Future-Proofing Brands: A Deep Dive With Winnebago and PatPat

The Gist

• Customer insights. Winnebago Industries uses deep consumer understanding to stay relevant, expanding its product line to include smaller, tech-enabled RVs for new generations.
• Brand evolution. PatPat successfully transitioned from children's clothing to family-oriented fashion by tapping into emerging trends and expanding their market.
  
• Consistent messaging. Clear and consistent communication is crucial during brand repositioning to maintain consumer trust and avoid confusion.
• Community building. Winnebago strengthens brand loyalty and identity by fostering a community through events and owner groups, enhancing the customer experience. 

Editor's Note: This transcript was edited for clarity and brevity. This podcast is a derivative of Amber and Ranu's interviews with Michelle Hawley on the CMSWire TV show CMO Circle. 

Michelle Hawley: Hi everybody, welcome back to CX Decoded, the podcast where we dive into the latest trends and insights in the customer experience world. I’m Michelle Hawley, Senior Editor at CMSWire.

And in today’s episode our focus is going to be on brand evolution. And to give us some insight, we’re turning to two marketing pros featured on our CMO Circle TV show:

• CMO Circle: Pioneering New Paths With Winnebago Industries
• CMO Circle: One Brand’s Evolution to Family-Centric Fashion

First up we have Amber Holm, the chief marketing officer at Winnebago Industries, and we have Ranu Coleman, head of marketing at PatPat.

We will be pulling directly from those interviews and diving into the lessons they shared on how brands can undergo an evolution the right way. 

So let’s get into it! 

Takeaway 1: Evolving Your Brand Using Customer Insights

Michelle Hawley: For takeaway number one, we’re going to look at how to evolve your brand using customer insights. 

A lot of brands have been around for decades. But what customers wanted 50 years ago probably won’t match up with what they want now.

One of those long-lasting brands is Winnebago Industries — it’s been around for more than 60 years. It’s one of — if not the first — brand you think of when it comes to the quintessential American road trip. 

But maintaining that iconic status over the years requires a deep understanding of today’s consumer. Amber Holm shares how Winnebago has adapted its strategies by diving deep into what their audience wants and delivering the products to meet those expectations. 

Amber Holm: For us, we do want to make sure that it's relevant for the next generation of consumers. I think the good news is we're starting from a place of strength because it's always been about providing outdoor experiences for our consumers, and today's consumers want outdoor experiences as much as they did way back when because it provides mental health benefits, physical health benefits. So that's a great starting point. 

But for us, we want to make sure that people think that the Winnebago brand is for them today. So first, it starts with knowing our consumers and what they want. We have a strong consumer insights practice here at Winnebago Industries. And then for us, it's really about having a product offering that meets those needs as well. 

Michelle Hawley: Amber’s approach at Winnebago centers on outdoor experiences, which are timeless — but they require new forms to stay relevant. Because of this, Winnebago has expanded their products beyond the traditional RV models, adding products that are smaller and easier to maneuver to appeal to younger customers and new audience segments. 

Ranu Coleman also found a need to evolve in the products offered at PatPat. Once a brand centered on children’s clothing, she saw a growing trend in marketing clothing for the whole family. 

Ranu Coleman: PatPat was one of the first brands to really introduce family matching outfits. We were definitely pioneers in this space and I think it really allowed us to set trends and establish a bit more of a stronger market presence when we first launched in 2014. And overall, I think our early adoption of family matching really helped us solidify our position as being more market leaders in this space.

And so, leaning more into this became an obvious solution for us to be the next major step in our growth and moving the brand forward. Another thing is I feel like, overall, this strategic shift has improved our brand perception and made PatPat more of a versatile, inclusive family-friendly brand. One of our main goals is really to acclimate and cater to more modern families. And overall, I think this approach has been the right direction to do that.

Michelle Hawley: For PatPat, tapping into family-oriented trends expanded their brand from a niche children’s label to a leader in family fashion. Ranu’s insights show us how staying close to emerging trends can help brands evolve in unexpected and highly effective ways.

