Freedom just ticks all the boxes. We make sure that our franchisees replace the boats every three years, so we have always a recent plea that respects the environment. This is the Ben Taylor Podcast, the home of marine industry insights. Enjoy. Hi everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Ben Taylor Podcast. Today, we're sitting down with a Brunswick company. We're sitting down with Freedom Boat Club. I'm here with Marianela. Nice to see you. Nice to see you, Ben. Thank you. Freedom Boat Club, let's have some context first. I think a lot of the industry will be aware of Freedom as a brand. Can you give us an idea of what you're doing and what Freedom Boat Club is? So, Freedom Boat Club started in the U.S. more than 35 years ago, with two main objectives, is to allow people to discover the boating world and to make it more accessible. Today, we are present in many countries. We have a worldwide network of clubs, more than 420 clubs, and we offer an easy boating solution to our members. So, we sell memberships. So, our boating solution, let's say it's in between the ownership and the daily rental. Yeah, so we call it a boat club structure, right? So, and the accessibility side, which I think is really important, actually, is that the accessibility is increased because you're not having that quite substantial investment to purchase the boat in the first place, but it's also not charter, where you just rent it for a short time. It is a little bit kind of an in-between zone. Definitely. So, you kind of belong to a club and you have use of these different boats, but how far does that go? So, if I've taken up membership, what does that mean for me? Well, that means that you can have access to a fleet of boats in a certain location, but also all around the world, and you can go boating as much as you want, when you want. Also, the other benefits of it is that you are part of a real club. So, you have all of the social part. You have events. You get familiar with other members and the local team there. You actually get some of the social side as well as just the boat and ready to go. You discover more than only going out with a boat and going to a place and coming back, because we give also unlimited training, and we show our customers that boating is not only going on the boat and having lunch somewhere and coming back. We show you how to properly moor somewhere. You can learn how to fish. You can learn how to do wakeboard or wake surf. So, we also engage with the consumer, and we allow them to discover fully what the boating world is, and we deliver remarkable experiences for them to be able just to fall in love with it later. Yeah, I think a lot of members won't actually know that they can go boating. I think one of the most exciting potentials of this is you don't have to be a traditional boater or be familiar with boating to become a club member. And so, so much of our market are just like, grew up family around boats, and I learned off my parents that this is how you go boating or had friends that did it, and that's how they picked it up. But from two sides, from an accessibility to boating perspective, it's exciting because more people can do it. But then also from a technical side, the boat is looked after. It's kind of a done-for-you service. So, they've got a lot more confidence that they don't need to know the technical in and outs of how the engine's working, the bench, or what you would do. Actually, it's 100% fun, no hassle. 100% fun. I like that. So, and yes, you are right. Freedom is for everyone. You can be an experienced boater or you can know nothing about it. Freedom is for you. You'll be okay. You'll be okay because there will always be a team there for you, waiting for you at shore to come back. But there's also a team there to train you and to make sure that you go out on the water safely and confident. So, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I'd love to see that kind of like discovery journey where someone turns up and goes, oh, all right, okay. So, you pay a membership fee and then suddenly we could just use all these boats. Like that's- Correct. I mean, one experience, what a value proposition of just like, well, what are you going to do at weekend? I've got four or five boats to choose from. Do you want to go out and have a few drinks on the lake or go up and down the coast? Or maybe when you're on holiday, you can go into one of the other, what was it, more than 420 other networks and say, well, I don't even have to boat locally, my local lake or on the coast where you live. It could be on a holiday. And it's funny you mentioned that because now our members are organizing their vacation depending on where there's a Freedom Boat Club. That's so funny. So, we have members looking out the locations before they book flights and hotels. Right, because they know. Because they know that they can go boating. It's not a normal holiday where, you know, everything is more money to do anything. It's, well, actually included in our membership, we can have a boat at that location and almost experience it like a local that you would otherwise just not really have access to. And then, again, there's always a team there to