‘Truck Camper’ Spotlights New Ownership of Alaskan Campers – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
Alaskan Campers are being rendered in CAD, cut via CNC, and produced by a growing team of craftsmen, according to a report by Gordon White of TruckCamperMagazine.com (TCM). TCM talks to the new Alaskan leadership team about the new logo, new exterior color, two new interiors, and where the 70 year old company is going. Priority 1: Respect the legacy.
Taking over a successful company with seven decades of product history and an established community has its benefits. For one, the brand is well known in the marketplace. Most potential customers are likely younger than the business itself and have grown up knowing about the products. For two, the heavy lift of pioneering, engineering, and field testing your product was probably completed when your dad was in grade school.
The flip side of that coin is the potential for community resistance to any product changes. Decades of product design and culture have a habit of becoming entrenched. Any change, even if it objectively improves the company or product, might not be initially embraced.
After covering Alaskan Campers for 17 years, this is what went through our minds when we met the new Alaskan leadership team at Overland Expo East this past October. The team was young. There was already a fresh Alaskan logo on the units. A new Rugged Gray color adorned the exterior of a showcased model. Okay fellas, what are we doing with our beloved Alaskan Campers?
In the conversation that followed, it became immediately clear that the new team understood and respected the history of Alaskan Campers. In fact, they quickly threw the question back to us and asked for feedback on preserving the original Alaskan Camper logo from the 1950s as an option. They also shared some details about how they were planning to improve the product without altering the revered concept, design, or aesthetic.
Suddenly we found ourselves getting excited about the prospect of a better Alaskan Camper; new and improved, yet still true to the original. It’s a challenging path for this new team to walk, but they exuded the right brand respect and old-school entrepreneurial grit to see it through. Okay, we’re in.
Three months later, we talked to Rob Scheele, Principal and CEO of Alaskan Campers, and Nick Coursolle, Vice President of Alaskan Campers. It’s time to meet this new Alaskan Campers leadership team, and find out where they’re taking the hallowed hard side pop-up brand; one foot in the past and an eye on the future.
Click here to read the Gordon White’s complete Q&A article at TruckCamperMagazine.com
