RV Weekly

A California dealer has suggested a brilliant marketing strategy that, if not picked up by Go RVing, should be implemented by other dealers around the country on a local or regional level.

For some reason, lots of people are caught up in the keep America green bandwagon. The global warming fringe has forced many firms to advocate their commitment to a greener planet in light of being scorned for contributing to the planet’s imminent “demise.”

Everyone from evening news anchors to Hollywood movie stars to Washington politicians is talking about protecting the environment and reducing fuel consumption. The only problem is that our industry encourages people to drive gas guzzling motorhomes or tow vehicles and take people and equipment into places some people would rather humans not tread. Some people are trying to brand RVs as environmentally unfriendly and unnecessary in light of the “crisis facing the planet.”  Thank goodness many people aren’t buying that message.

But, the idea of a Go RVing This Weekend campaign has lots of merit. It’s time to go on the offensive and promote that RVs are true environmentally-friendly family support vehicles that don’t require that much fuel — if people took the time to think about it.

The dealer suggested that we, as an industry promote how much more environmentally friendly RVs are than houses. People who use a 400-square-foot RV for a weekend aren’t spending money and using energy to heat or cool a 2,000-square foot home. This type of “turn off your house and turn on your RV” campaign would be an instant hit among people  A) sheepish about being seen in a gas guzzling vehicle; and B) looking for ways to reconnect with nature.

Locally, RV dealers could develop joint promotions with campgrounds, parks and area tourist attractions to identify all the places people could visit with their families using only 10 or 20 gallons of gas a weekend. By framing the debate in “10 gallon trips,” people begin to think it’s nothing to use an RV. If they’re like me, they’ll burn up 10 gallons of gas a week in their driveways waiting for their “I’ll be outside in a sec” teenage daughters to pry themselves away from the bathroom mirrors.

Ten gallons of gas is less fuel than people burn to get to their jobs every week — and this investment of fuel will give them energy on the weekend to return to their jobs refreshed, relaxed and motivated to perform. Ten gallons of gas will get people anywhere from 100 to 300 miles. Surely there are dozens if not hundreds of fun, family-friendly activities within a 100 to 300 mile radius of any RV dealership.

Let’s not wait for the environmentalists to frame RVs in a way that is totally out of touch with reality. We’ve got a great foundation with Go RVing, and a great following of people who either own or someday hope to buy an RV. Let’s build on that foundation by taking the microphone away from the shrillspeakers and give the American public a message they really want to hear.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 9:25 am and is filed under Previous Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.