Denison Yacht Sales
PMY: How does your passion for boating and business feed innovation?
SEAN WILKES: Growing up in South Florida, boating was always a big part of my life. I remember my dad towing our first boat down the driveway and the look on my mom’s face when she realized it wasn’t a joke. From that moment on though, she knew getting on our boat was the one thing that got us away from the TV. Boating taught my brothers and me valuable lessons. Like making sure to put the bilge plug back in before you put the boat in the water; and the “max capacity” sticker isn’t just a recommendation. When filming, I’m obsessed with information. I want to get into the mind of the designers to understand why they built the boat the way they did. I’ll stay up late the night before a shoot just combing through the specs making sure I know everything I can. It’s a serious passion, and I think that is what breeds innovation. It’s not the newest
drone or expensive camera gear. It’s the love for what you do that drives you into creating the next big thing.” PMY: How will your products change to meet the needs of the evolving marketplace?
SEAN WILKES: From a video production standpoint, I can tell you that’s a constant concern. I’m always wondering what our next move is. And new gear isn’t always the solution. Sometimes it’s not about changing the product, but changing how you distribute it. For example, a few years ago, we used to only post to YouTube. But once Facebook’s platform was changed to start accepting and marketing video, it was a game changer. We saw huge increases in viewership and engagement. Also, we quickly realized that Facebook was much more valuable considering you could target specific demographics. And now, it’s one of our biggest weapons
PMY: What lessons from the past helped move your business forward?
SEAN WILKES: Filming yachts can be tricky. We recently had an airline misplace most of our gear overseas. Obviously, this is completely out of our control. We ended up having to squeeze three days of filming into one. Starting from scratch and altering the whole process proved necessary to get the job done. Thankfully, everything worked out, but there’s a lesson in there. It’s one that always finds it’s way to the surface. No matter how much you prepare, something is bound to happen that you didn’t plan for. It will force you to pivot, and you have to be ready for that moment. That goes for shipyards, yacht firms, brokers, and especially content creators like me.