Caterpillar Thanks Truck Drivers

In 2020, the Trucking Is Life campaign received the following Hermes Awards:

• Gold for Video for the Web under the Electronic Media, Social Media, Interactive Media category.
• Honorable Mention for Facebook under the Electronic Media, Social Media, Interactive Media category.
• Honorable Mention for Communication/Marketing under the Public Relations/Communication category.

Most truckers are dedicated to their work in ways others may have a hard time understanding. Truck drivers spend a significant amount of time in their trucks, and it becomes more than a vehicle to them. Their truck is their livelihood. It’s their home. It keeps them safe and allows them to pursue their dreams.

In this time of uncertainty, truckers ensure we have the goods and materials we need to make it through. They’re the ones venturing out, delivering products and replenishing bare shelves. Truckers are responsible for transporting everything from medications to toilet paper. We owe them a lot right now, not the least of which is a huge amount of gratitude.

In fact, last year Simantel partnered with the Caterpillar On Highway Truck Engine team to recognize the hard work truckers have always put in and the sacrifices they continue to make.

The Goal

Beyond using emotional storytelling to thank longtime customers, Caterpillar was looking to drive customer engagement and generate leads. The campaign set out to target Cat® truck engine owners, both fleet and owner-operated, in the U.S. and Canada.

The program centered around a sweepstakes to win a metal version of the “Trucking is Life” poster. This poster is shown below, and was the center of this campaign. The look and feel of the campaign was designed to strike a tone of nostalgia and promote brand loyalty and excitement.

Beyond the video and dedicated landing page, the campaign included everything from email marketing to mobile display banners to print placements to audio ads for radio and online listening to social ads. Great effort was also put behind educating dealers with a dealer kit containing marketing materials and a webinar about all the ways they could say ‘thanks’ to truck customers.

Poster:

The poster was designed for dealers to use as a thank you to their truck customers. Dealers distributed the poster in a variety of ways:

• Given away with a truck overhaul as a thank you
• Used to incentivize a monthly drawing
• Rewarded truck engine owners who put a million miles or more on a truck, known as a “Million Miler”
• Giveaways were aligned with the national Precious Metals Kit promo and local Cat monthly specials
• Provided to top-volume customers and independent shops
• Used for decoration at a dealer-hosted event to celebrate National Truck Appreciation Week

Social Media:

Custom social media audiences were built to better target all social media ads.

Social media led visitors to Cat.com/Thanks, a dedicated landing page for the campaign where users could enter the sweepstakes and find more information.

In addition, there were also digital radio ads running on Pandora and Sirius, banner ads on relevant sites across the internet using target criteria like IP address, print ads in truck-specific publications and an email push using the existing customer database. All of these efforts came together in a highly-effective, nostalgic campaign that used historical images, logos and fonts to enhance the emotional storytelling and drive high engagement.

The Results

The five-month campaign resulted in more than 12 million impressions, 50 thousand clicks on Facebook and banner ads alone, and over 1,300 forms completed for the sign sweepstakes. But more importantly, Caterpillar reminded truckers that the brand sees and appreciates their hard work. Truckers spend a big part of their lives away from their families and friends, sometimes even putting themselves in danger so the world can keep moving forward. With this campaign, Caterpillar made sure those sacrifices were properly acknowledged.

So, to all the truckers present, past and future…we thank you.