The Baltimore Boat Show saw its highest attendance since 2009 last weekend, up 8% over last year.
We’ve worked with many consumer shows before, during and after the “Great Recession” and it’s exciting to see attendance and sales boom again. We’re also promoting two more high-ticket consumer shows this coming weekend – the Motor Trend Auto Show in Baltimore and the Timonium Motorcycle Show; we’re hoping the trend continues.
With so many dealers closing sales at the boat show, it made for an upbeat environment to capture some Facebook Live Video.
On the heels of Facebook’s announcement that it was further restricting brands’ prominence in newsfeeds, it was great to find Facebook still giving preferred treatment to video, especially live video. We saw thousands of views of the boat how posts during the four day show.
It was a busy weekend in Baltimore, with the show fighting for media attention with Orioles Fan Fest, the Polar Bear Plunge and Shen Yun. We were happy to bring all four local TV stations to check out the boats and to earn coverage from the Baltimore Sun, Annapolis Capital, Baltimore Business Journal and prominent local magazines. Smaller papers like the Bay Weekly, Cecil Whig and Frederick News Post helped drive attendance from an audience that takes their Chesapeake Bay boating seriously.