If you think corporate “branding strategies” are not applicable to the world of freight transportation, think again.
Indeed, John Simon – vice chairman of Allegiance Capital – recently made a very good point regarding the importance of branding initiatives in the trucking world in this post.
“A strong brand identity positions your fleet as the provider of choice, and it can also increase your fleet’s market value,” he explained. If you are considering a liquidity event or related M&A [merger and acquisition] transaction, a smaller, well-branded fleet may have more market value than a larger competitor that has is not well branded.”
Penske Truck Leasing (PTL) is one company taking a page from that “branding” playbook as it kicks off a new advertising campaign to highlight the breadth of its service offerings to businesses and consumers alike.
"Many people know us for our bright-yellow rental trucks but we also have a broad business services offering," noted Sherry Sanger, PTL’s senior VP of marketing at Penske Truck Leasing. "[That’s why] our first national ad campaign highlighting the broader story of our rental, leasing and logistics services to businesses and consumers."
They’re pretty funny, too, as you can see in this one below:
This one is a riot as well:
Sanger added that PTL collaborated with its agency of record, The Martin Agency, plus director Benji Weinstein to craft what she called the “new video elements” of the company’s advertising campaign.
“Branding is important because it is a communication vehicle with customers. Essentially, brands help tell a company's story," she explained to me by email.
"They convey a sense of who a company is, what it stands for and what people can expect in terms of an experience. [Thus] the goal of our new brand campaign is to help communicate what we do more broadly," Sanger said. "Through research we know that most people know us for our yellow trucks, but that is actually only a small part of what this organization does."
On the business-to-business side, she pointed out that Penske works "behind the scenes" for many of the world’s largest brands helping them make sure things go well.
"As a business, we've worked hard to build a great brand and reputation through operational excellence and taking good care of our customers," Sanger stressed. "This new campaign brings that story to life."
United Parcel Service is also engaging in a similar “branding” effort to show off how it can solve a variety of supply chain challenges for businesses large and small.
Susan Rosenberg, public relations director for UPS, told me by email that the campaign is dubbed “United Problem Solvers” and highlights select customer stories to provide “first-hand business perspective” on how UPS can help solve what are becoming increasing complex domestic and global supply chain networks.
“Beyond the rolling stock itself, we package solutions that have industry focus for healthcare, retail, manufacturing, high-tech, aerospace and automotive sectors [and] can scale to the needs of large and small businesses,” she told me. “Perhaps you haven’t been as aware of how much more we’re doing to streamline global e-commerce, enhance visibility and bundle customs brokerage and financial and insurance services for what’s carried on our planes and trucks.”
It’s yet another reminder that while transportation cargo from point A to point B may seem a simple enough exercise to an outsider, in reality to do it day in and day out with little or no delays regardless of traffic, weather, and a whole host of other potential problems requires a lot of hard work.
