Photo: A rendering of the RV Industry’s new RV “reveal” at the RVX trade show.
by Jason Epperson
The RV industry has experienced record growth in recent years, but as the boom begins to level out, manufacturers aren’t resting on their laurels. The RV Industry Association (RVIA) is looking for new ways to disrupt and capitalize on new consumers looking for ways to see America.
Go RVing—the RVIA’s marketing arm—is launching a new multi-million dollar “Kick-Off to Camping Season” advertising and PR campaign that will run February through mid-July, encouraging people to camp in the great outdoors.
Part of the “Kick Off” will be a live-streamed reveal of innovative new products from the RVIA’s Salt Lake City trade show (RVX), taking place on March 12 at GoRVing.com. The website will also be updated to include honorees in 9 innovation categories and other video content from the show.
Instead of focusing on different types of RVs (class A, B, C, etc), Go RVing has come up with 9 categories—or varied ways people camp— to highlight: City Escape, Destination Camping, Family Friendly, Luxury Living, On the Horizon, Outdoor Adventure, Van Life, Sustainability, and Team Tailgate. Top magazines like “Esquire” and “Sports Illustrated” have been asked to come to RVX and create content around a category. Go RVing is also partnering with “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “MotorTrend TV,” which will each be filming content at RVX.
“We want consumers to see RVs in new and exciting ways. Now more than ever, there really is an RV that’s right for everyone,” said Karen Redfern, Vice President of Brand Marketing and Communications for Go RVing. “As winter draws to a close and thoughts turn to summer vacation plans, the Kick Off to Camping will ignite interest in adventure, exploration and affordable travel. The campaign will also provide an opportunity to showcase to the media the innovative products coming out of our $50 billion industry.”
The campaign will continue into the early summer with a focus on how RVs can enhance consumers’ vacation plans. Go RVing will provide participating RV dealers media plans to connect with their local audiences. Following RVX, media partners will embark on RV road trips to experience the lifestyle first-hand and will develop feature stories from those excursions. At Go RVing’s spring and summer experiential events, the newest RVs will be featured bringing innovation to the consumers who can see, touch and tour the displayed vehicles. Go RVing is the presenting sponsor of the Outside Experience in downtown Chicago in July, where urban and suburban families will be able to test outdoor sporting equipment. Go RVing will present the event’s adventure vehicle area where an RV village will be assembled for consumers to explore.
