Ivy Hartman: We’re at the SEMA show 2007 with the mentor and owner of bed rug by WISE or WISE Industries Ron Wise.
So bed rug is the invention of your own which does what?
Ron Wise: Bed rug is truck bedliner that uses foam and carpet to protect now only the truck, but also whatever you’re hauling in your truck.
Ivy Hartman: And so you can use it for any purpose and I guess it lasts a long time.
Ron Wise: It will outlast your truck.
Ivy Hartman: So the truck may go but your bed rug will be there.
Ron Wise: It will be here forever.
Ivy Hartman: Now being in the SEMA show like this, how effective is it for you?
Ron Wise: It is very effective. SEMA show is where I usually launch a product, I meet new distributors, new jobbers and it’s very important to be here.
Ivy Hartman: How many different—you said new products. The bed rugs sound like one product to me. How many different products do you have or just the version of this?
Ron Wise: In the bed rug I have several different versions of it, different price points, different areas that truck are cover and so it has several options to use our bed rug.
Ivy Hartman: Okay, I’m a very visual person so do you have a website where people can see the bed rug?
Ron Wise: Yes, bedrug.com.
Ivy Hartman: Perfect! So I guess other than the SEMA show you’re doing a lot of different marketing obviously online with your website.
Ron Wise: Correct.
Ivy Hartman: But how else do you market the bed rugs?
Ron Wise: We attend other trade shows and for next year we’re going to start more and more retail shows.
Ivy Hartman: I wondered about that, so do you serve as your own retailer as well as manufacturing distributor?
Ron Wise: Yes.
Ivy Hartman: What kind of challenges do you face by trying to do all of those things?
Ron Wise: Well, it’s just a necessary part of your business. I think you have to be attentive to the retail, you have to be attentive to the driver base, you have to be attentive to the warehouse distributors and of course you have to run your own manufacturing plant in the process also. So you almost have the control every aspect of the chain to get your product to the final customer.
Ivy Hartman: Where did the idea for the bed rug come from?
Ron Wise: The idea for the bed rug came from a variation of a product that I had invented for the conversion industry which was a floor underlayment which replaced plywood back in the days when there were several companies. And we took that same idea of the foam and molded it to the floor of the van and then we added a carpet surface to that an outdoor marine type surface which would then be able to be used in an exterior application such as the pick-up truck.
Ivy Hartman: That sounds like—especially a lot of people are using sport utility vehicle or pick up for work and for play.
Ron Wise: That’s correct. And that’s the benefit of the bed rug. It’s a soft surface you can sleep on or you can go hunting, camping, fishing, shopping you can use it for all those purposes on the weekend but during the week you can use the truck to work with. You can put sand, gravel, malts. You can haul any material you want to and you can shovel off of it and then merely wash that with a water hose.
Ivy Hartman: Now, how did you launch bed rug? Do you use a platform like SEMA to unveil it?
Ron Wise: Yes we did. Many years ago, about I guess 12 years ago the original version of bed rug we launched here in SEMA with three other new products.
Ivy Hartman: What’s the reception been like?
Ron Wise: It was very, very good. And we kept improving the product over the years making improved options for the bed rug. So it has been a success ever since we launched it.
Ivy Hartman: And what is the future of bed rug looks like?
Ron Wise: We just want more people with bed rugs. At the show this week I’m hearing people say I’ve had three or four trucks and I’ve had bed rugs in all of them and I won’t have anything else in my truck. So it makes us feel good that not only did they buy it one time but they bought it three or four times.
Ivy Hartman: And it’s because of the quality is that what you are getting?
Ron Wise: The quality and the utility of the product. Everyone loves the fact that they can use it for so many different purposes.
Ivy Hartman: Thank you. Ron Wise you can visit bedrug.com if you want to check out the bed rug and see what it’s all about. Keep it right here as we continue our complete coverage of the SEMA show in Las Vegas.s
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