Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2014 - 35

by Steve Kralik

Strategic Initiatives and Marketing Coordinator, Policy and Planning Office

photo-Laurel Anders

Cowans Gap State Park, Fulton County
PFBC website: www.fishandboat.com

Additionally,
Pennsylvania's
rich network
of convenience
stores and small
businesses
contributed free
hot coffee and
other beverages
to anglers who
displayed their
fishing licenses
on the two
opening days.
Nearly 200
Cowans Gap State Park, Fulton County
locations were
made available through this outreach, and considering the
cool and rainy regional opening day in the southeastern
counties, the opportunity to sip a free hot beverage
was appreciated by many anglers. Giant Eagle/GetGo
Convenience Stores, Rutter's Farm Stores, Pump N Pantry,
Snappy's, Redner's Quick Shoppes, Funck's and a myriad
of other small businesses, restaurants and sporting goods
stores participated.
Through this campaign, the Commission reaffirmed
that we have the greatest customers; folks who are intent
on having fun, conserving the resource and passing on
the great tradition of fishing in Pennsylvania. We were
consistently greeted by smiling faces, some fresh with the
success of catching a nice trout. Others were merely smiling
because they got to spend time with family or friends.
Some anglers had traveled great distances to chase their
quarry. Others had walked right out of their front doors to
cast a line. Some were new to the experience while others
had made this experience a tradition that has not been
broken for decades.
Future opening days will see us on the water again
thanking our license buyers and experiencing for
ourselves what draws them to this sport. Anglers should
expect more partnering with Pennsylvania businesses
from PFBC, because we are all in this together.

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * September/October 2014

35

photo-Laurel Anders

A simple thank you is very powerful. Business thanks its
customers for their patronage as a way of doing business
consistently; where government entities have traditionally
not been as forthcoming with thanks.
On the opening days of trout season this year in
Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission
(PFBC) employees carrying the "thank you" message greeted
anglers. This was done to show our sincere appreciation for
those anglers who support fishing and conservation through
their license purchase. It was also a way of reconnecting with
anglers in an attempt to create positive word of mouth.
More than 100 management and line staff, along with
agency law enforcement staff, visited well over 100 different
Commonwealth waters and thanked Pennsylvania's anglers
for the purchase of a fishing license. Nearly 7,000 individual
contacts were made, many of them resulting in anglers in
return thanking Commission staff for our efforts.
Agency staff was armed with "swag bags" containing
items donated from Pennsylvania businesses that also
appreciate the influx of anglers throughout the year
and especially during the respective trout opening days.
Cabelas, Bass Pro Shops, Baker Lures/Baker Precision
Fishing Tools, FishUSA and Rutters Farm Stores donated
items that were passed on to lucky anglers throughout
the day. Some 1,500 "swag bags" were put together for
distribution, and an additional 2,000 single items were
distributed through our days afield.
http://www.AnglerBoaterThankYou.com http://www.fishandboat.com
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2014

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