tell you where to go and make sure that you make the most of it. So, yes. And, I mean, Freedom Boat Club is, it's a lot about people and people are very important. So, there's always a team there to, even if it's a club that you don't know, they will be there to receive you and make sure that you have an amazing experience. Yeah, this leads nicely onto kind of the, how things are growing. So, more from an industry perspective and what opportunities this brings. I think the obvious one that we've already talked about is this does not have to be just for existing boaters. This is a much wider, broader market of people who love the water and want that kind of experience and leisure time. They can engage with this. But from a business perspective, it's a very international business. It's a network of these clubs. How has that come about and how has that expanded? So, since Braunschweig acquired Freedom Boat Club in 2019, since then we have grown from probably twice the number of boat clubs that we had at that time. Thanks to the strength of Braunschweig. Yeah, and a lot of that strength was within the US and a lot of that expansion is now more international across Europe and Central Asia. Because we know that all the trends that work well in the US eventually come here. People are people and we know what people enjoy. That's what's happening, yes. That's what's happening. And so today, we have seen a shift. After being in market for four years, almost five, we have seen a shift from the stakeholders in the marine industry that have... At the beginning, we were reluctant to the idea and now we're saying, hmm, probably we do have to look into this because the consumer is the one driving and following the trends. And the consumer today is looking for no hassle. That demands a high, yeah, yeah. Claimant service, not being attached to something because when you, for example, you buy a boat, it's not something that you can get rid of. It's a lot of responsibility, yeah. There's a lot of responsibility in it. And also, as we were saying earlier, Freedom Boat Club is for everyone. The majority of the members have never thought of owning a boat. So we are bringing all of these new people in the boating industry and the boating industry needs that today. I think it's an industry as well. It's, I can't actually think of any other franchise opportunity that's quite so prolific across boating. So we're not really familiar with, oh, let's get involved in a franchise model and apply it to the marine industry. Yeah, that's correct. And many of the companies that are already in the marine industry do not even know how the franchise model works. And so there has been a lot of explanation and education to do. Education, you gotta help them and say, this is how a franchise works really, really well. This is what works for everyone involved. But at the end, it makes sense. I mean, Freedom Boat Club, again, has been there for more than 35 years. So it is a proven model. So it is true that there's a lot of explanation to do, but there's also that reluctant sentiment that we have to overcome. But we're definitely getting there. Yeah, and it works. It's a bit of a trust the system. Yeah. Like, it works. We have more than 45 clubs now in the Europe region. And we really see this growing. So things are definitely evolving. Yeah, it's looking good. And so let's focus on the European territory for now. What do those partners look like? What do they typically do before they discover, okay, well, there's this Freedom Boat Club opportunity. Let's see how it works. What's their position normally? Is it just a passion for boating? Are they already mariners? Are they, I don't know, equipment and refitters? What's typical? So again, Freedom is for everyone. Right, yeah. So we do have different profiles. We have the passionate guy that loves boating and that wants to live from a passion. Right, and they're just going, I just want to be involved in boats. What could I do? Exactly. And this is a venture that they can get involved in. Right, yeah. But we also have dealerships or boat rental businesses that are looking to offer more to their customers. And they're trying to complete their offer. And we do have 30% of our franchisees are boat dealers. And they are able to, first of all, retarget those customers that they were not able to satisfy their demands. Right, yeah, so they didn't buy a boat for whatever reason. But you know what? Somewhere in between no boat ownership and owning it exclusively yourself, there's this boat club membership in between, which might be a really good pitch. Yeah. And they've already got a bit of a relationship there and they can actually retarget those people and- Or that are also, they need new customers because when we bring all of these new people to Discover Boating and they fall in love with it and they stay in the club, there is a percentage of those people that at the end just want to have their own boat. So they do finish buying a boat. So for people that are already present in the marine industry, it's great because it's a way of always keeping that consumer or getting them back. Yeah, it's a stepping stone potential as well. Yeah, exactly. And you surprised me