Aaron Wavra, a Senior Product Manager for Berkley Fishing, admits that, while fairly well-known
in the northern states, Berkley is likely being outpaced in marketing to crappie anglers in the South.
Berkley Beefing Up on the Crappie Market
by Richard Simms, CrappieNOW Editor
I recently ran a quick, totally unscientific survey on my Facebook page. I asked my friends to name the crappie lure manufacturer that comes top-of-mind first. In just one hour, I got sixty-six (66) responses from my friends. Only one person – 1 out of 66 – mentioned Berkley® – that in spite of the fact that Berkley® is one of the largest lure manufacturers in the world.
Aaron Wavra, a Senior Product Manager for nine years at Berkley® Fishing probably isn’t surprised by that. He probably is not happy about it, but not surprised either.
“We’re definitely in that (crappie) space, but we don’t always pay as much attention (to crappie) on marketing levels as we do to other species,” said Wavra.
I spent a long time talking with Wavra at the recent Berkley Labs Science Symposium held at the Space Center Houston NASA Science Museum. Berkley invited several dozen writers and professional anglers from across the country for one of the largest such gatherings the company has ever held. The company shared the latest and greatest “science” behind their newest line of lures developed specifically for the “forward-facing sonar” market.
Admittedly, however, there wasn’t a lot of talk among the masses about crappie. Wavra, however, was excited to share all he could.
“We actually have a lot of baits for crappie fishermen,” he said. “We have a dozen or so Powerbaits® made for crappie, a dozen or so Gulp! Alive!® soft baits made for crappie and our new Power® Switch which is a forward-facing designed bait. It comes in an inch-and-three-quarter and a two-and-a-half inch. It’s a beautiful dock-shooting bait or you can fish it under a bobber or with spider rigs. It’s probably the most innovative bait we’ve produced in the last couple of years.”
Berkley revealed two other forward-facing designed lures that were just released in January, including the new Finisher and the Krej (Jerk spelled backwards). Power Switch, however, was revealed at last year’s ICAST and hit the shelves in September. The Power Switch comes in a 5-inch size, all the way down to 1.75 inches, the lure Wavra says crappie anglers need to be paying attention to.
He said one of the special qualities of the bait lies in its patent-pending design that delivers a variety of actions. The Power Switch has erratic, large darting actions uncommon with other baits. Additionally, it’s constructed with PowerBait® plastic, which emits proven scent and subtle movement at rest.
Wavra and Berkley bait designer Kyle Peterson share the story behind the creation of Power® Switch in this video.
The only thing Wavra would probably like to see happen is a larger marketing effort directed toward southern crappie anglers.
“We’re a northern company and I think people automatically think of us in the northern stronghold,” he said.
He points out that Berkley manufactures lures for virtually every freshwater game fish species there is and he admits their marketing efforts are often geared toward other species. That is reflected in their website as well, where it is difficult to search out their products designed specifically for crappie anglers. They said, however, they are looking forward to a redesign that will make it easier and more efficient to find specific products by species.
Wavra hopes that redesign will help more crappie anglers think “Berkley” in the future.
Capt. Richard Simms is the Editor of CrappieNOW magazine as well as owner of Scenic City Fishing Charters. Formerly he was a game warden for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency before becoming a photographer and PR guy for TWRA. That lead to a 30-year career as a broadcast journalist and freelance outdoor writer. Follow Capt. Simms other writings on his Facebook page.
