Go RVing Officials, Starting with THOR, Plan to Visit OEMs

Pictured, from left, are: Sarah Neely, Go RVing; Courtney Bias, Go RVing; Tim Reimer, Ipsos; Angela Pitts, Ipsos; and Bill Baker, RVIA. (RVBusiness file photo: Gary Gerard)

Go RVing is taking to the road this year to connect with RV manufacturers, as it looks to share its mission and its capabilities with OEM marketing reps and other company executives.

There has been a natural turnover in OEM staff in the past few years, and some of those new marketing pros are likely less familiar with what Go RVing does and how it works to promote the overall industry to consumers, according to Courtney Bias, director of strategic marketing and communications for Go RVing. So, Go RVing is going to reintroduce itself to OEMs across the country through a series of visits this year.

The first meeting has already taken place. Representatives for Go RVing, including Chief Marketing Officer Karen Redfern, met with about 40 representatives for THOR Industries in February at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Ind., to make introductions and to share Go RVing marketing research, according to Bias. Specifically, Go RVing representatives discussed the findings of the Path to Purchase study that Go RVing commissioned in 2021 to determine the process by which consumers move from RV awareness and consideration to actually purchasing one.

Courtney Bias

“Sharing the study findings and other data the program gathers gave our team the opportunity to show members how to bring all that data to life with examples of how we apply it to our marketing approach,” said Bias. “That naturally lead us to discussing ideas how members can then deepen the prospective customer experience and engage them with information about their products.”

“The gathering was interactive and informative,” Bias said, both for Go RVing representatives and THOR marketing executives, who she said seemed to really appreciate the chance to learn about Go RVing’s mission and capabilities while also welcoming the opportunity to network with reps for other THOR brands. In addition to the roughly 40 company representatives in attendance, Bias said an additional cohort of representatives attended the event virtually via a Zoom call.

“We all came away from that session feeling we know each other better and have contacts we can reach out to,” she said.

Bias said Go RVing reps are already gearing up for their next meeting with representatives for Forest River and Winnebago, which is scheduled to take place in April in Elkhart. She said Go RVing expects to hold meetings with representatives for other RV manufacturers, either in-person or through Zoom calls, at the rate of one a month for the rest of the year.

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/go-rving-officials-starting-with-thor-plan-to-visit-oems/