with the boat dealers. I thought you were gonna say overwhelmingly it's marinas. Like you just look at their facilities and go, well, look, there's a few bursts that could otherwise be at higher capacity or utilized more or are currently empty. Yeah, well- They're almost overnight. So you could increase the use of everything around the marina, the facilities, and have it as a bit more of a resort and do everything. The marinas today for us are partners to find the correct operator, franchisee locally. Right. For a Freedom Boat Club to be successful, there has to be one person that is in charge of the club and invested 100% in it. For the marinas, it's difficult because they have the infrastructure, but they won't have the staff or it's not their core business to give service. So it is true that for a Freedom Boat Club, you have to like to give service, give a premium service, be close with your customer. And this is something that marinas, not all of them like to do, or it's basically not what they do. So we do call them partners because they do help us find the operator because now marinas are calling us saying, we want a Freedom Boat Club in our marina. What can we do to help? And this is the type of relationship that we have with them. Also, we have dealers that are saying, well, I'm not able to do it, but probably I can help you find an investor that can come and do the operational part, again, because it's not their core business. So, yeah, I mean, it's, we try to establish relationship, different relationship with everyone because at the end, to have a successful Freedom Boat Club, it is also, it depends on that good network, local network that you build up. Yeah, well, so whoever owns it, if they already do a lot of boaters and know the local area, they know the community, that helps, that goes a long way. Exactly, and that's key. And that makes the, especially the launch of the club so much easier. Yeah, and so I always think of a franchise that the really key bit of a franchise is consistency so that people are familiar with the brand, they know what they're gonna get. On this scale, hundreds of Freedom Boat Clubs, how do you make sure it's so consistent? You've got a mixture of corporate owns, you've got some franchisees, how do you make sure that, say I'm a club member and I'm going on holiday and using a different club, how do you make sure I'm gonna have a very similar experience there as what I do down the road at my local club? I would say, first of all, as a franchise, a franchise or us and the franchisee, we work hand on hand during the whole term of the contract and we are very close with our franchisees. We work together and it's a relationship where they feed us and we feed them. So that, first of all, is key. After, we have also a system of surveys that are automatically sent to the members to make sure that they are receiving that premium service and that they are living remarkable experience no matter which boat club they're going to. So those surveys help us make sure that our standards are the same everywhere. The RCEP denies feedback from the end user, so there's no hiding from that. It's like, well, why have you got a customer saying this? And why is that inconsistent with other boat clubs? So some things are on there, you can find the issue, solve it, and how many days you got it. Finally, I would say that what also helps a lot is our system of reciprocity. If there is a member that is used to going out on a boat in Lake Michigan or I don't know where in the US, they come here because they're on holiday and all the feedback that we get is that it's exactly the same. They come to a boat club in France, they're received the same way and they get guidance and they get help and they go out safely on the water and then they come back and then, I mean, it's, so there are a lot of ways of making sure that that is respected. And at the end, it is us as a franchisor that's also our role and we're on top of that. As a friend. Yeah, I suppose you learn a lot from actually the corporate owned ones as well. Yeah. So you're familiar with the problems, you know exactly what they are. That's a good one. I mean, 25% of our clubs are corporate. So we are on the field learning at the same time as our franchisees and we have work groups where we exchange all the time. And, and. You hold like full blown events and bringing all the franchisees together, don't you? Yes. So we do a freedom forum. A freedom forum. A freedom forum in the US. We have all of our more of 250 franchisees. They all come together, share knowledge, that kind of like, oh, how did you do that? How did you go that quick? And the atmosphere is amazing. You can see the franchisees. Tell me you go boating. Yeah. Do you go on the boats? Right, good. And they, and they motivate each other. I mean, it's like a really, really, it's teamwork. Teamwork. It's all about teamwork. And at French, in Freedom Boat Club, the franchisees are happy that other franchisees are doing amazing and that they're rocking it. Everybody benefits. It's this network effect. Exactly. If down the road, they're doing well, there's no reason why you can't do well locally or maybe it's in a different country, a different