About Anglers Insight Marketing, LLC™ (AIM™)
Anglers Insight Marketing
Published March 5, 2012
Anglers Insight Marketing, LLC™ (AIM™) was formed as a limited liability company in February 2008. AIM, like many other businesses, was created from necessity. A necessity in that there was a "void" that needed to be filled. Difficult economic times threatened the marine industry as a whole and had an equally devastating impact on competitive walleye fishing. These straining financial times left participation at the lowest levels in years and left anglers across the nation wondering what the future really held for the professional walleye fishing world.
With the loss of the Professional Walleye Trail in 2008, many in the business assumed it was the start of the demise of major professional walleye fishing tournaments. The search for sponsorship and marketing dollars was more difficult than ever and industry leaders and icons agreed that something had to change. The past concept of tournaments was losing ground and the industry, in some way, had to reinvent itself. It had to bring new ideas, not only in format, but also in marketing itself and its partners, both endemic and non-endemic, in new ways.
The creation of AIM was generated by concerned anglers and businessmen that felt they had some new ideas that could inject new life into the sport. These new ideas had to consider fishing pressure and biological/ecological threats that our lakes and rivers are undergoing. From protective slot limits being implemented on heavily pressured or commercially fished waters, to "no culling" rules being adopted during the higher temperature summer months, state and federal agencies have been forced to enact many regulations to protect these valuable resources.
These, among many other reasons, are the types of challenges that led to the creation of AIM and its process of Catch-Record-Release™. Photo and release tournaments are not new to the fishing tournament world as a whole, but had never been fully implemented in the Pro angler/Co-angler format of true professional level walleye fishing tournaments.
To list just a couple of the benefits of Catch-Record-Release:
- No more worries of having to make "culling" decisions
- Anglers no longer have to worry about protective slots, they can simply fish for the largest fish in the system, and
- Since no fish are kept, anglers can fish all day, every day of any event. No longer do they have to worry about putting the "final" fish of the day in their livewell.
Above all else, AIM is a marketing company—a marketing company that partners with organizations and communities to promote their tourism industry, businesses and fishery. AIM provides these communities the advantage of maximizing that promotion, all while returning every fish caught safely back to the water for the next tourist or local angler alike to have a chance of catching.
AIM's continued vision for leadership:
- Fairness in competition,
- Increased exposure and fun for participants
- Value driven media coverage for marketing partners (sponsors)
- Bringing excitement back into the sport of walleye tournaments with opportunities at all levels of competition, from small tours to the big dance!
As we move into the next phase and beyond of competitive walleye fishing, AIM, its owners, members and participating anglers are committed to being there. New technologies and new ideas from dedicated owners, anglers and fans will allow AIM to continue towards its goal of leading the way to new marketing standards and conservation minded tournament practices.