Related Article: The Fall of Fake: Why Consumers Are Turning to Brand Authenticity

Takeaway 2: The Challenges of Brand Repositioning 

Michelle Hawley: Now let’s move on to takeaway number two: looking at the challenges that come with repositioning your brand. As you can imagine, it’s no easy feat. 

For PatPat, transitioning from a kid’s brand to a family-oriented label brought up a few challenges along the way. Ranu describes some of those obstacles and opportunities that popped up during this change. 

Ranu Coleman: I think one thing that we've definitely learned overall, and that was the biggest challenge, is that it's incredibly important that we have effective communication and that our messaging is really consistent through all of our channels.

And highlighting family-oriented products in our campaigns and using strong visuals, I think overall has really helped shift the customer perception that we're not just a kid’s brand, but we're also a brand for families as well. 

Michelle Hawley: Ranu makes an important point here: any brand pivot must be followed by clear, consistent messaging. Without it, you risk confusing or even losing your existing customers. This focus on consistency builds credibility and ensures that new and existing customers recognize the brand’s evolution.

Think about Twitter, purely from a branding perspective. The platform was a household name, Tweet was a verb people used often. But when Elon Musk bought the platform and renamed it to X, it left a lot of people confused. People still refer to the platform as Twitter or they say X, formerly known as Twitter. You can still navigate to the site using Twitter.com. And people still say they Tweeted something when they make a post.

But beyond consistency, there are other challenges brands face when they want to reposition themselves. 

Ranu Coleman: The other thing that I think was a challenge is just staying ahead in terms of product development. Marketing strategies have also been pretty critical. In general, I feel like we need to really foster a culture here of innovation to keep product lines fresh, keep them engaging and really try to think of new different product ideas that will lead us more into this direction. 

One of the things my team does a lot is really actively engaging in social listening. That's really important just to really stay ahead of the latest trends when it comes to what's going on in the influencer world, what's going on culturally and also just, overall, you know, influencers and who we should be partnering with. I think overall this really ensures that we continuously offer products that seem to resonate with our customers.

Michelle Hawley: We’ve already covered how changing your product line can be a big win for repositioning your brand. But that doesn’t mean it’s not also a challenge. 

But Ranu speaks to the power of social listening to make sure you’re on the right track. Your customers and potential customers will tell you what they want — you just have to listen. Find out where your customers are — maybe TikTok looking at influencer content, or maybe Instagram following well-known brands — and listen to their wants, frustrations, pain points and whatever else they have to say. 

Related Article: Social Listening: Key to Understanding Customer Needs and Preferences

Takeaway 3: Leveraging Technology and Innovation

Michelle Hawley: Next up, we hear from our marketing experts on leveraging technology and innovation. 

Things in the tech space are changing quickly, and we’re all trying to keep up. Now, leveraging that technology isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s a necessity. 

Both Winnebago and PatPat have embraced technology in unique ways to elevate the customer experience. Let’s hear from Amber on how Winnebago uses tech to improve convenience for their customers.

Amber Holm: We continuously think about our product pipeline. And then as we think about our marketing and digital marketing to reach those consumers, and ultimately even connecting our products. We have Winnebago Connect, which is an RV system that you can control with your phone. It's intuitive. You can set the climate, turn on the lights and do everything kind of to monitor the vehicle right from your phone. And so that's something again that today's consumers and younger consumers really look to as well.

Michelle Hawley: With Winnebago Connect, the brand can bridge that gap of traditional RVing with modern expectations for convenience and smart technology. This move aligns Winnebago with tech-savvy customers who want comfort and control, and demonstrates how even legacy brands can use innovation to stay relevant.

PatPat, on the other hand, relies heavily on digital tools and platforms for marketing and customer engagement. Social media plays a key role in their strategy, with a focus on trends and influencer marketing.

Ranu Coleman: We work with different platforms right now just to kind of track all of our metrics and some of the platforms have integrated ChatGPT into them. You can, for example, add like different messaging features now, which I would say is definitely changing the way influencers are getting kind of approached by brands.

Michelle Hawley: As we all know, AI is getting infused into almost everything. And Ranu talks about how they’re already using this technology, like generative AI, to benefit the brand. 

