Fender Shares Strategic Initiatives with Key N. American Dealers

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation held a two-day business meeting the week of Aug. 4 with key North American dealers at the Fender Visitor Center in Corona, California.  FMIC interim CEO Scott Gilbertson and other members of the executive management team discussed the company’s strategic initiatives to elevate the Fender brand with consumers.

“We are committed to grow our business in partnership with our dealers,” Gilbertson said. “As an industry leader, we view it as our obligation to significantly invest in the consumer experience.”

The company announced they are building capabilities to offer their full product catalog through their website in an effort to meet the demands, needs, and desires of the modern consumer. They also announced a series of digital initiatives focused on enhancing the dealer’s customer relationship management capabilities and sales effectiveness tools.

“By investing in digital capabilities and elevating our consumer experience around our brand, products and services, we expect to drive increased engagement, emotional affiliation and consumer demand,” said Gilbertson. “We believe our strategy will accrue significant benefits across all aspects of our dealer base.”

The discussion illustrated short and long term opportunities for the dealer network to benefit from Fender’s shared technology, content capabilities and consumer insights.

The two-day interactive meeting focused on outlining Fender’s underlying strategy for growing the brand in partnership with the dealers along with in-depth discussions on the state of the marketplace, product assortment planning, opportunities around consumer activations, visual merchandising and new-product campaigns.

(L-R) Scott Gilbertson (FMIC Interim CEO), Jason Padgitt (SVP, Marketing & Communications), Layne Kurr (VP, Independent Sales U.S. & Canada) and Richard McDonald (EVP, Fender Brand) answer questions from key dealers at a two-day business meeting at the Fender Visitor Center in Corona, Calif.