Rebranding in progress - ompany news Lippert - Aboutcamp BtoB
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C ompany news Lippert
Rebranding in progress
Lippert Components has announced that it is rebranding its core businesses to “Lippert”. Jarod Lippert,
VP of Marketing & Public Relations, and Joe Thompson, Chief Marketing Officer, explain to Aboutcamp
BtoB the reasons of this strategy
Words Giorgio Carpi
L
ippert Components is changing its while the parent company will remain LCI heavily influenced by the company’s core
brand image in an effort to create bet- Industries. The company’s rebranding ini- values, social impact initiatives, renowned
ter relationship with its customer and tiative is driven by in-depth research and workplace culture, and determination to
better communicate with its end-users. The third-party customer survey results that in- improve the customer experience. This new
new name is simply Lippert, so the compa- dicate the public already widely recognizes look and feel seeks to inspire consumers
ny can be recognized for its strong values, the company as Lippert. and reinvigorate Lippert team members
Lippert will now represent all of the compa- with a cohesive identity that creates a sense
ny’s core line of RV and commercial products of unity, no matter what division, depart-
Joe Thompson formerly branded as Lippert Components. ment, or state they work in.
Taylor Made, CURT, Lewmar, and all of Lip- “For the past decade, we have been on an
pert’s other sub brands will be endorsed by intense journey to become more than just
Lippert in order to reinforce Lippert’s role a single market component manufacturer,”
as a leading global manufacturer. The first said Jason Lippert, CEO and President of Lip-
public unveiling of Lippert’s reimagined pert. “After the great recession, we turned
identity was on display at the NTP/Stag Expo our strategic focus toward leveraging our
2021 in Orlando, FL last January. acquisition capabilities, our great people,
manufacturing expertise, and geographies
An updated logo to become a more diverse manufacturing
Along with the change, Lippert is also intro- and engineering solutions company across
ducing a refreshed brand identity - including multiple industries. We have succeeded in
an updated logo, color scheme, design, and that effort, and early last year, we set out
messaging that incorporates the all-new to redefine our brand strategy which better
brand promise, “Whenever, wherever, we fits our business today. As we drive toward
make your experience better,” a statement $3 billion in sales with a significant global
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In partnership with Contacts
er in size. Just in 20 years I have been with uct brands to emphasize the Lippert name
Lippert we have acquired and created 100’s on every product decal. We will still have
of different brands of varying sizes and com- product names, but will step away from cre-
plexity. I will say that our marketing strate- ating logos for each and every product we
gies today are more in sync with our execu- produce. This added to the end-user con-
tive leadership team than ever before, and fusion”.
going forward we will be very cognizant as Introducing customers and the public to this
an organization when we think about our new strategy will not be an easy task. For
branding as we acquire new companies and this Lippert is already working to achieve
launch new products.” Jarod Lippert added. this goal as quickly as possible. “The new
brand was launched in mid-January in North
New consumer programs America and it has been a great success thus
Throughout 2020, Lippert launched several far! It made its debut at the NTP/Stag Expo,
presence, the time is right to fine tune our consumer experience initiatives, such as the the largest RV show that we participate in
branding strategy.” Lippert Scouts program, the Lippert Scouts North America”, Thompson explains. “This
“When we started our rebranding journey, Community, and the Campground Project rebranding effort will be a rolling change,
we set out to do several things,” adds Ja- as well as being involved with multiple RV so it will not come all at once. Our goal is to
rod Lippert, VP of Marketing & Public Re- influencers, timed to enhance and acceler- have all collateral rebranded by the end of
lations. “We knew that most of our cus- ate the new brand launch. These consum- this year. We are actively updating websites,
tomers (OEM, dealers and end-users) in er programs will help instantly cascade the packaging, product decals, advertisements,
the RV space already called us ‘Lippert’ and new brand throughout the RV community catalogs and all other collateral that our
subsequent survey data backed that up, so to associate an elevated and inspired cus- brand touches. In Europe, we are working
we knew that changing our name was not tomer experience with the new brand. to change as much as we can as fast as we
going to come as a huge surprise to many. Holding true to the new brand promise, can, but the real launch of the brand will
But Lippert plays in many spaces and we Lippert is utilizing the user-generated feed- be at the Caravan Salon show this August
have many other powerful brands. In the back and recommendations provided within in Düsseldorf. Look for a really great booth
very early stages of our rebranding journey, these programs to enhance its products and that showcases our brand at its very best!”
