Winnebago Industries Specialty Vehicles Division Announces Strategic Partnership with Experiential Marketing Agency STAR

SOURCE: Winnebago Industries

[MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. & FOREST CITY, Iowa - MAY 20, 2020] — As the nation begins to recover from the COVID-19 virus, marketing teams across the country have to get creative with their applications for community outreach. Experiential marketing applications that engage customers with unique brand experienceshave grown in popularity recently, but taking these concepts on the road can broaden brand reach and provide services to communities at large during this time. Building upon the success of their 2019 Viking’s Table food truck collaboration, Winnebago Industries’ Specialty Vehicle Division [NYSE: WGO] and the Minnesota based experiential marketing agency STARhave established a strategic partnership to offer mobile experiential marketing opportunities to a broader range of clients. The partnership will utilize Winnebago Industries’ Specialty Vehicle Division’s history of quality production on their Commercial Shell on a Winnebago RV platform and STAR’s experiential marketing expertise to enhance how clients look at mobile marketing. 

“STAR is pleased to partner with Winnebago Industries’ Specialty Vehicle Division to deliver experiential marketing innovation to sports teams across the country with community-immersive, mobile experiences,” says Dave Whorton, Director of Sports & Entertainment Partnerships of STAR. “Our collective work will harness the influence of sports and drive unparalleled opportunity for activation, brand integration and the fan experience.”

At the request of the Minnesota Vikings Foundation, Winnebago and STAR worked on their first project together in 2019 to create a food truck and community outreach vehicle called “Vikings Table.” Catering to children experiencing food insecurity in Minneapolis-St. Paul and adjacent communities, the food truck provides access to free meals during the summer months. As the food truck is serving meals, children and families can visit an indoor experience within the vehicle, designed by STAR, to learn more about nutrition, the Vikings, and the Foundation through graphics and videos. An interactive selfie station inside the truck gives kids the opportunity to engage with Vikings players or their friends and family.  

Karin Nelsen, Vice President of Legal & Social Impact at the Minnesota Vikings, is proud to be a part of the mobile movement and worked closely with STAR and Winnebago to create the experience.  

“Making a difference in the community and using the Vikings platform to help the Minnesota Vikings Foundation accomplish its mission is one of our organizational pillars,” says Nelsen. “Vikings Table is a unique way to reach the approximately 250,000 children in our communities missing meals, serve our youth and forge ahead together.”

STAR launched a Sports & Entertainment Division to help properties and brands translate brand strategy into physical activation. The decision to deepen STAR’s efforts in the sports and entertainment space stemmed from success in working with a core base of clients, including the Zurich Classic, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Minnesota Wild, ESPN’s X-Games and the Super Bowl LII organizing committee and sponsors. Working with a household name like Winnebago made sense to broaden their reach.

Winnebago Industries’ Specialty Vehicle Division produces commercial vehicles that combine their legendary SuperStructure® construction with experienced craftsmen to provide the ideal platform for many end-use applications. The Specialty Vehicles team also partners with multiple second-stage builders who add vehicle interiors and sub-systems to the vehicle platform.  

“We look forward to working with STAR to bring more projects like the Vikings Table to other regions,” explained Robert Kim, Director of Winnebago Industries’ Specialty Vehicles Division. “The Winnebago commercial vehicle platforms are currently being used in many mobile applications, including mobile medical, dental, classrooms, bookmobiles, bloodmobiles, and mammography. All of these applications provide amazing services to the communities they serve, but there are many other communities without these services. The partnership with STAR is going to help bring visibility to how sports teams can use mobile platforms to serve their communities.”

About Winnebago Industries

Winnebago Industries, Inc. is a leading U.S. manufacturer of outdoor lifestyle products and commercial vehicles under the Winnebago, Grand Design, Chris-Craft and Newmar brands, which are used primarily in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. The company builds quality motorhomes, travel trailers, fifth wheel products, boats and commercial community outreach vehicles. Since the 1980’s, its Specialty Vehicles Division has leveraged the Winnebago motorhome platform to design and build vehicles for community and mobile outreach for services such as bloodmobiles, mobile medical scanning, bookmobiles, mobile surgical instruments lab, mobile preschools, and more. Winnebago Industries has multiple facilities in Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota and Florida. The Company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and traded under the symbol WGO. For access to Winnebago Industries' investor relations material or to add your name to an automatic email list for Company news releases, visit http://investor.wgo.net. 

For more information about Winnebago Industries’ Specialty Vehicles, please visit https://sv.winnebago.com/product-classes/specialty-vehicles. or follow on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.  

About STAR

STAR is an award-winning experiential agency that creates unforgettable, face-to-face experiences for brands in a physical space. For over 25 years, STAR has been a leader in the industry due to its innovative and streamlined approach to strategy, design, and in-house fabrication for global events, retail, corporate interiors, and exhibits. Mark Johnson founded the agency in 1993 and built a state-of-the-art 200,000 square foot fabrication center and warehouse space in 2016, headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. STAR’s clients include Google, Marvel, Target, 3M, Emerson, Doritos, and the ESPN X Games. Connect with STAR at engagestar.com or on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.