Caravan Salon Connections

Today was my first day in Düsseldorf for the Caravan Salon. The Isabella team was making final adjustments to the display at the trade show, so I had the afternoon to myself. The first order of business was picking up the camera that I purchased through Leica Amsterdam at Leica Düsseldorf, where they treated me like I was their actual customer, pouring me an espresso and walking me through the camera. This camera is going to help me with Isabella product photography, but it also has very strong video capabilities. I hope it will enable me to use it as a hybrid camera instead of lugging around my Sony and my other Leica, which has a fixed lens and hasn't been that great for product photography.

Once I was done there, I went and had lunch, a nice German beer, and then walked about an hour from Altstadt back to my hotel. By then the team was back and ready for dinner, and we all went out as a team of 30+ people to a nearby restaurant serving traditional German food.

The first day of the show. This is the day when it's mostly people in the industry or dealers, so it's not as busy as when it's officially open to the public. This was my first day to evaluate how we set up our stand and take notes in preparation for the Glamping Show Americas that Isabella USA will be in later in September in the evening. The person responsible for vendor relationships at nuCamp met me at the show and was able to walk through all of our products that we have to offer. I think this was a unique opportunity, because I only import a small subset of the products we offer into the United States, which I think gives a certain perception of Isabella. As the person within nuCamp who has a say in what parts they put on their trailers, understanding which ones open up the possibility to connect with products like ours, helps him weigh added features vs. only comparing cost. It puts the customer at the forefront of what to consider.

This was also beneficial because, as he's thinking, "Do we need a keder rail on a new trailer, or perhaps on a trailer that we make that doesn't have one?" or when he's thinking about what rollout sun canopy he's going to install on a trailer, it was good for him to see why it makes sense for him to put certain ones on. That way they can utilize the sorts of products that we make and further increase options for the customers of their travel trailers.

I invited him and his wife on the boat that we had rented that evening, where we celebrated our 70th anniversary with over 350 dealers and partners for drinks, dinner, music, and a cruise on the Rhine. We spent the evening sharing a meal and a few drinks. Time that was spent getting to know them more as people. Hearing their story of working at the Peace Corps and helping teach kids in English in a foreign country. Their enthusiasm to explore cultures and help people was my greatest realization of the type of people they are.

After the boat cruise last night I went out into town with some of my colleagues and Danish dealers. There were some memories of nostalgia that evening, because the last four times I had been to Düsseldorf for this exact fair, I had been out in Altstadt with my cousins and brother. Going into bars with loud German electronic music or older classics that everyone know sthe lyrics to. This time around the experience wasn't quite the same. The music seemed louder, the bars seemed more crowded, and I wasn't quite able to settle into good conversation like the passed times. By the time I had a late night kebab and got a taxi home with some colleagues, it was 2AM. The jet lag and staying up late really took it out of me, so didn't make it to the show until lunch time.

After lunch I started talking with the director of Isabella Netherlands, Roel, and he asked me if I had seen much of the show. By that point I had not, so he and I decided to go walk the many other buildings to see not only other accessories but the different types of RVs that are manufactured in the European market.

What I didn't anticipate was stumbling across a small Airstream display. Before I left for Düsseldorf I was in contact with someone at Airstream who told me a name of someone who might be attending the show (sorry, a lot of this person that person to keep everyone anonymous). I found that person and tried to reach out to them on LinkedIn and even sent a Facebook message, but no reply before the show.

As I approached the Airstream stand I found a familiar face and realized that it was the person I had been trying to reach out to. I went through the one or two trailers that they had there until the contact was no longer talking with a customer, at which point I made my American accent known and introduced myself. The person is British and manages Airstream Europe. I told him more about Isabella. He said he knew very well about Isabella and potentially has even been to our headquarters in Vejle. I expressed to him my desire to create something for the iconic Silver Bullet Airstream. This not only would be a fantastic collaboration for us, but the total addressable market on this trailer for us is massive.

Airstream has used the same rollout canopy on their Silver Bullet Airstreams for 50+ years and has practically not changed a single thing about it. It is my understanding, through speaking with people at Airstream, that there are roughly 80,000 active Airstreams in the United States. That is a huge number of RVs that we could all of sudden be compatible with.

After speaking with that person for some time, he said that he'd be willing and very interested in co-developing a product together. This is very useful for me because one of the biggest hurdles we need to overcome to develop a product for this is actually having access to that sun canopy (because it's so different than anything else that's offered in Europe). This contact told me he just needs to run this by his American counterparts, both of whom I have met and who have familiarity with me. As long as everything is given a green light, he would be able to get us one of these sun canopies sent to our headquarters so our development team can mount one on the wall and use it to develop a product.

I was flying high towards the end of this day after having spoken to this person at Airstream. It has taken a dozen trips to Jackson Center to the Airstream HQ, email communication and phone meetings to build report with people at Airstream. All of this has led to a better foundation in preparation for me meeting this person who runs Airstream Europe. The fact that I knew the people he mentioned, I think, built credibility as we continued our conversations.

Each visit, each conversation and now this potential project is what makes my work at Isabella so motivating.