The Moonshot

The email that I had been waiting for more than 2 weeks since my visit to the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf arrived in my inbox Monday morning. Because this is a new product under development with an iconic manufacturer, I can't say who it is that we could potentially be working with.

The email that came through was good but it has its challenges. There were some hesitations that came from the VP of Product Development for this RV manufacturer about the direction we wanted to head with this accessory, specifically worrying about structural concerns and how we could design our product in a way that would limit those concerns. The reply had a request inside of it to provide us with sketches of the product that we'd like to develop. Features we discussed were its ability to block sunlight, provide shelter during rain and provide privacy at the campsite. Its design is one of adaptability, allowing it to be attached and positioned based on which one of those features the camper needs it for.

Now the ball is on Isabella's side of the court. My biggest priority at this moment is speed. I want to show this manufacturer that they are working with a partner that is of the caliber that they expect. This means that I need to turn these sketches and the concept around quickly to continue this conversation while it is fresh.

I know the development team has many projects running simultaneously as they're updating existing products while developing new products for the European market. This means the turnaround can sometimes take some time. I decided to take things into my own hands to come up with a concept and sketches that I can take to our CEO for approval instead of waiting for our development team to turn something around. After a quick Teams call to review, he gave me the green light.

I already know the concept from our discussion with the representative from this RV manufacturer on the floor at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf. I decided to take this concept and the project that lay in front of me into Claude Code to perform the work myself.

A cup of coffee, 4 to 5 revisions, and about 2 hours later, I have a design concept that I feel confident showing my CEO as well as the RV manufacturer.

I have zero CAD experience and I've been able to design in SketchUp and create a rendering that I feel confident dropping into a brief to send to my CEO and for our development team to review. It would have taken me days to try to do this on my own in CAD. To a lesser degree the ultimate reality would have been trying to sketch this on a piece of paper and send it into our development team for them to create a rendering that we would feel confident putting in front of this RV manufacturer.

I am very pleased with the results and hope that by the end of the week I can get approval to ship this off to the RV manufacturer for their review.

Monday began the concept design. Tuesday it was developed into a concept brief and an overall partnership strategy. I shipped it Wednesday and received feedback from the trailer manufacturer's team this morning. That feedback was to include a second adjustable pole to provide additional support off of the roll out awning attached to the trailer.

By lunchtime today I shipped version 2 of our concept brief back to the OEM. I'm incredibly pleased with the design, the concept, and this brief that I'm returning. The designs also now follow our internal imagery that we use for our instructions that come in every box of our awnings.

While working on this concept in this brief, I started to think about what life is like inside of a trailer and how well this manufacturer has developed their product to make life inside the trailer comfortable. Everyone sees this manufacturer as a premium option. They know that when they buy this trailer and they go camping in it (or use it for a living space for whatever it is that they're doing in life), they'll be comfortable inside of this trailer.

It made me think about how the 69 years of Isabella's history have focused on the comfort outside of the trailer. I've been having conversations with RV manufacturers, dealerships and many others in the RV industry about the differences between Europe and America and I think the space that we're trying to claim as ours in the United States is that consideration of the time spent outside of the trailer. When it rains or it's extra windy, you don't have to feel like you have to retreat back inside of whatever trailer it is that you're camping in. Using our products allows you to stay out in those elements, which I would say are also just as enjoyable as a sunny day. Hearing the rain hitting the canvas as you sit outside and enjoy the smells and the feel of what it means to be outside when it rains is all a part of the reasons why we get outside and spend time in nature.

This claim that we specialize in comfort outside the trailer is a category statement, not a product claim. I haven't found anyone in the United States that owns the outside of a camping trailer, saying, "Comfort outside the trailer is what Isabella does." It claims a territory rather than a feature, and every product we carry fits inside it: full awnings, sun canopies, chairs, tables, and even the Camp-let.