Rob Carter: It’s about supply and demand

Angling International now does two things very well.

For years, we have connected tackle brands with distributors around the world – helping them enter new markets, find new partners and strengthen their supply chain. More on that below.

But there has been a shift in our industry. I wrote last month about how brands increasingly want to connect with the people and platforms that influence anglers and ultimately generate demand for their products.

You can see it happening everywhere. 

Look at our cover story for the September issue. It reports on the extraordinary success of the Public Day at Australia’s AFTA trade show, where 20,000 anglers registered to meet brands, get hands-on with products and connect with fishing personalities and influencers.

It’s another sign of the growing importance of what I call the demand chain.

I’ve been exploring this shift in depth over the past six months – talking to people on both sides and looking at where Angling International can play a meaningful role in bringing the supply chain and demand chain closer together.

And the more I have explored it, the more obvious something has become.

Angling International is particularly well placed to make those connections.

For 20 years, our job has been to serve the global tackle trade. In doing that, we have built relationships with brands, manufacturers, distributors and senior decision-makers across markets around the world.

Those connections were built largely to help the supply chain work better.

Now we can use that same network to connect the industry with the demand generators that can help it grow.

And now I can reveal the first result of that work. Angling International has become the official media partner of Fishing TV.

Fishing TV is a filmmaking business that already generates 4.5–6 million social video views every month and has just partnered with ITV Studios to turbo-charge its global reach, mostly on YouTube.

Our role as media partners of Fishing TV is to connect tackle brands with that audience – and the first opportunity is already here.

Fishing TV is preparing 1000lb BLUEFIN: The Return of the Giants, a planned six-part adventure-fishing documentary following experienced captains in northern European waters in pursuit of giant Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Rather than advertising around the programme, Fishing TV want’ products and expertise to become part of the content – it wants to show tackle fighting giant bluefin, electronics proving their value and brand experts talking about their specialist tackle.

That’s what connecting brands to the demand chain can look like. And we already have evidence that the model works.

Within days of announcing our Fishing TV partnership in a single LinkedIn post, we received ten enquiries from brands interested in being involved with the tuna production. One announcement. Ten potential brand partners.

There is clearly an appetite in the trade to connect with the right B2C opportunities. So I want to hear from the other side too. If you run a fishing platform, content business, event or community with an audience that brands want to reach, talk to me.

You have the audience. Angling International has spent 20 years building relationships with the global tackle trade. You too can take advantage of those connections to attract brand involvement, create new commercial opportunities and grow your business.

But here’s something I want to stress. The rise of the demand chain doesn’t make the traditional supply chain any less important.

You can create all the demand you like, but somebody still has to get the product into anglers’ hands.

That is particularly true when a brand enters an unfamiliar territory. It still needs someone on the ground who understands the market, has the retailer relationships, manages logistics and supply and can build the brand locally.

Which brings me to FINNTRAIL of Estonia, the newest long-term advertiser in Angling International.

Starting with the September issue, FINNTRAIL will be seeking new European distributors, with a particular focus on Scandinavia, the UK, Italy and Poland.

Its proposition is compelling: a one-stop brand for fishing apparel throughout the year, allowing retailers and distributors to meet different customer needs across the seasons without sourcing every category from multiple suppliers.

FINNTRAIL is a timely reminder that distributors still matter. Demand can open a market. But you still need the right people and infrastructure on the ground to serve that demand. And finding those people remains one of the things Angling International does best.

So, if your next step is finding distributors in new territories, talk to me. If your next step is generating more consumer demand for the products you already sell, talk to me about that too.And if you own an audience that wants greater involvement from the tackle trade, you know what to do.

Because successful brands need both.

Angling International connects you with the businesses that get products into the market – and the platforms and people that make anglers want them.

Supply and demand. We connect you to both.