,000 PADI Discover Scuba Diving participants residing in the United States and a follow-up mailing in early February.

The initial Go Dive mailing congratulates Discover Scuba Diving participants for their achievement with a PADI certificate of recognition. It also encourages them to request a free Go Dive kit, which includes everything they need to continue their adventure and become a certified PADI Open Water Diver.

Included in the Go Dive kit is PADI's new, promotional Go Dive DVD, Sport Diver's Learn-to-Dive mini-magazine, manufacturer-sponsored rebate coupons that are redeemable only at PADI Dive Centers and Resorts and a PADI Diving Society application.

To take advantage of the special savings, recipients need only visit their local PADI Dive Center or Resort, sign -up for a PADI Open Water Scuba Diver course and join the PADI Diving Society, which offers divers more than $58,000 US in savings and incentives for dive equipment, education and experiences.

"The Go Dive promotion is a new and exciting diver acquisition campaign," said PADI Director of Marketing and Communications, Kristin Valette. "Traditionally, PADI and Sport Diver have worked together to retain certified divers. Now, we’re joining forces to grow the industry by increasing the number of newly certified divers."

The extent of the Go Dive diver acquisition campaign will largely depend upon the success of this initial effort. All PADI Dive Centers and Resorts are therefore encouraged to support the promotion by involving their staff and ensuring promotion respondents complete and return the PADI Diving Society application in a timely fashion.

"We're going to closely track the results of this campaign," said Dave Freygang, WORLD Publications Group Publisher, Watersports Division. "In order to accurately measure results, however, we need all PADI Dive Centers and Resorts to return Society applications as quickly as possible - preferably prior to certification. That way, student divers can take advantage of the package's savings and we can precisely track Go Dive campaign respondents."

For more information on the Go Dive acquisition campaign, ideas on how you can take advantage or other opportunities available through the PADI Diving Society, contact PADI Diving Society Manager Theresa Gulledge at 800 729 7234 or 949 858 7234, ext. 2322 or email theresa.gulledge@padi.com

Source: www.divenewswire.com