Client: Rudolph Foods (Lima, OH)
Agency: RMD Advertising (Columbus, OH)
Campaign: Truck Driver Appreciation
Duration: June 15 - September 22, 2012
Budget: $18,500
Rudolph Foods, maker of pork rinds, and long-time agency RMD Advertising teamed up with Shurtape Technologies' Duck Tape brand to engage truck drivers, increase brand awareness, and drive product sales.
“We celebrated National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW), last year on a smaller scale,” explains Amanda Helmstetter, Rudolph Foods' marketing and innovation manager. “Truck drivers are in and out of our facilities every day, and our products don't get anywhere without them. We wanted to thank them and step up the campaign a notch this year.”
Strategy
A contest calling for video, photo, or written responses to the prompt: “Three things I always have in my truck are pork rinds, duck tape, and .....” engaged truckers leading up to NTDAW (September 16-22).
Microsite media and blogger relations, social media outreach, and event attendance also drove awareness and engagement.
Duck Tape promoted the campaign in numerous ways, including on its online properties. Sue Reninger, the agency's managing partner, explains that Duck Tape generally reaches a younger audience than Rudolph Foods and the partnership really helped extend reach.
Tactics
A news release announced the campaign to trucking-related trade publications, radio programs, and bloggers in mid-June. Truckers were directly targeted on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, as well as at all Rudolph Foods' facilities.
Contest entries were accepted during July on the microsite and on Rudolph Foods' Facebook page.
About 12 truckers and bloggers, various truck stops, and truck driver associations spread the word via tweets and Facebook posts provided by the PR team.
PR team members also promoted the campaign at Ohio truck stops; at the Expedite Expo held July 27-28 in Ohio; and at the Big Iron Classic convention held September 7-8 in Minnesota.
Consumers voted online for their favorite contest submissions between August 1 and September 15. Winners were announced online September 17. The grand prize was a year's supply of both pork rinds and duck tape and $1,500 cash.
Results
Helmstetter reports sales were up over the course of the campaign (double-digit increases in some categories) compared to the same time last year.
The contest drew more than 600 entries (the goal was 500).
Contest videos drew more than 10,500 views on YouTube alone.
July to September, RudolphFoods.com traffic was up 20% compared to the same months in 2011.
The campaign also generated 836,593 Facebook impressions; more than 1,950 new likes; and 41 media placements (more than 9.2 million impressions). Outlets covering the story included The Dave Nemo Show, Dallas Observer, and RoadKing Magazine.
Future
A “Second Annual Pork Rind Appreciation Day” campaign launched October 1.
