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The wisdom of logic and common sense has once again returned to Kampgrounds of America. Like many others in the industry, we were quick to jump all over them last year when they launched an incredibly negative series of advertisements in the spring consumer publications and buying guides.

Fast forward one year and it is quite evident that the messages they received were heard loud and clear in Billings, Montana and throughout their network of nearly 500 campgrounds that fly the highly recognizable yellow KOA flag.

The company has returned to telling their own story instead of trying to depict everyone else as less than capable to meet the needs of today’s RVers. KOA can certainly stand on their own two legs and talk about the quality of their people and services and has decided they can once again do it without talking negatively about other campgrounds or the RV industry in general.

They took a lot of heat for the embarrassing campaign that somehow slipped out of Billings and into the faces of anyone even remotely interested in the RV lifestyle, and they quietly reassured many that it would never happen again.

We salute KOA for the quick turnaround and the new message they are delivering through the very same channels that had to reluctantly carry the negative campaign. Many of the publications took some of the wrath from those who thought it was completely out of character for the nationally recognized beacon along the highway for tired travelers and families searching for a great camping experience.

The new campaign is easy to spot with many carrying a bright yellow background and familiar KOA flag showcasing the company employees who are dedicated to providing a quality camping experience through their many talents, experience, and willingness to assist in ways that will assure customer satisfaction, and camping satisfaction.

I don’t think we’ll be hearing anything negative about this campaign and I’m sure I speak for many in the industry in congratulating KOA in righting a wrong that was clearly out of character for the company, and out of place in an industry that has tried so hard to showcase the RV lifestyle to millions of people.

This further emphasizes the importance of all constituencies working together to provide complete customer satisfaction with the unit they purchased and all the components in it, and the various RV resorts and campgrounds that they visit when enjoying their RV experience.

How the consumers view their RV experiences will determine if we, as an industry, can keep the forward momentum going and grow the size of our industry, and provide the benefits to even more people as the market conditions and demographics indicate continued success. The final tallies for 2003 show that the industry statistics were better than expected and there is no reason to see any backward movement in 2004.

Quality in the KOA new campaign is coming at a time when one of the most respected consumer analysis agencies has announced a new initiative to go directly to the people buying the RV’s to get an assessment of product quality and customer satisfaction. J.D. Power and Associates recently announced a new campaign that is being launched on six consumer web sites, including our own www.rvamerica.com, to recruit consumers who are willing to participate in a quality survey.

J.D. Power recognized that over the years the RV industry did not have any significant independent consumer information available to the general public. Although they had previously participated in industry surveys conducted by industry associations, much of the detailed information on customer satisfaction was never published for public consumption, and the media and companies purchasing the surveys were required to sign non-disclosure forms stating that they would not publish any information not approved in advance by the sponsoring agencies.

Well the gloves are off now, and there are no restrictions on this one.

If manufacturers and suppliers needed just a little more incentive to take their quality initiatives up a few notches, the punch was just delivered by J.D. Power and all the information, good or bad, will be available for future prospects and customers.

As noted in their press release, "J.D. Power and Associates began measuring the ‘Voice’ of the automotive customer more than 20 years ago. As a result, automotive manufacturers, much to their credit, have made significant quality and dealer satisfaction improvements. These improvements have resulted in better automotive products and service for all of us. Over the years, we have applied this model to many industries from airlines, to telecommunications to commercial vehicles. Our hope is that collecting the same level of vehicle, chassis and coach information will assist RV manufacturers in driving industry-wide improvements in quality and customer satisfaction."

We should note that the RV industry is not going to have 20 years to improve their quality and customer satisfaction. And it should not take us 20 years to learn the lessons that were taught in the automotive industry transformation. The message is loud and clear, and demands instant response from everyone associated with the RV industry.

J.D. Power and Associates is funding the research with the intention of providing the summary results to RV consumers on the J.D. Power and Associates Consumer Center website. Additionally, manufacturers that want to pursue quality and satisfaction improvements may subscribe to the study and get the aggregated, detailed study results of survey responses, without disclosing any individual survey respondent information.

This will be an annual survey and the first study will focus on measuring quality, performance and overall satisfaction of 2000 to 2004 model year vehicles that were purchased new by the consumer.

We support this project and congratulate J.D. Power and Associates for taking the quality issue directly to the consumer, as they have with so many other products and services. This has got to be a win-win situation for everybody in the industry and everyone that has chosen the RV lifestyle. The prestige associated with J.D. Power surveys speaks volume to the process and the results, and only good things can come from this endeavor.

It is imperative that the industry support this initiative and encourage consumer participation to achieve critical mass early in its life cycle. The more consumers we get to participate, the more data they have to work with. The more data they have to work with, the more accurate the information will be. The more accurate the information, the quicker we see improvement in quality and service.

Companies are quick to maximize their exposure when they have achieved tremendous consumer acceptance of their product or service through one of the J.D. Power and Associates surveys. We don’t expect anything different from the RV manufacturers.

Who will be the first one to plaster their success in the survey on highway billboards for all RVers to see? There’s a good chance that one of the RVDA Quality Circle Award winners will be first, but don’t forget, those are dealer responses that dictate the awards.

This time it’s the consumer who’s voting, and if we have learned anything from history, the consumer speaks with their checkbook and will reference survey and quality information if it is available. Now, it is.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. The quality and customer satisfaction race is on, and J.D. Power and Associates is waiting at the finish line. Who’s going to step up and put the effort into getting the checkered flag when the results of the first independent consumer survey are published?