Off-Road Vehicle Mfg Leaps into Worldwide Sales

Recreatives Industries Attributes Export Success to Commercial News

From a relatively modest start in the overseas market, “we really kicked it up a notch” says Galen Reich, Marketing Manager of Recreatives Industries, a Buffalo, New York manufacturer of all terrain vehicles. Mr. Reich’s secret? Commercial News USA – the premiere export promotion magazine of the U.S. Commercial Service.

Recreatives was founded in 1969, but saw their overseas sales really take off after advertising in Commercial News, a magazine that is distributed to over 140 countries around the world. The company now exports to over 42 countries and export sales during the past six years have topped $1 million for their six-wheel drive, amphibious ATVs used by oil companies, construction firms, government and military units.

Mr. Reich reports that Commercial News is their only direct international marketing effort and that even though his company advertises on the Internet, Commercial News has definite benefits. “When people are searching the web, we only get ‘hits’ from people that are specifically looking for ATVs, whereas when we advertise in Commercial News, we also generate a lot of interest from entrepreneurs that are interested in adding a product line to their current offerings.”

“Commercial News is great bang for the buck,” said Galen Reich. He added that Commercial News “really got our name out there” and built brand recognition in overseas markets. Now, advertisements in Commercial News generate 100-150 leads per year. Most of these are from dealers and distributors that often purchase more than one vehicle from Recreatives.

In addition to an advertisement, Commercial News is backed by a worldwide network of Commercial and Trade specialists working for the U.S. Commercial Service, part of the Department of Commerce. Members of the Commercial Service have been helpful to Recreatives on numerous occasions. One example was when Recreatives received an inquiry from a company in Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam but had trouble communicating with the company. In this instance, Gale Seereiter, Trade Specialist, for the U.S. Commrcial Service, located at the Buffalo Export Assistance Center, and Le Anh, Commercial Specialist, at the Commercial Service in Ho Chi Minh City worked together to clear up a communication issue and help Recreative close the deal resulting in a sale of several vehicles.

The U.S. Commercial Service is able to provide this assistance through their network of 107 offices, called Export Assistance Centers in the United States, and in over 150 overseas offices located in the Embassies and Consulates in various cities around the world. Although the U.S. Commercial Service has many people well versed in international trade, they have turned a private sector publisher, ThinkGlobal, Inc. to help them publish Commercial News USA.

USCS is relaunching Commercial News after a year-long absence while the magazine was reviewed and redesigned to better serve the needs of U.S. exporters and the roughly 400,000 overseas readers and potential foreign buyers located in over 140 countries around the world.

Like Galen Reich at Recreatives Industries, many former and prospective advertisers have been eagerly awaiting the new magazine that directly contributed to over 870 documented export success stories in fiscal year 2003. Thousands of trade leads and hundreds of agent/distributor agreements have also resulted from this magazine.

“Commercial News USA has been very popular with our small and medium-sized exporters. Where else can you get worldwide promotion for your product to prescreened foreign buyers for less than $1,000?” asked Rhonda Keenum, Assistant Secretary and Director General of the U.S. Commercial Service.

Click here for more information on how you can advertise in Commercial News USA.