we were very cognizant with our third-par- services in order to further enrich the con-
ty marketing firm to define our markets, sumer experience.
channels and customers and make very big Starting January 2021, Lippert begins im- Jarod Lippert
brand architecture decisions on what ‘mas- plementing the new brand through packag-
ter brands’ would represent us in non-RV ing, website updates, marketing collateral,
markets. The decisions we made were pret- social media channels, signage, and more.
ty easy ones because Lippert has acquired “We reach over 40,000 end-users a week
some great brands recently, but it was ex- through email campaigns, social media
tremely important to establish those brand platforms, ads, and other marketing and
decisions to the rest of the organization”. sales assets,” says Chief Marketing Officer,
“Taylor Made is Lippert’s master brand in Joe Thompson. “This rebrand is more than
the North American Marine & Boating In- a new logo and color scheme, it’s about
dustry. With 100+ years in the market and creating an identity that can help us better
very favorable survey results among the US relate to and serve our customers. Every
dealer and consumer base, it was an easy decision we make as a company rests on
choice to keep Taylor Made as our master whether or not we’re improving the lives of
marine brand in North America,” Jarod Lip- our team members, our customers, and our
pert explains. “Lewmar will continue to be communities; now we have an identity and
our master brand in the European marine brand strategy that’s fully aligned with that
and boating markets. Finally, CURT will be mission.”
our master brand worldwide for the auto- The brand recognition by the end user is
motive truck and towing space. Lippert in- fundamental. “This recognition is the
vested a lot in this acquisition late in 2019, entire reason we went through this
one of the main reasons being how strong rebranding process”, Thompson
the CURT brand is”. continues. “Lippert has created
Working closely with Element Three, a mar- and acquired 100’s of brands
keting consulting group out of Indianapolis, in the last 20 years. When we
Lippert was able to leverage survey results began this amazing journey on
from dealers and end-users in both the RV becoming the largest suppli-
and marine segments. These results rein- er in the industry, admittedly
forced how the company is perceived and our brand recognition was
also indicated brand strengths within each not top of mind. Today we
of the channels Lippert is currently serving. realize that in order to be
A new brand image sometimes preludes to recognized as the global
a change in marketing strategies. “We set leader in our space, we
out as an executive committee in early 2020 really need end-users to
to get very serious about branding. With think ‘Lippert First’. To
the recent CURT acquisition and our grow- do this, we are elimi-
ing portfolio of brands, we really believed nating many of our sub
it was the right time to put branding at the brands of products and
forefront of Lippert before we got any larg- simplifying our prod-
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C ompany news Lippert
Virtual Showroom
The new and innovative Virtual Showroom from Lippert provides a 3D experience with
graphic animations of the details and functioning of numerous products specifically developed
for the European recreational vehicle market
Words Giorgio Carpi
L ippert has launched a virtual showroom
with 3D graphics on its European web-
site (www.lippertcomponents.eu) so OEMs
products from Lippert and see their different
applications on recreational vehicles.
“We have created a very versatile and easy-
and the aftermarket can explore and discov- to-use virtual environment,” says Tomma-
er more about its range of RV products. so Gasparrini, Aftermarket Sales Manager,
Virtual Showroom offers an interactive Lippert, RV Europe. ”Lippert, in fact, decid-
browsing experience in an environment that ed not to participate in caravan and mo-
reproduces an exhibition space with some torhome exhibitions in 2020, but did not
of Lippert’ most famous products, such as want to interrupt communications with its
the pull-out steps (Steps), variable height customers. Thus, in addition to launching a
beds (Beds), living area and cabin doors highly successful European online marketing
(Doors), legs and mechanisms for dinette ta- campaign, it took the opportunity to create
bles (Table Mechanisms), the famous “Smart an innovative and useful tool for all of our
Room” slide-out system and the new “Vela” customers: from the small RV builder to the
lifting roof for campervans (Space On De- user of the recreational vehicle. Other in-
mand). credible products from our new aftermarket
Clicking on each product provides an explan- catalogue will soon be added to the Virtual
atory video on the operation of the system, Showroom,” added Tommaso Gasparrini.
