Billabong’s ‘Only A Surfer Knows The Feeling’ Ad Campaign

By Tom LeBlanc

As a kid growing up in Florida, all the boys claimed to be surfers. The truth was that most kids were not surfers, but instead simply wore surf to school. , , Rusty, and T&C Surf were all part of most boys’ t- collection. was a difficult sport to get into for several reasons: you needed your parents to drive you to the beach (we lived in Orlando), you need a surfboard which was expensive, and past the breakers in the ocean was intimidating. For these reasons surfing has always seemed exclusive and one of the most visually alluring sports in existence. Of course wearing surf t- or driving with a surfboard top of your car doesn’t make you a surfer, it makes you like a surfer. When I was a kid, I’m convinced 99% of the kids wearing surf clothes were not actually surfers, but they wanted to be.

Billabong was founded in in 1973 by surfer Gordon Merchant and his then partner, Rena who grew the company from their home cutting and stitching together board on a sewing machine in their kitchen. Their company grew quickly due to a newly developed stitching style that made their board shorts more durable than their competitors. Word spread quickly and they soon found themselves in every surf shop in Australia. By the 1980’s the clothing was focused on international expansion and was successful in North America.

Which brings us back to my childhood in Florida. Again, most boys at a young age wanted to be surfers, but most of us weren’t. We wore the clothing and pretended that we were. Which bring us to one of my favorite marketing slogans of all time. Sometime in the 1990’s, Billabong started running it’s “Only a surfer knows the feeling” campaign. It usually showed one of the Billabong sponsored riders out surfing on a beautiful tropical wave—clear blue water, blue sky, and perfect surf conditions set against the ever present slogan ‘Only a surfer knows the feeling.’ Around your peers you could look like a surfer, but this slogan constantly reminded me that I didn’t know what it felt like to surf. As much as you wanted to look like a surfer, the only way to know what it felt like was to actually go surfing. It’s basically saying the clothes don’t make you a surfer, going surfing is what makes you a surfer.

This was an extremely successful campaign for Billabong as their growth trend continued throughout the 1990’s. It marketed the surfing community as an exclusive club that most people will never get to enter. I remember this campaign gnawing away at me. I needed to feel this sensation that I had seen in so many surf films and on TV. Finally, when I was 18 in college, I bought a surfboard and taught myself to surf. Why was Billabong the first company to come up with this slogan? Surely it could be applied to a wide variety of activities and businesses:

Only a snowboarder knows the feeling Only a skydiver knows the feeling Only horseback riders know the feeling Only skateboarders know the feeling.

The list goes on and on. I suspect the success with Billabong has something to do with the hold that surfing has on everyone. It takes place at the beach, which a lot of people love. It’s frequently depicted in warm tropical water that looks beautiful. It has a unique perspective where you’re out in the ocean past where the waves break. Surfing is also a very difficult sport to learn, it combines swimming ability, balance, fitness, and being in a wild and sometimes unpredictable environment (the ocean). Many people, for the reasons that I laid out in the beginning of the article, will never go surfing in their lives and will never get a chance to experience the feeling. Billabong was smart to realize this and develop their slogan. The slogan makes people want to go surfing. It deepens the mystery of what it feels like to lean in and turn on clear beautiful wave. It says Billabong is the authentic surfing brand made by surfers for surfers.