Investing for the future:
Lazydays embarks on long-term branding strategy.

Successful companies succeed in good times and bad. For even in bad times, a good company will find a way to take market share. Even if the total market is not growing, and may even be shrinking . . . an aggressive and well-planned marketing strategy can have amazing results.

Market share is gained when a product, service or company is so well known and respected, that it continues to grow despite uncertainty in the marketplace.

Unfortunately, many companies take the exact opposite route at the first sign of bumps in the road. Then they compound the problem by cutting the very departments that are needed to keep them moving forward . . . sales and marketing. And marketing is usually the first to go.

Our cover story has shown that Lazydays is not your typical RV dealer. Therefore, it was not unusual to find that they didn't cut back on sales and marketing . . . they expanded it. First a $16 million dollar facilities expansion that included 60 additional sales offices. Then they went hunting for a proven marketing professional that would assure them of meeting their goal to become a one billion-dollar company by 2005.

Lazydays has no intention of slowing down. In fact, they are investing in their own future by investing in people. The key person behind their future marketing strategy is Stewart Schaffer, chief marketing officer. Schaffer likes to refer to himself as a branding specialist.

During our recent visit to Lazydays, we spent several hours with Schaffer to fully understand the impact of his position and where it fits into the overall growth strategy of this industry leading RV dealership.

While the focus of our attention was on him, he repeatedly told us that he was extremely fortunate to inherit one of the strongest marketing teams he's had the pleasure to work with. "There were incredibly talented people already in place when I arrived at Lazydays. Because of their ability to carry on the day-to-day functions of the department, I am able to devote a great deal of my time to what we consider our most important project . . . building our brand identity," Schaffer said.

Schaffer is busy at work developing brand strategies for a series of nationally recognized identifications with various operations within the Lazydays complex in Seffner, FL. Successful branding puts the name on the lips and in the minds of the consumer whenever they think of the product or service category associated with the brand.

Does it work? You bet it does. Want proof? Ok.

How many times today will you send somebody to the office copier and tell him or her to Xerox something? Even if you don't own a Xerox copier, you still call it Xerox. You don't say go Canon this file, or get me a few Dankas of this document. We associated office copier technology with Xerox.

Before Lee Iacocca drove out of the Ford factory in a revolutionary car, a mustang was just a horse. Thirty years after it was first introduced, a Mustang is still a car, not a horse. And it's a Ford Mustang and everyone knows it.

When I was growing up a "crest" was the top of a mountain. That was until the first toothpaste with fluoride was introduced and people forgot all about the tops of mountains. You mention the word Crest today and everyone grabs for his or her toothbrush.

Schaffer and his marketing team have designed programs that will do the same thing for Lazydays. If they have their way, every time somebody thinks about an RV, he or she will be thinking about Lazydays or one of its affiliated brands.

Just outside his office door we found a very well equipped in-house graphics and marketing suite with several creative minds that can take the company's new vision and put it into print. The first results are in the mail and all around the Lazydays complex. They play a major role in the total experience a customer will find when they visit the sprawling 150 acre complex.

Schaffer has branded Lazydays. Here are the results:

Lazydays - Number One in RVs
Venture - Number One RV Catalog
RallyPark - Number One in RV Rallies
CrownClub ­ Number One in Luxury RV Service

Schaffer, with the full support of Don Wallace, is not going to brand anything unless they can be Number One. The Lazydays team is committed to doing whatever it takes to excel in all endeavors.

"Branding is a science," Schaffer said. "Lazydays was the largest dealer in the country before I got here. My job is to brand every important thing we do and make sure that each brand is number one in its category. When people think RV, we want them to think Lazydays."

Stew Schaffer's background is well suited to the goals and objectives established by Wallace and his team.

Prior to joining Lazydays, Schaffer was corporate vice president of marketing for ClubCorp, the largest owner and operator of private clubs and club resorts in North America. At ClubCorp, he was responsible for the development of new brands, markets, services and membership programs.

Schaffer has extensive experience and knowledge in sales management, strategic marketing, brand development, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. He received his BS and MBA degrees from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

When asked if he was an active RVer, he politely said no, but didn't make any excuses either. "I'm new to this business, and I have to focus on building our brands," Schaffer said. "In some ways, I think it is better this way. I don't have any preconceived feelings about RVs and can concentrate on the goal of our company, and not individual products. It removes all the emotion from the job and I can focus more clearly on time-tested brand strategies.

"I'm a technician that has to put many pieces of the puzzle together to achieve our objectives. That's not to say that I won't use our RVs."

He assured RV News that he "will be experiencing the RV lifestyle real soon."