Go RVing 2008 TV Lineup Includes Top Sporting Events: Super Bowl,
Daytona 500 and Olympics
RESTON, Va. – In an unprecedented move, Go RVing television ads will run during coverage of three of sports’ biggest events – the Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and Summer Olympics.
The 2008 media plan launched on February 3 with a FOX “power buy” that kicked off with Go RVing’s first-ever Super Bowl buy, during the final half-hour of the Super Bowl XLII Pregame show. A Go RVing ad also aired during the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on FOX, February 17. The spots on these two events allowed Go RVing to enter approximately 127 million homes and boost awareness in the midst of the busy retail show season.
The 2008 media plan reached its peak with a major buy on the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, August 8-24. Go RVing purchased a package of 138 30-second spots on NBC and its cable affiliates, MSNBC, USA, and Oxygen. The ads reached 141.5 million households during the two weeks.
“To stimulate demand in a tough year,” said Gary LaBella, vice president and chief marketing officer, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), which manages the campaign for the industry-wide Go RVing Coalition, “we locked in buys during three of the most powerful television viewing events, anchoring a campaign designed to generate two billion consumer impressions.”
In 2008, Go RVing increased the campaign’s strong NASCAR presence with a buy on ESPN and the Speed Channel, featuring spots on the Nextel and Nationwide (formerly Busch) series races and RV “on the road” vignettes between race locations. A vignette featuring legendary NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace was shot on location during the 2007 National RV Trade Show in Louisville, KY.
On March 9, 2008, in Norwich, CT, the nation’s top professional bowlers took to the lanes in the Second Annual Go RVing Classic. As in 2007, Go RVing ads and lane signage were featured during this and all Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic in February and March. Go RVing is officially sponsoring a three-man team of bowlers who will wear Go RVing shirts and carry a ball with the Go RVing logo. “Team Go RVing” includes bowlers Riga Kalfas and Todd Book, who each travel by RV, and Joe Ciccone. The PBA’s all-time leading title and money winner, Walter Ray Williams, Jr., remains an RVIA media spokesperson and will continue to sport a Go RVing shirt in competitions and in interviews with his motorhome.
Go RVing was prominent once again during Triple Crown Horse Racing programming on ESPN leading up to the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont and the Preakness in May. An exciting new addition to the lineup was the Xtreme Bulls Tour on ESPN. And, Sunday major league baseball (MLB) on TBS featured Go RVing ads, which ran April through June.
Go RVing TV spots on a total of 30 major national networks, also including the National Geographic Channel, Discovery, TV Guide Channel, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Weather Channel, A & E, Animal Planet, Golf Channel, Hallmark Channel, TV Land and Sci-Fi.
On the newsstands the “What Will You Discover? Go RVing” print ads ran in a mix of 32 national and regional publications. Go RVing’s print plan includes the traditional one-and-one-third page ads in top-rated publications like Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, Ebony, Outside, Conde Nast Traveler, Family Fun, National Geographic Adventure, Southern Living, Travel & Leisure, Sporting News and Woman’s Day.
Six new lead-generating, smaller ads (one-third to quarter-page formats) were created to appear in new publications like Outdoor Photographer, AARP Magazine, O-The Oprah Magazine, Cooking Light, Cooking with Paula Deen, Dog Fancy, and ATV Magazine. The demographics of these readers and their hobbies/leisure pursuits makes them prime targets for the Go RVing message.
With an increased Internet investment, Go RVing ads will appear February through December on 19 popular websites and search engines including Yahoo!, Google, Weather.com, Away.com, Military.com, Hallmark.com, Kaboose, HGTV/DIY network and Yahoo! Pets.
The Go RVing Coalition, formed in 1994, consists of RV manufacturers, component suppliers, dealers and campgrounds. Go RVing works to provide the public and media with pertinent information about the benefits of RV travel and to foster customer satisfaction with the RV experience through customer research conducted by its Committee on Excellence. For more information visit GoRVing.com.
