What's with Winnebago?

[woodburner]

Today while viewing new motorhome video's on U tube I came across one from Lichtsinn motors bashing The Allegro Bus and trying to show how great their comparable models were in the Winny line-up. (and less expensive)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i17U...eature=related

The same thing happened when I was searching for a new Motor home; I looked at the Winnebago's, Fleet woods and the Tiffins. All Gasser s.
I asked for info from a dealer regarding the Sightseer model and got a magazine telling me the virtues of the Winnebago brand which then ; not to discretely I might add tried to bash the Tiffin motorhomes. Fortunately; knowing what I believe to be factual information I've gathered in the past 2 years; I didn't fall for it, but was kind of disappointed that any one of the bigger names would resort to that kind of advertising.
Can't they sell their products on their own quality without trying to smear the other brands?
Just thought it was kind of odd to see this kind of thing...More than once.

[Wizard]

Dodge Ram truck commercials do it all the time.

I'm not saying its right but

[Davensocal]

Hmm, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I couldn't find a similar "tour" of the Winne's..

Just for fun, I made a list of Tiffin pitfalls I caught on the video, probably missed a whole bunch though.

straight rail chassis (power glide)
limited pass through storage (no examples shown)
non-color coded labels. (really? Seems pretty weak)
Cannot close bay door when on city water? (Looked like there was a cutout in the door jam)
Exposed electrical in basement? (Exposed is an interesting term, should be a feature!)
6 volt vs 12 volt batteries. (I would prefer deep cycle 6 volt)
Shallow cabinets (OK, maybe they are)
Slide locks? (OK)
Wide pillar (yup, less visibility, more strength.. Tradeoff)

[JimmyP]

Maybe they are getting desperate since Tiffen sales are up and their's are not!!!

[historyljc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davensocal Hmm, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I couldn't find a similar "tour" of the Winne's.. Just for fun, I made a list of Tiffin pitfalls I caught on the video, probably missed a whole bunch though. straight rail chassis (power glide) limited pass through storage (no examples shown) non-color coded labels. (really? Seems pretty weak) Cannot close bay door when on city water? (Looked like there was a cutout in the door jam) Exposed electrical in basement? (Exposed is an interesting term, should be a feature!) 6 volt vs 12 volt batteries. (I would prefer deep cycle 6 volt) Shallow cabinets (OK, maybe they are) Slide locks? (OK) Wide pillar (yup, less visibility, more strength.. Tradeoff)

Me too, I couldn't find the tour of the Winnie. Not a bad tour of the Bus even if they were pointing out all the "bad" things. Wonder why Winnebago went to rear radiators only. The Allegro Bus has a side radiator. Sounds a lot like all these negative political ads. Try to cut the opposition rather than sell your product.

[becks]

It looks as if he is going to have to go back and redo his video since he begins by saying the bus is built on the powerglide chassis then down the line its a roadmaster. He should find a better way to sell his product.

[Arch Hoagland]

Isn't that how people get elected to office? Otta work with RV's too.

[Coached]

Personally, I think Tiffin should take this as a "back handed compliment"? If they are seen or perceived as the Industry Leader, which I think they are for the most part, then it is understandable that they become the "benchmark"? For instance, there is no doubt in my mind that domestic auto manufacturers have, for many years now, focused most of their advertizing and marketing to convince us that they have achieved the same standards as the Overseas auto manufacturers? This was necessary as perceived value was with the offshore guys, not the domestics? Although I agree that this video is a bit amateurish in its presentation I think it does help highlight some considerations that the average buyer might not think of? I had a Tiffin with 4 flooded 12 volts that were awful so when AC pointed out that their electric coach has 8 AGM's it was interesting to me. Checked out the Tiffin and, sure enough, same old flooded batteries and less of them. We went to the Tampa show in 2010 armed with a little presentation from AC and made it a point to check each item on Tiffin, Newmar, AC, and Winnebago. Sorry, AC won with Winnie a close second. Tiffin was more deficient in many areas than any of the others even though they still have a fine product. Once again, I'm inclined to believe that the others realize they have to give more in "perceived value" to catch up Tiffin who already enjoys the great reputation that it has? We felt that we were the beneficaries of these efforts on the part of the others, especially at the price point we're talking?

[woodburner]

I just thought it was kind of a smarmy way to try to sell a product that doesn't need to be sold that way.
The magazine I got from a dealer; which was published by Winnebago essentially tries to do the same thing.
Is the market so tight that one needs to bash the other?
I've never seen that done from Tiffin's side.

Not once.

[Coached]

Well, I for one don't see any "bashing" there? I see a comparison to what they obviously believe to be the "go to" coach, and it is obviously designed to point out only the positive differences for Winnie?

[chastho]

I looked at the Tour and thought it was way below the Bus. When you close the basement doors it sounds like a tin can. And a $365k tag axle coach with a rear radiator, whats with that?????

A Tiffin Bus with 4 12 volt batteries??

[Coached]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chastho I looked at the Tour and thought it was way below the Bus. When you close the basement doors it sounds like a tin can. And a $365k tag axle coach with a rear radiator, whats with that????? A Tiffin Bus with 4 12 volt batteries??

No, I had an '08 Tiffin 42' tag ... they come with 4 flooded 12v coach batteries that were placed in the rear*most DS compartment and were a Pain in the Amps. I believe that the Bus had 4 batteries up until this year (2012) when they switched to 6 for the house? They only had four when we saw the '11 at the Tampa show, but it wasn't an all*electric. I think most People agree with the rear radiator comment too, but, having had three rear rads so far, I really don't know how big a deal that is for me? And I know how much you can really buy a Tour for and it's allot less than a Bus?

[Pepper2]

Sorry to say that the first thing that came to mind was politics

[62Morgan]

At what point in time did we start promoting one's product by taking a guided tour of the competitor? Marketing strategy has always been to showcase "your model" to the viewer [for it to set into the subconscious]. Any reference to SOB was verbal only. This guy has his marketing backwards. I was keenly admiring the Tiffin as he went through his fly-around.

The quip that Winnebago does a TV shake test to determine the best television set for the rough-n-tumble roadway...What kind of idiot's does he think he's talking to?. The lack of ice and water service in the fridge doors? Depth of salon wall cabinets? slide locks, wide A-pillars....on and on...

Seems like a whole lot of trivial differentia where he had a superior tell him to come up with a significant list of items to point out in a video. Post editing was a miss: The editing and voice over dropped a few frames and he's talking about batteries while showing the rear engine compartment. Measuring the A-pillars at another point, etc.

Like another observed, if his benchmark was a Tiffin offering, then he was indirectly acknowledging Tiffin's prominence in the market. Further, after having seen it several times, his short-on-context assessment was a thinly veiled fan's glam for his favorite while taking a pea-shooter video approach in-lieu-of a direct [and aggressive] side-by-side comparison.

We get to the video end and where is the Winnebago portion? Any sensible Rv'er would find himself asking "what was that all about?"

Thanks for the less-than-heady video and humor for the day.