created with 3D graphics and accompanied The new Virtual Showroom can be reached
by measurements and other essential infor- from the home page of the European web-
mation. This provides a highly effective tool site or directly via a dedicated link:
to understand, at a glance, all the mechan- www.lippertcomponents.eu/
ical movements possible with the complex virtualshowroom
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R-Bike: the new
Lippert bike carrier
for vans
Research and investment have always characterised the
development activities of Lippert. R-Bike is the trailblazer
of a new family of one-of-a-kind bike carriers that
can be transformed into carry-alls. Brilliantly flexible
in their use, they can be used to mount original
Lippert accessories and can be adapted to
use the most popular fixing systems
Words Enrico Bona
L ippert is tackling this historic moment
for the global RV market with a vision
and significant investments dedicated to
tachments on the market can be fitted and
this a solution means that campers do not
have to renew their equipment entirely to
the gluing system was the subject of a par-
ticularly accurate study during the design
phase and makes R-Bike practically non-de-
developing innovative products. The year install the R-Bike. formable.
2021 opened with the introduction of the
R-Bike Ducato, a new line of bike carriers The structure Range and market
dedicated – at least for the time being – to From the technical point of view, the bike In terms of availability to customers, given
the vans built on X290 platform of the Ital- carrier is made of oxidized and painted alu- the inevitable logistical problems and sup-
ian car manufacturer that is the undisputed minium tubes with 30x45 mm oval section. ply of materials that characterise this peri-
best-seller of the European RV market. In This solution provides greater structural od, Lippert wants to be ready for the needs
keeping with the goal to make the life of strength than that offered by round tubes of the market in 2021 well in advance. The
campers more comfortable and make sys- and guarantees the maximum loading ca- R-Bike line, already included in the Reimo
tems more respondent to their multifarious pacity of the R-Bike up to the remarkable and S.I.F.I. catalogues, will be available from
loading and moving needs, Lippert is intro- weight of 40 kilograms in any configura- all major Lippert European distributors start-
ducing R-Bike, the bicycle carrier system tion. The bike carrier can safely and practi- ing from April 2021. A further and final goal
that by using specifically created acces- cally transport of two e-bikes or three con- set by Lippert for this product is to present
sories, such as racks for skis, snowboards ventional bicycles by adding a third optional the complete R-Bike range for the vans of
or kite-surfs and external lockers, can be rail. all the major manufacturers operating in the
turned into a modular carry-all system. sector at the Caravan Salon 2021 in Düs-
More accessories that are planned and will Innovations seldorf. “We started from a simple market
be introduced over time. However, other The finishes include standard silver bare observation for developing this product. The
accessories using all the other standard at- aluminium with black and orange Lippert van segment is displaying a constant growth
plastic components and an interesting and trend and is increasingly asserting itself as
trendy total black version for owners who the recreational vehicle of the future on a
are looking for a distinctive design in ad- commercial level for manufacturers and as
dition to convenience and practicality, to one of the key reference vehicles for future
make the look of their van unique. With its customers, who are younger and looking for
loading capacity of 40 kilograms, the R-Bike agility and practicality. With its innovative
is currently the most competitive bike carrier design and, above all, for its distinguishing
on the market, also because of its weight, versatility and multiplicity of use, the R-Bike
which is under 10 kilograms. Lippert has will raise the quality bar in the field of bike
always stood out on the recreational vehi- carriers for vans”, said Tommaso Gasparrini,
cle components scene for the great invest- Aftermarket Sales Manager, Lippert, RV Eu-
ments in research and not by chance they rope. “We want to be ready for aftermarket
have developed new structural solutions for customers and, above all, for OEM custom-
the R-Bike, such as the possibility to use of ers, with this innovative and aesthetically
the bike carrier with a new tailgate bond- unique range of products. Being able to ef-
ing system using a single component fectively exploit the exterior spaces of a van
polyurethane glue. This solution is a winner and Lippert has invested a lot
means that no screws are need- in the research of appearance and structural
ed for installing the product and component, designing and rethinking the
that no holes are drilled in the vehicle system from scratch and taking the changes
bodywork. The distribution of the loads that occur in the needs of the world of cam-
between the oval structure of the tubes and pervans users into account”.
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