Catching Up With Performance Boat Center’s Mark Waddington: ‘Big-Picture’ Marketing In Key West – Speed on the Water

The co-owner and primary financial force behind Performance Boat Center based in Osage Beach, Mo., Mark Waddington keeps his own counsel. So when skeptics questioned why he was throwing unholy amounts of money to establish a foothold in the high-performance marine industry, he politely ignored them, as did his business partner Brett Manire. Waddington and Manire had a plan. Sharing it was the least of their concerns.

In addition to its role of presenting sponsor for the Race World Offshore World Championship in Key West, Fla., next week, Performance Boat Center will be gunning for a Super Stock-class world championship. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Some 12-plus years later, it’s safe to say the plan worked brilliantly. With their hardworking team, Waddington and Manire transformed a quiet cove at the Lake of the Ozarks into a go-fast boating destination, one with an impressive showroom, voluminous service and storage facilities, extensive dockage, rental homes across the cover and two restaurants with pools outdoor bars on property. (High Tide, the more adult-themed venue, even has a stage and hosts live concerts.) Just a few minutes away by boat is The Cave Bar and Grill, another Waddington project complete with a large pool and plenty of dock space. The venue is now a destination for Performance Boat Center-produced events.

And the Osage Beach property is still expanding its footprint with additional storage space.

No business is perfect, of course, all make mistakes, all have their share of unhappy customers. But on balance the multi-brand dealership’s success dwarfs its miscues. Performance Boat Center doesn’t just carry the MTI, Performance Powerboats and Sunsation Powerboats brands.

Performance Boat Center is a brand. That’s a distinction few go-fast powerboat dealerships can claim.

And so it is with the company’s current Super Stock-class racing team and second-year presenting sponsorship of the Race World Offshore World Championship next week in Key West, Fla. Yes, everyone involved with the team has fun. Everyone wants to win. But Performance Boat Center’s offshore racing efforts, which began with a world championship-winning Super Cat-class team, are all about marketing and advancing the brand. It’s all business.

“No matter what, the Race World Offshore Key West World Championship and Florida Powerboat Club Key West Poker Run are big-picture marketing for us—that’s why we stay in it, that’s why we are supporting Race World Offshore again this year,” Waddington explained. “It’s one of the ways we get to know the customer base we already have and be the customer base we want to have. I tell my people, ‘You are there to talk to people, meet people, show them the MTI, Performance Powerboats and Sunsation brands and take them on demo rides.”

To that end, Performance Boat Center will display 42- and 50-foot center consoles from MTI, Sunsation 32 CCX and 40 CCX center consoles, and a Performance Powerboats P-420 catamaran this year at the docks alongside the Conch Republic Seafood Restaurant, the Florida Powerboat Club’s official longtime host venue for its signature Key West happening. The dealership, which also has a South Florida location, will display a Sunsation 32 CCX next to its apparel truck in the adjacent Poker Run Village.

Performance Boat Center entered offshore racing with a successful Super Cat program.

In addition to hosting a handful of its own happenings at the Lake of the Ozarks from spring through fall, Performance Boat Center backs noteworthy events around the country. But the Key West Poker Run has special significance for Waddington and company.

“For many of our customers, Key Wet is a bucket-list event,” he said. “And it has continued to mature. Larry Bleil of Race World Offshore has done a great job growing it with other events all week long. The City of Key West has done great supporting the event. There’s a lot more to do during the week than watch boat racing.

“But other than the business side of it?” he concluded. “We get to meet with all these people in this great high-performance boating community, say hello and see how things in their lives are going. For some, it’s the only time we get to see them all year.”