At 12:36 AM 31/07/04 +1000, you wrote:
>On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:19:08 +1000, Brian Wade wrote
>> This thread is timely as the newly created GFA Marketing Committee has its
>first meeting this weekend.
>
>Who is on this Committee and how did they get nominated ? As a member of
one
>of the largest clubs in the country, I can't say that I've heard anything
>about this other than a short article in a recent Soaring Australia
magazine,
>which did not have any names for state reps.
Jason,
You obviously the aren't one of the "right" people who are the ones who are
told such things. You've been around long enough to know how the GFA works.
The members on that marketing committee have a lot in common with the guys
at Ford who were marketing the Edsel, except the Edsel wasn't really a bad
car by some accounts.
Rule 1: Make sure what you are putting the effort into selling is up to
scratch.
Making a movie to promote gliding that has lots of exciting competition
finishes etc could possibly be considered misleading or false advertising
unless balanced by lots of shots of dusty remote airfields, boring and
inefficient training and some shots of Bob Hall and/or Henk Meertens
telling the world why you can't have a licence or why real elections for a
GFA board should not happen. A few interviews with people who left because
they got screwed by the instructors in training would round it out nicely.
The product doesn't need marketing - there are always lots of people taking
up gliding. The vast majority leave soon after taking it up because it
doesn't meet their expectations which should not be a surprise because it
is none of the things the GFA advertises it as. It certainly isn't safe or
cheap or family friendly. There are people to whom these things don't
matter but the marketing isn't targeting them. The products as delivered
won't satisfy them either.
Rule 2: Deliver at least as much or more than is promised.
The product needs scrapping and redesigning.
Swift, efficient training tailored to the individual would be a good start.
One of the common complaints about powered flying is about instructors who
are building hours to get an airline job. I haven't seen much of this but
at least these people move on. Too many gliding instructors view it as free
flying and stay for years. I guess they get the idea that gliding is cheap
and the remoteness of the airfields gets them away from their wives for the
weekend.
Test the newly trained pilots for issue of a licence equivalent to a PPL.
The lack of quality control is the single biggest identifiable weakness of
the gliding instruction system. This should be done by testing officers who
are from other clubs. This test may also protect instructors from lawsuits
when someone is killed or injured after training and claims his training
was deficient. It might be an idea to stop killing and injuring students
during training also.
Then you won't need a marketing committee or if you have one its efforts
won't be wasted.
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments
phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
fax Int'l + 61 746 358796
cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784
Int'l + 61 429 355784
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
website: www.borgeltinstruments.com
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