Related Article: The Secret Ingredient to a Smarter Marketing Tech Stack

Takeaway 4: Building and Nurturing a Community

Michelle Hawley: Let’s step away from technology for a minute and instead, for takeaway number four, focus on another very important aspect for brands: building and nurturing a community. 

Community is a powerful asset for many brands. And Winnebago, with its long-standing place in the RV world, fosters a strong sense of community among its customers. Amber explains how this community is built through various events and gatherings.

Amber Holm: We do a lot around building community. So we've got owners groups for all of our products and they give each other advice and actually, especially in the RV space, come together for rallies. 

Camp Winnebago's actually next week that's a huge gathering of Winnebago owners that come together in Forest City, Iowa which is where the brand was founded and where our service center is and they really feel a part of that community. Grand Design has rallies all throughout the summer. Again, people come together in different regions and they have a national rally so I think that community is important as well.

So I think continuing to build that community is important to us too, because compared to consumer products or something that you kind of buy and then that's it. With our products, you kind of buy and you have an ongoing relationship with the company and also an ongoing relationship, we hope, with other owners. So you'll see us continue to drive more of that. And that helps from a word of mouth and welcoming more people into the brand as well. 

Michelle Hawley: With events like Camp Winnebago, or even educational events, the brand can create a space where customers can connect with each other — and when they meet up, they know they already have at least one thing in common. That sense of community builds loyalty, strengthens brand identity, and turns Winnebago customers into brand ambassadors. 

Beyond that community of RVers, Amber also talks about the sense of community and connection built through educating new and potential customers. 

Amber Holm: I think doing that education about kind of what the lifestyle is like and then not just the purchase but then once you're in the ownership phase, people know there's gonna be service and things to think about, so we kind of focus on that whole end-to-end experience and making people feel comfortable and confident. I mean, it's a journey. There's always more we can do. Because again, it can be intimidating if you're a first-time buyer, but the content that we're building, the social channels, etc., and our partnerships with our dealers are really meant to help make it feel less intimidating and welcome more people in.

Michelle Hawley: What I think is really important here, and it’s something Amber mentions, is that end-to-end experience. For so many products or services, once you make that purchase, that relationship is over. Amber emphasizes how important it is to maintain that relationship even beyond that point. 

Related Article: Online Communities for Customer Retention and Engagement

Takeaway 5: Continuing to Adapt for What’s Next 

Michelle Hawley: Now for our last takeaway, number five, we’re going to look ahead into the future a little bit. We all know things are going to change, but are you prepared to adapt quickly? 

I asked Ranu about what changes she expects for the future. 

Ranu Coleman: One for sure I definitely feel like is AI. I'm seeing it just a lot in terms of influencer marketing, but especially when it comes to influencer marketing technology. 

Michelle Hawley: Ranu also pointed to AI’s capabilities when it comes to helping with messaging and content creation. 

Ranu Coleman: We definitely take advantage of these technologies because we are working up with a couple of different platforms right now. So when there are, you know, features like that, we definitely take advantage of it. Especially when it helps with just overall messaging, even like with social media.

There's so many great AI tools right now that kind of help you with, I would say like editing and kind of refining your captions or making sure you're using the right hashtags There's a lot of great tools right now in terms of that.

Michelle Hawley: And at Winnebago, Amber said they’re looking to embrace digital transformation across the entire journey. Here’s what she had to say on what’s next. 

Amber Holm: It probably sounds cliché, but digital transformation has been the journey that we're on. But you're not going to operate in today's environment if you're not transforming. And so it used to be about, I'm going to do digital marketing. And now I think it's really marketing in a digital world. And so for us, that's everything from the shop experience all the way through to the owning and the connected coach or the connected products that we have. So we've put a big focus on continuing to evolve there for sure.

Michelle Hawley: Amber’s future outlook emphasizes the importance of a long-term commitment to digital transformation, making sure Winnebago remains relevant throughout the digital age. 

Brand Evolutions Meet the Future of Customer Experience

Michelle Hawley: Alright, that’s it for today’s episode of CX Decoded. Huge thanks to our marketing pros, Amber Holm and Ranu Colemn, for their incredible insights on the CMO Circle. And thank you to everyone listening.

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