cruising area. Like it, everybody benefits. And then they come to Freedom Forum and they come ready to ask questions, like to talk to other franchisees. I'm sure they have a big long list. Yeah, yeah. I have this problem. You see the passion as well. How did you solve it? How can we help it? Or we have also a session of best ideas and they all present and they are proud of what they do. And it's really, it's great being part of this journey. Okay. And let's look to the future. So things are going well, basically. And it's also like a wider trend of, a different type of ownership. We can see it across all different sectors and particularly boating. And so what's the kind of the plan next few years? What are you looking to do? What's the kind of big challenge of the minute to continue growing and make it bigger and better than ever? So expansion is very important for us. We want to make boating accessible to everyone all around the world. We do have to do it in a way that is sustainable. So we go step by step slowly. Today we are present in four countries in Europe. We are looking to expand and to enter other territories, especially on the Mediterranean coast. We want to make sure that we do cover all of that coast. So we're talking about Portugal, we're talking about Italy, many islands that we have in the Mediterranean. And of course we do want to continue our growth in the countries that we are already. I mean, there are a lot of opportunities in the UK and there are a lot of opportunities in France. France, the UK and Spain are countries that have amazing waterways and amazing navigation places. So there is definitely room for us to still grow. And then the last piece that I would add is we would definitely like to enter the UAE market. Yeah. There is a lot of potential over there and there are a lot of water lovers. No, they are. I was there a few months ago and a huge amount of what I heard about was just growth, growth, investment, there's this, this and this. And I suppose historically some of that message has been it's coming, it's coming. It's there, like it's there today. I remember some presentations that I heard from the government bodies there, they're just like a lot of countries aim for a 20, 30% growth rate and that's really strong growth by any description. Yes. They're there saying, look, we want 100, we want 200% growth. Let's triple the size of the tourism market that's getting there, the facilities that are available, the infrastructure investment. That's what I was gonna say. It's all there. They have the infrastructure. And when you see the scalability of our business in the US, you cannot bring that to Europe. A lot of people are getting excited about it. Yeah, exactly. But in the UAE you can, because they have the means to scale and to build and to, they're very fast. So the market is going very fast over there. I wanna make sure we are as a brand freedom part of that. Yeah. One last thing I've just thought of. So the core value of Brunswick and I suppose the boating industry is around sustainability and things like that. How is that woven into freedom? What kind of things do you consider to make sure that's very much a core part of freedom as well as the wider Brunswick group? I think that sustainability, we can see it in a lot of different ways. We can talk about environment and respect of treating the environment respectfully, but also being a sustainable brand on time and make sure that we're here for the long run. Yeah, being as responsible as possible, the right equipment on board. Exactly. Giving people the options. I think that freedom just ticks all the boxes. We make sure that our franchisees replace the boats every three years. So we have always a recent plea that respects the environment. We are there to train our members, make sure they go out safely, but also that they respect the environment. That says that tomorrow, yeah. Exactly. But then on the other side, we invest every day in our brand to make sure that it is a sustainable brand and that we're here for the long run. So we're all about making sure that our IT tools are up to date, that we are sure that we, because as we were saying before, freedom is for everyone. And these new members have new, they want new things and things that exist in other markets and not yet in the marine industry, but we have to make sure to catch up. Their expectation is super high. Exactly. And freedom is on top of that. We think out of box. We want to make sure that we give the customer what they want. So I think that on the sustainable part, Freedom Boat Club, at least we're aware of that. And we were on top of everything to make sure that everything is respected, that we took all the boxes and that we're here and that we're here for a long time. Great stuff. Marina, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you Ben for your invitation. You're very welcome. Everybody, that's another episode of the Ben Taylor podcast. I hope it's proved insightful to you. We'll see you again in plenty more episodes. That is it for now. Bye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Ben Taylor podcast, the home of Marine Industry Insights. We'll see you again very soon. Bye for now.