It’s March 2017, 2018 photo shoots are about to start and the final touches to the new range are being made in the Fanatic office in Munich. The office doesn’t seem a natural environment for Craig but it’s where “the easiest part of the job” gets done he laughs. As a windsurfer, Craig knows the importance of being on the water; as a brand manager, he considers it vital. Every few weeks he breaks up periods behind the desk with travelling to test boards, meet team riders, dealers and engage in the windsurfing lifestyle that is central to the Fanatic brand. Having left his native South Africa at 22 to travel extensively, he has a well-rounded view of our sport, the world and life yet retains a businessman’s desire for success in his chosen field. A global citizen, he is at ease in his adopted homeland of Germany. His wife Karin also works at Fanatic as marketing manager and together they have kept Fanatic as one of the industry’s leading brands, noted for their successful board designs and ability to nurture world championship talent in their team riders. Amongst the team in their office, there’s an air of calm confidence and excitement as their new range begins to take shape, Craig smiles as I ask him a challenging first question!
FM – The last year has seen major political upheavals in Europe and around the world. It feels like uncertain times for many sectors yet windsurfing is going strong, how do you see the year ahead for the brand.
CG – Hi Finn, well certainly challenging times both economically and politically, however our customers still want to enjoy their leisure time / invest in windsurfing as much possible, so I expect we´ll see this period through as we have done in the past. Perhaps we might see something good develop out of all of this, who knows, stay positive. We had a good year in 2016, despite economical challenges, so we´ll just keep on working hard, being as innovative as possible with the most efficient use of resources!
FM – What are the predictors you use to judge the market – are you being lead by your customers or leading your customers.
CG – Generally we like to collect as much feedback as possible from our customers, our forum, ION Club and other centres, all giving us invaluable feedback on existing products and needs. So on one hand we are lead by customers actual needs, on the other hand we have to think ahead of what they might need in the future – the Stubby/Blast being great examples of that, especially with the super feedback from average customers on the FreeWave and Blast models using that concept.
FM – The ‘stubby’ board has been a game changer in your range, how has it been received commercially and what feedback have you been given.
CG – It´s really refreshing to see the excitement when something “brand new” is introduced into the market, the momentum and the image it brings to the brand is huge. And it gets people excited about the sport again. Especially in the Wave / FreeWave and Freeride performance categories, things have been a bit quiet these last few years, the Stubby concept has brought new life to these segments and made these products exciting again. Commercially great successes all-round, but even more important is the boards sell through at the shops and customers are stoked. With all the travelling that myself, Dani (Aeberli, Product Manager) and Klaas (Voget, Marketing Manager/Head of Wave R&D) do, we get to meet some very happy customers and share their stoke about these new products / see them motivated to windsurf even more!