Trailer Life, Woodall’s to Form ‘Super Directory’
According to a press release, the two companies will join forces to “inspire travel by bringing the highest quality, most complete and accurate information about RV and camping travel to the most engaged RVers and campers in North America.”
On announcing the merger Marcus Lemonis, chairman and CEO of parent Good Sam Enterprises LLC, said, “The consolidation of the two directories into one ‘super directory’ will provide our customers with a single source for their RVing and camping travel planning. The coming together of these two brands enables us to serve as more than a directory, and will represent an ‘everything RV guide’ for the consumer to be inspired to fully explore the RV lifestyle across North America.”
“This merger will also allow us to drive more business to our RV park and campground advertisers and to our network of Good Sam Parks,” continued Lemonis. “We know that our success is predicated on the success of our customers, and combining the strength of the industry’s two leading directory brands is just one way in which we can ensure we are serving the needs of our campground, RV park and resort customers. Advertisers have asked us to consider a unified directory so that they can focus their marketing spend in one powerful vehicle. Thus we made this decision with our park and campground partners very much in mind, to provide them one ‘super directory’ which will be the ultimate marketing showcase for them.”
Beginning with the 2013 edition, a new campground directory under the Good Sam brand “will emerge from the best of both Woodall’s and Trailer Life directories, representing nearly 130 years of combined industry service and campground expertise.” The release stated that this new directory will offer higher circulation and even more online and mobile application marketing opportunities to campgrounds and parks. This combined directory will utilize the Trailer Life 10/10/10 rating system, with some enhancements borrowed from the Woodall’s rating system. The ratings as always will be based on personal visits by directory representatives.
Other improvements to the 2013 combined directory will include state and provincial points of interest, the RVers “Bucket List” for 2013, tips to improve your RV and camping lifestyle, 10-Minute Tech Tips, RV maintenance advice, how to buy or sell an RV, dealers and service station locations, games, puzzles, recipes and coupons. The directory will also spotlight the Good Sam RV Park and Resort network, “the largest affiliated park network in North America,” featuring more than 1,700 RV parks and resorts where Good Sam members can save 10% on nightly camping fees.
Both the Trailer Life and Woodall’s brands will continue into 2013 and beyond according to the company. Woodall’s regional directory editions will continue to be published in 2013, in an exclusive partnership with AAA, and Trailer Life Magazine will continue to be published on a monthly basis. Likewise websites, online directory search, and mobile applications will continue to exist for both brands.
The combined 2013 combined directory will not affect the distribution and circulation of the 2012 Trailer Life and Woodall’s directories, websites and mobile applications, as both the Trailer Life and Woodall’s 2012 directory editions will be available to consumers just the same as past years.
“We have some great enhancements for our advertising partners planned for our 2013 ‘super directory’ and are excited to share our plans with the industry at the upcoming ARVC Conference,” said Ann Emerson, vice president and publisher of the new combined directory. “Not only will we have more exciting marketing tools for parks to connect with avid RVers and campers, we will also expand our number of field teams to permit them to spend more time working with individual parks on their marketing program.
“We also want to assure our advertising customers that our 2012 Woodall’s and Trailer Life Directory circulation commitments will be met through our various distribution channels, beginning in December of this year and continuing throughout 2012. And we will continue to connect campgrounds with active RVers through our three websites, www.trailerlifedirectory.com, www.woodalls.com and www.goodsamclub.com, as well as through our mobile applications for both Trailer Life and Woodall’s directories.”
The release stated that the 2013 combined directory will take advantage of the previously separate circulation strategies for each brand. The Woodall’s Directory has been distributed through bookstores, mass merchant chains, Camping World stores, RV dealers and campgrounds, while the Trailer Life Directory has been primarily distributed to the Good Sam Club members and through internet sales. The combined directory in 2013 will utilize both these distribution strategies to reach all the active, affluent RVers and campers that each of these brands reached separately in the past. Campground search tools for the combined directory will also be available at www.trailerlifedirectory.com, www.woodalls.com and www.goodsamclub.com websites, as well as on campground search mobile applications for both iPhone and Android.
“Having this ‘super directory’ under the Good Sam brand will give our advertisers greater share of mind with the market’s largest RVer database, the combined 4 million plus avid RVers who are members of Good Sam and customers of Camping World,” added Lemonis. “While advertisers will benefit from the larger consumer audience, RVers will reap the rewards of a single source for all their RV travel planning needs. Publishing this combined directory under the Good Sam brand will be a powerful unifying strategy for our entire organization, and will further our mission to grow the Good Sam brand, Good Sam Club, and our Good Sam Park network.”
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