In my recent entry about all these newfangled anchors, I listed quite a lot of anchors, including the Rocna.

Steve posted this comment on April 15th:

Have you seen Rocna’s “expose” of its copy? www.rocna.com/boat-anchors/manson-supreme-anchor.php Likely to inspire yet more “lively discussion”, but several of these newer anchors are merely variations on traditional types rather than huge leaps forward.

Thanks for the comment, Steve. I’d like to talk about the Rocna, actually. I’m of two minds about it. On the one hand, it seems to be an outstanding anchor, based on the information available. That makes me want one.

On the other hand, virtually all the information available online about the Rocna is from Rocna. Not that surprising for a new anchor…where else would the information originate? But the more you look, the more you discover that Rocna has taken an extremely aggressive approach to online marketing. Again, not surprising. It’s just that…well…how to put this? They seem to lack the discretion or finesse that could make their aggressive online presence work for them.

First, let’s talk about the anchor itself. As I indicated before, I do not claim to be any sort of anchoring expert, but the video on the Rocna website is pretty compelling. We don’t get to see all the raw footage, and we must assume that the best (Rocna) and the worst (other anchor) test pulls were the ones included in the finished video. Even so, and although I’m reluctant to dismiss the “tried and true” CQR and Bruce designs, after viewing the video I’m willing to entertain the notion that the Rocna may be at least as good as they are. In the conservative and curmudgeonly world of marine safety equipment, this is high praise, make no mistake. The anchor has also done very well in several recent independent tests. As far as I can tell, the Rocna appears to be a great anchor. A bit expensive, but not prohibitively so.

Now let’s talk about Rocna’s online marketing. The Wikipedia article on “anchor” seems to focus somewhat more attention on Rocna than seems strictly objective or encyclopedic. Certainly no real encyclopedia would ever publish an article like this (as a veteran encyclopedia editor, I feel confident in this assertion :-). Sheesh, those Rocna guys must check up on that article every couple of days! Hold on, today the article is slightly less Rocna-focused than it normally is. And in fact, the Wikipedia article happens to be “Protected from editing until disputes have been resolved.” I’ve never seen that before. This is the sort of status you normally see applied to articles about political or religious hot-button issues, not anchors! Check out the discussion. Seems some competitors weren’t too pleased, and I can’t say I blame them.

And if you watch any forums where anchors are discussed, you’ll see Rocna’s Craig Smith chime in from time to time with his contribution. The “Underway” forum at Seven Seas Cruising Association is a good one. Actually, I seem to have stumbled on the source of the current Wikipedia lockout there, as well. It seems like Smith knows a lot about anchors, but his participation starts to feel like a sales pitch after a while.

I happened to mention the Rocna over at C-Brats, the C-Dory owners group, and he appeared, out of nowhere, within one day! I doubt he even knows what a C-Dory is…are there any in New Zealand? One of the forum moderators was familiar with his tactics, though, and shut him down.

This style of marketing may do more harm than good. Between the Wikipedia tampering and the irritating forum participation, Rocna has created an online presence that probably causes some customers to keep their mouths shut about the product, for fear of being associated with a recognized source of annoyance. That can’t be good; customer word-of-mouth carries more weight with potential customers than do manufacturer’s claims, so you want to encourage your customers to share their experiences with others. Remember, markets are conversations.

Call me crazy, but in a saturated market such as small boat anchors, I would try to cultivate feelings of pride (”I think it’s the best anchor on the market”) and integrity (”they’re just a great outfit to deal with”), not of shame (”yeah, I know, but I bought one anyway”) and defensiveness (”I’m not a shill; I really think it’s a great anchor!”), amongst my customer base.

When I consider replacing my Bruce clone, the Rocna is near the top of my list. But then I think “Oh crap, if I show up at the C-Brats gathering with a Rocna hanging off the bow, I’ll spend the entire weekend in tedious discussions about Rocna marketing. I don’t really need that. Maybe I should just buy a Delta.” And in general, I don’t worry too much about what other people think of me. But if I buy one, I don’t want to find myself cast as the apologist for Rocna’s marketing practices every time I get together with other cruisers.

So I end up questioning my initial assessment of Rocna. Even if the anchor is the best of the bunch, do I really want to do business with this outfit? I remain undecided. We’ll see if they clean up their act, marketing-wise.

It should be noted that Rocna has created a website that is professional and informative, but not pushy or annoying. The discussion about copycat anchors is helpful. You can see some independent anchor test results here (with Rocna’s interpretation included, of course). It’s marketing content, with a strong informational emphasis. Very nicely done.