Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/231891
16 • December 30, 2013 • Powersports Business ATV www.PowersportsBusiness.com 'Beer holders and sound' products drive VDP Fun-based accessories help Vertically Driven Products reach UTV segment "I developed the components to allow this lifestyle to go with you off-roading and have all that you need." BY LIZ KEENER MANAGING EDITOR Entering the side-by-side accessories market in the latter part of the first decade of the millennium proved to be a fruitful venture for many companies. Vertically Driven Products was no different. The Long Beach, Calif.-based manufacturer jumped into powersports just as Polaris released the RZR, creating an all-new pure sports niche in the side-by-side market. The move was a positive step for a 30-year-old plastics company that was already playing in the Jeep world. "I got involved in Jeep accessories and then realized, wow, the UTVs are coming out. That's a market I shouldn't miss because no one's done what I've done in the Jeep world in … the UTV world. So that's how I came in," VDP president Jeff Jacobson said. Jacobson Plastics, Inc., VDP's parent company, has been manufacturing plastic products for companies such as Boeing and Callaway Golf since the 1980s, but Jacobson is an inventor at heart, so he wanted to bring P16x18-PSB1-ATV.indd 16 ww R BY Ex nes gar the 68 Jeff Jacobson President, Vertically Driven Products VDP president Jeff Jacobson, right, talks about his product line at the Parts Unlimited National Vendor Presentation. his own line of products to market. VDP now creates more than 20 Jeep and 18 side-byside products. VDP's best sellers in the side-by-side segment include its 6-Can Tube Cooler, Sound Bar, Sound Wedge and Organizer Bag. Products in the line are designed to fit Yamaha, Polaris, Kawasaki, Arctic Cat, Honda, Kubota and Can-Am side-by-sides, with universal products available to fit nearly every make and model. Each item was invented by Jacobson to address a need in the market. VDP's bags, for example, were developed after Jacobson realized he was carrying a slew of items — including keys, a wallet, a camera, sunscreen and beer — on each ride that could be carefully tucked away if such a product were available. "I developed the components to allow this lifestyle to go with you off-roading and have all that you need," he said. Each product is unique and priced competi- tively, characteristics that attract both dealers and consumers. "We build OEM component accessories at half the price, and everything that we make is unique and original — nothing's been copied from someone else," Jacobson explained. "It's my nature being an inventor to have the pride of showing everything that I've developed, and that way I have a much easier sell when I go in because I say, 'You can't get this from anybody else.'" VDP manufactures almost all of its products out of its 65,000-square-foot facility, See VDP, Page 18 12/18/13 11:16 AM J