Even before Corona, camping has been the trendy form of holiday par excellence, which means that the brand doesn’t have to worry about enough demand. At Fendt-Caravan, the challenge is to reach new customers who have previously had little to do with camping. In the following interview, he reports on how Marketing Director Thomas Kamm masters this challenge!
Thomas Kamm
Marketing Director | Fendt-Caravan
Thomas, please tell us a little about yourself and your role at Fendt-Caravan!
I have worked in the industry and at Fendt-Caravan for more than 20 years now. I work with a fantastic, young, and committed team and am responsible for marketing and communication.
Fendt-Caravan uses our platform to continuously supply their dealers with high-quality campaign content. Why did you decide to permanently integrate this new approach of automated multichannel marketing into your communication concept?
After many months of casual contact with the socialPALS sales team, things suddenly became more concrete during the Corona pandemic. In search of Support opportunities for our trade, we pushed the talks and then implemented the first campaigns rather quickly.
The response of the participating retailers was overwhelmingly positive, so we decided to turn this project into a permanent platform and offer it over a more extended period.
What challenges do you currently see in the industry - both for FENDT CARAVAN as a brand and for the caravan dealerships? Were you able to solve them with the help of the socialPALS platform?
The challenges of our industry are undoubtedly complex and cross-sectoral. As far as marketing is concerned, I would like to say that the topic of “new customers who have not yet dealt with camping” and the right way to approach them will undoubtedly be the most significant opportunity, but also the biggest challenge. We are happy to face this challenge and will actively support our trade here.
What was the goal of the "50 Years of Fendt-Caravan" campaign and how much time/organisation did you spend on marketing to get it off the ground?
With the first campaign, we aimed to win about 50 per cent of our dealers as partners and achieve attractive traffic numbers. We succeeded wonderfully in doing both.
The time required was certainly not without its challenges, but we could plan for the campaign thanks to less time spent on other projects during the Corona pandemic.
How difficult is it to motivate the caravan dealerships to repeatedly take part? Is the module "online marketing" accepted as an integration into the sales concept?
First of all, new tools and their implementation or acceptance are generally linked with convincing and effort. However, the campaign launch time was convenient for us: Our trade partners were in lockdown at the start of the new “online marketing” module and thus had time to engage with the tool. Our efforts will now be directed at convincing the trade partners who were not yet involved in the start-up phase.
Have you been able to draw any helpful learnings from the campaigns so far?
Of course, you grow with new tools and learn something new every day. That’s why we are in regular exchange with the socialPALS team to advance significant further developments. We are currently working together on integrating the tool into our marketing bonus program.
Are you noticing a boom in camper sales or are the numbers declining?
In recent years, the entire camping industry has been in a boom phase. In pandemic times, this has picked up even more speed, showing that camping is naturally the form of holiday that is the most “corona-compliant” way.
Are you already planning further campaigns to support your retailers?
We are currently planning a variety of campaigns with diverse content and themes. In the new caravan season, we will offer campaigns for our trade partners throughout to achieve tremendous possible success together. We are already looking forward to it!
We are looking forward to that as well - thank you very much for the interview, Thomas!
This is what our retails say:
We have already taken part in a few Fendt-Caravan campaigns. So far, I have always experienced a very positive response; even the comments under the social media posts are incredibly positive. An extra advertising budget becomes instantly noticeable in the reach figures. I can highly recommend socialPALS!
Camping Vöpel
Michael Vöpel / Managing Director
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