A Timely Prize for the Backbone of America
Marketers rack their brains to offer prizes that will pull players into sweepstakes and contests: entertainment packages, trips to exotic locations, barbeque grills, free gas for a year. The goal, of course, is to immerse the consumer in the brand and hope that they will remember the experience when shopping.
But as we know, often times consumers simply play to try to win the prize and the effort on the marketer’s part to brand the product or service quickly drifts away.
But one company just may have come up with the silver bullet.
Arrow Truck Sales, the seller of used “over-the-road” large trucks has offered one down-on-his-luck trucker a new rig and, even more importantly, a job. With close to one in every 10 Americans out of work, offering a job as a prize will draw qualified consumers who will turn into lifelong brand advocates if the contest is handled properly.
And in this economic climate, if every business followed the lead of Arrow Truck Sales, genuine customer interest and loyalty would quickly be earned. And, of course, the value of the word-of-mouth buzz generated by such a prize cannot be underestimated. Frankly, I’m surprised more marketers haven’t thought of it.
“This is not the type of program where we are going to have people run up and buy a truck, but we hope in the long term the goodwill of the campaign will be top of people’s minds when they do think about buying a truck,” said Lane Bartram, marketing manager, for Arrow Truck Sales, a wholly owned subsidiary of Volvo.
Here’s how Arrow Truck Sales runs its “Back on the Road Contest 2011,” sponsored by Volvo Trucks North America.
1. The contest ran for six weeks beginning in October. Good timing as the holiday season approaches and out-of-work Americans experience even more anxiety and worry about how to provide their families.
2. Marketing includes radio and print saturation in mediums targeted to truckers. A teaser campaign 60 days prior to the start of the contest includes radio (Sirius XM Road Dog, Midnight Trucking Radio Network and Fox News). Messaging focuses on soliciting stories from truckers across the nation who may have lost their truck and their livelihood through unfortunate circumstances beyond their control.
3. Participants must complete a 250-word essay online explaining their hardship, how they lost their truck and why they deserve to win a new rig and job. The essays are heart wrenching involving terrible financial issues or family tragedies. For example, the trucker who was hijacked, shot in the leg and almost bleed to death. “To us it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality,” Bartram said.
4. The vetting process is rigorous to weed out any fraudulent submissions. A selection committee comprised of sponsors, Arrow employees and Aaron Tippin, a country music star and spokesperson for the promotion, are reading each of the 150 essays submitted this year. The most compelling 25 to 30 entries undergo background, character and fact checks. These entrants will then be put through a phone interview. The final five or 10 finalists will be brought to Kansas City, the home town of Arrow Truck Sales, for in-person interviews by selection committee members. Then the final debate begins on the merits of the finalists.
5. A video crew goes to the homes of the final three finalists where they turn the essay stories into compelling videos that will be shown when the winner is announced. “We only have one prize and we have to make the right choice,” Bartram said. “It truly is a way to help someone get back into their career. That takes effort on the part of the trucker. This is not just I submit my name for a contest and I’m done with it. You have some skin in the game.”
6. The winner will be announced in a big splash at the Mid-America Trucking Show in March 2011 as the video of his story plays in the background. He receives a one-year lease on a Volvo VNL tractor, courtesy of VTNA, and a one-year work agreement with TL carrier Heartland Express.
This is the fourth year that Arrow Truck Sales has offered the “Back on the Road Contest”. When first planning for a new campaign, the marketing department was challenged with crafting a new angle, something different and more meaningful to the industry.
When “Back on the Road” began about six sponsors joined in. This year 12 are participating providing critical products and services to truckers and showing the combined strength of one industry when it pulls together to help. The sponsors also market the contest to their customers and prospects.
One sponsor, the National Truck Protection Inc., North America’s leading independent provider of warranty and service contracts to the trucking industry, is donating a comprehensive warranty for the grand prize Volvo VNL tractor. Michelin is donating tires. SleepDog Mattress is providing a mattress for the cab of the truck. Dickinson Fleet Service will give the truck a customer paint job. Pilot Flying J is giving $500 monthly fuel cards. Other sponsors are participating as well.
“This promotion defines Arrow as a company. People say ‘Whether I win or lose, we appreciate what you’re doing here.’ ”
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