Empowering Collaboration And Marketing Innovation: Patrick Industries’ Anna Parker Embraces Her New Role In The RV Industry

Anna Parker, Patrick Industries’ new Vice President of Marketing, is launching into the next act of her career. After spending more than 15 years in the marketing and advertising industry working with prominent companies ranging from Coca Cola to Citibank and everything in between, Anna is eagerly diving into her new role in the RV industry. “My path to Patrick Industries feels like it was meant to be,” she says.

Although she’s originally from Goshen, IN— next door to Elkhart, the “RV Capital of the World” and the home of Patrick Industries, a leading supplier to the RV, marine, and housing industries— Anna only recently returned to the area after spending the first half of her career in Chicago. “The RV industry has been part of the backdrop of my life growing up in the area for as long as I can remember. But it’s only in the last six months that I’ve been working directly in it,” Anna explains. “It’s a fascinating industry filled with incredible people and inspiring stories of entrepreneurship.”

Anna’s career in advertising took off after she graduated from the University of Florida with her master’s in advertising in 2008— around the time the role of communication technologies was changing and growing. “This was during the time that digital technology was transforming the advertising and marketing industry. It was the beginning of social media, programmatic buying, demand-side platforms, and dynamic content,” she explained. “I followed along with it, learning everything I could as I went. I eventually got to a point where I took the depth I created and found ways to explore different industries with it.”

As a result, Anna describes her career so far as “T-shaped”—one of both breadth and depth. “What I love about my career in advertising is having the opportunity to connect with so many different industries, ranging from consumer-packaged goods to the automotive industry to the service sector. I feel like being here, in the RV industry, is a chance to take what I know and apply it in a new way.”

Now, in her new role as Patrick Industries’ Vice President of Marketing, Anna is focused on authentically communicating Patrick’s differentiated positioning and the accomplishments of its high-performance teams and business units with its customers, employees, and investors. This is not a small task, as Patrick Industries has 80+ growing brands, 11,000+ team members, and 250+ manufacturing and distribution facilities, but Anna is confident in her next steps.

“My current focus is bringing a new level of strategy, professionalism, and creative breakthrough to our communications at the corporate level. I’m also finding opportunities to create synergy and leverage for our business units and bring innovative value to them.”

When describing her new role and responsibilities, Anna puts them in the perspective of Patrick Industries’ bigger picture. “We’re a brand-fronted model. That means we give the brands within our network a great amount of agency and we empower them—and their leaders— to run their businesses as they see best,” she says. “They maintain their unique brand identities and the strong customer relationships they’ve built. Ultimately, supporting and socializing their success is what raises the profile of the Patrick brand. My goal is to help our business units feel prouder than ever to part of our leading network of life and leisure solution brands, not just because of the expertise that we bring but also because of the culture we’re creating internally.”

“Our brand belief is that we’re better together. We’re a highly collaborative culture. There’s a lot of competitive drive and spirit, but there’s also a ton of respect. We’re focused on both business growth and personal growth, and I think that’s a reason employees come here— they can achieve both of those things. Our products help people live their best lives and I want our team members to feel that way too.”

“I also want members of the community to feel like we’re part of creating a place where everyone, no matter what walk of life they come from, can build their best life here,” Anna adds. “Personally, that’s what felt so resonant about this company from the start. It’s very much an enthusiast-driven company. Many of the companies that are part of Patrick Industries were founded by someone who loved what they did so much that they developed innovative solutions to make that part of life better. And that’s what makes us better.”

With that in mind, Anna and her colleagues are working hard to share the story of Patrick Industries’ growth and transformation. “I’m just here to help direct and shine a spotlight on the innovation, transformation, and teamwork that is happening every minute of every day in this incredible family of brands.” To shine that spotlight, Anna is focusing on creating content, investing in more video, and developing communication strategies. She is also focusing on building up her team’s relationships with trade groups and publications. “An awesome part of my role is getting to know the industry and its leaders so we can understand each other’s strategic objectives and decide where we can team up to amplify what the other is doing. It’s an opportunity-rich environment.”

One of the ways Anna informs her marketing campaigns for her audiences, both internal and external, is through Go RVing and the RV Industry Association’s resources. “I got my Go RVing industry portal login within my first week or two on the job!” she said. “I understand the power of content and I saw that there was an incredible resource for me there. The information I found there, as well as the people and the collaboration, have been critical to my early progress and the momentum that I’ve been able to create so far in my role.”

“I knew of the Go RVing campaign and its resources. I knew there was data and research there that I could use to inform my thinking on the brand and my overall strategic approach. I’ve also been able to use imagery and b-roll from there to help tell the story of who we are as a company.”

In addition, Anna has attended the in-person RV Consumer’s Path to Purchase event, which featured an in-depth look at the decision-making process consumers go through when considering the purchase of an RV. “I absolutely loved that experience! I had the opportunity to meet others in-person and everything I learned at the event reinforced what I already knew to be true,” she reflects. “Consumers might have an idea of the model or brand that they’re interested in, but what really drives desire and makes people decide on the RV they want is features like the countertops, appliances, and fixtures. And that’s what we do at Patrick Industries. Those are the things that our businesses are producing and innovating around every day. I found that to be very inspiring and motivating.”

Anna is also impressed by the RV Industry Association’s commitment to growing the next generation of RV industry leaders: “I also see the way the industry’s involved in leadership development. I see that we have a whole next generation of leaders who are coming up in this industry. It’s a mix of people from various backgrounds as well as deep industry expertise. I think groups like the RV Industry Association are fundamental in helping the whole industry continue to connect, collaborate, and synchronize.”

“For me, the concept of ‘better together’ is best understood by organizations like this,” Anna says. “I’ve loved the people I’ve met in the industry, and I’m excited to keep building those relationships and as we team up to help push each other’s ideas forward.”