Oshkosh 2015

[HPNAviator]

Does anybody know if Diamond will be at Oshkosh this year?

[CFIDave]

I doubt Diamond will be at Oshkosh this year.

Because Diamond doesn't sell direct but only through regional distributors in North America, Diamond expects distributors to do all new aircraft marketing and sales. US distributors have exclusive territories for selling new Diamond aircraft.

For Sun N Fun, two Diamond distributors Premier (covering the southeast US) and LifeStyle (formerly Dominion, covering the mid-Atlantic US) jointly sponsor and staff the Diamond exhibit at that show. These distributors consider the investment worthwhile because Sun N Fun is more of a regional show and thus there's a high likelihood that attendees are likely to live in one of the regions where LifeStyle and Premiere are allowed to sell new Diamond aircraft.

But Oshkosh/EAA Airventure is more problematic in that attendees tend to come from all over the US or from other countries. It's not a regional show where a local regional Diamond distributor (e.g., Great Lakes) would find it attractive to pay for the exhibit since they aren't allowed to sell new aircraft to most Oshkosh attendees (who would be from outside Great Lake's region). It's unfortunately too difficult to get ALL of the US Diamond distributors to jointly fund an Oshkosh exhibit and all contribute salespeople to work the display.

Years ago Diamond Canada paid for most of the cost of exhibiting at Oshkosh. But that was back when Diamond Canada was selling far more new aircraft in North America and could more readily justify the costs.

[Steve]

They are not on the exhibitor list as of today:

http://spirit.eaa.org/appscode/expocad/default.html

Sad, both as an indication of their lack of interest in the GA market, and personally, since I signed the contract for my airplane there in 1999:

[GLDAS]

There will not be any OSH booth for Diamond, so far as I know, and here's why:

Dave is pretty much spot on WRT how the display is organized. The old, big display, with 10-12 planes, trailer, etc costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to execute. That number would likely wipe out our July P&L )

Diamond will, going forward, alternate between the two big shows in Europe, and I would expect a big presence when there is something new, like the DA62, to exhibit. Otherwise, it's impossibe to justify the spend on these shows.

Since I started this business seven years ago, there have been changes that go beyond the obvious volume decline. Customers, interested pilots, etc, are much more educated about the product than they were in the mid 2000's. Part of that is the maturity of the product, part peer education from forums like this, part YouTube and blogs, and so on. Seeing the product IRL is less and less meaningful, and this applies to other makes and industries as well. The trade show business has changed.

Speaking only for myself, I miss exhibiting. It's great to visit with customers, new and old, friends, and diamond enthusiasts generally. The exhibit offers owners an opportunity to ask detailed questions of the factory tech reps as well. I enjoy the recruitment process for our booth help, too.

We may have a plane in the CAV Aerospace booth, and ERAU may have a Diamond or two. I may be at the show as an attendee, and if so, I'd be happy to visit with any of you over brats and beers in the RV campground. Maybe a diamond owner meet up is in the cards.

We're all looking forward to a big presence at #OSH16

-dan

[Henrik]

...are much more educated about the product than they were in the mid 2000's.

That is very much true. With all the information on the Internet, I suspect most buyers have already made their buying decision before even talking to the first sales representative. No serious buyer would go to a trade show & ask "so how many horsepower on this Austro engine?" before signing the check.

Also more than ever, people want to manage their time efficiently...

[carym]

...are much more educated about the product than they were in the mid 2000's.

That is very much true. With all the information on the Internet, I suspect most buyers have already made their buying decision before even talking to the first sales representative. No serious buyer would go to a trade show & ask "so how many horsepower on this Austro engine?" before signing the check.

Also more than ever, people want to manage their time efficiently...

I don't think that this is the reason. Cirrus has several booths listed for this year's OSH. I think it is more of a case of DAI lack of interest in sales and support for the North American market, and DAI-C's lack of any funds.

[CFIDave]

Cirrus has several booths listed for this year's OSH. I think it is more of a case of DAI lack of interest in sales and support for the North American market, and DAI-C's lack of any funds.

I agree, but it's also due to the different distribution models used by different aircraft manufacturers:

Because Cirrus sells direct with their own sales force, a national/international show where they can market to attendees from all over is very attractive to them. Therefore Cirrus spends a lot of money for a big Oshkosh/Airventure presence. Conversely, since Sun N Fun is more of a regional show, Cirrus does not exhibit at Sun N Fun -- where regional Diamond distributors sponsor an exhibit.

[clsuther]

I am here at Oshkosh and the problem is that you may know all the technical information and you may not have any serious questions, but when you are at Oshkosh and there is every single kind of airplane except a diamond, it makes you question the company and their desire or ability to be a major player in General Aviation. People don't mind owning the less popular brand, but nobody likes to buy a brand that they think maybe unknown, declining and/or possibly thought of as insignifigant. By skipping major events without even a small booth, I worry that Diamond could be giving a "we're on the way out" impression to new buyers. I only have a da40 because I saw it at EAA. I bought a Djet position because I saw it at EAA. I think Diamond HAS the best product and if they want to be in THE BUSINESS, they should have been here like every other General Aviation company.

-Chris

[Gearle]

I am here at Oshkosh and the problem is that you may know all the technical information and you may not have any serious questions, but when you are at Oshkosh and there is every single kind of airplane except a diamond, it makes you question the company and their desire or ability to be a major player in General Aviation. People don't mind owning the less popular brand, but nobody likes to buy a brand that they think maybe unknown, declining and/or possibly thought of as insignifigant. By skipping major events without even a small booth, I worry that Diamond could be giving a "we're on the way out" impression to new buyers. I only have a da40 because I saw it at EAA. I bought a Djet position because I saw it at EAA. I think Diamond HAS the best product and if they want to be in THE BUSINESS, they should have been here like every other General Aviation company.

-Chris

Well, I have my first post
I agree with Chris, with all due respect to the Diamond distributors here. All the other comments are interesting, but then they apply to many of the other distributors as well. Costs - were there LSA manufacturers there? How can they afford to be there? Internet marketing and bulletin boards? Then why does any well established manufacturer attend who has been around longer? Regional distributors wouldn't both come or there would be favoritism? Then corporate should sponsor a plane from either one or a flight school, both distributors share travel and expense cost, and corporate send a person or two as well. Now you have a great team present; corp marketing, CFIs, and distribution representation for any region in the Americas.
These are not serious, show stopping issues. Absolutely no reason to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just will is required. Passion. A desire to overcome issues.

Now why do it?

I could be mistaken, but it seems the GA market respects Osh Kosh like large aerospace companies respect and use The Farnborough International Airshow or the NBAA show. Press reports on news from Osh Kosh. I don't think the press cover regional shows with the same fervor. Does Diamond go to the NBAA show? If so that is more telling since it would demonstrate that corp businesses travelers are their real market in their opinion.

So Osh Kosh cost is to me a red herring.

[Tim H]

In addition to their absence from OSH, you never see Diamond advertisements in AOPA Pilot or Flying.

I know we (on the DAN) are biased, but Diamond makes a great product and I don't understand why they don't do more marketing in North America.

I took a co-worker pilot flying with me the other day and he couldn't stop talking about how nice the DA-40 is.