Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. (FCCC) has been capitalizing on an old medium in a new way to ramp up its deals and sales. By increasing the production value of the company’s YouTube videos over the past year or so, the manufacturer of truck and RV chassis has improved on its employee training and customer engagement.
“The more visual we can make the training experience, the better it’s going to be for everyone involved,” Kevin Erb, FCCC spokesman for the past five years. “We at FCCC continue to be an innovator and a leader in the industry in a lot of these different features, from V-Ride Full Suspension to RoadWatch to UltraSteer. They provide a comprehensive ownership experience, the best ride – all those things that are important for that luxury coach buyer, OEM, and dealer.”
This includes a VR experience FCCC debuted during the RVIA conference last November to show off the company’s collision-avoidance system. After filming a drive in a motorhome using a 360-degree camera, graphic designers inserted a facsimile of the OptiView user interface at the bottom of the screen, needles pulsing and warnings flashing as the chassis reacts to the road.
“It’s all about experience, and how we always look for opportunities where we can visually communicate that experience through other traditional formats,” Erb told RV PRO.
Bryan Henke, manager of product marketing, has been pushing the creative boundaries of FCCC’s videos for some time. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean the production quality should suffer. In an earlier RV PRO story about FCCC’s new logistics center in South Carolina, Henke had mentioned, “that the RV demographic is changing, so we’re going to change right along with it.”
For example, since the beginning of FCCC’s SalesHQ Academy three years ago, the company has been increasing the number of videos to help empower dealership sales personnel.
“It’s been Bryan’s vision and initiative to have the brand marketing reflect the sophistication of the products itself,” said Erb. “We benefit from being part of Daimler and in particular Mercedes-Benz because we get to adapt and incorporate that high-end and safety technology into FCCC products.”
Some of the high-end bells and whistles in RoadWatch included: adaptive cruise control, radar-based crashed mitigation, and automatic traction control.
FCCC plans to reveal a new product this November during RVIA – an additional element to the RoadWatch ecosystem – that may also incorporate VR to show it off. The comprehensive feature system will be available on several chassis products of FCCC and coaches.
View this video on your smartphone for a 360-degree experience driving a coach with OptiView.