There’s more than just the usual selection of fishing tackle, rods and hip waders in the spring 2005 Orvis fishing catalog. The book also features seven log cabins.
Though the cabins can’t be ordered from the catalog, which mailed this month, they come equipped with Orvis fixtures and were designed with the Orvis customer in mind. Each cabin has a Sportsman’s Room with gun and fishing rod storage. Other features include a dog-care area for bathing, feeding and boarding dogs, a workbench for fly-tying and a natural rock hearth.
The log cabins are the result of a co-branding effort with Rocky Mountain Log Homes that was signed in late 2004.
Orvis sees the line extension as a way to enhance the Orvis lifestyle for existing customers while expanding brand awareness. The effort lets the Orvis brand reach out to “similar demographics via alternative channels, who may or may not be familiar with the Orvis name or the idea of distinctive country living but are likely to be highly receptive to it,” said Ryan Shadrin, director of communications and product marketing for Orvis.
To learn more about the log cabins — priced from $500,000 to $2 million — or to order one, consumers can visit a special Web site, rmlh.com/orvis, created for this product line.
Along with appearing in the spring catalog, the cabins are featured in Orvis News, a company newspaper mailed to 8 million people, on the company’s Web site, orvis.com, and in its stores.
The cabins were designed by experts on national parks architecture and were inspired by historic park lodges. They range is size from 1,539 to 3,944 square feet.
This isn’t Orvis’ first co-branding effort. From 1994 to 2000, Orvis Jeeps were available.
