The beautiful thing about truck side advertising is that it has the ability to surprise people with experiential and impactful moments. Sometimes, truckside advertising fuels excitement in the crowd, leading to unexpected delights, and energizes audiences looking onward or interacting with it. Box truck advertising can create hype in people who are normally going about their day on the streets, in their cars, or on campus. Advertising this meaningful deserves to be shared and highlighted, not left forgotten. According to a survey by the RYP & Becker Group, 97% of respondents were able to recall the ad displayed on the truck. This is an impressive amount of heads able to remember the truck side ad; this number is not as common in other advertising mediums.
The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) came to the conclusion that fleet advertising heightens brand name recognition 15 times greater than other ad channels. Statistics provided by TruckingInfo have noted that, on average, truck graphics generate about 101 impressions per mile. It’s obvious that truck side advertising is not overlooked by people within its radius. In fact, it’s cherished.
This post will take a look at a few nuanced examples of truck side advertising that have received copious amounts of attention and have been praised for their creativity. We’ll see how lighthearted competitive truces, experiential, and politically groundbreaking trucks have added substance to the world of outdoor advertising.
Budweiser and Jim Beam Celebrate the Repeal of Prohibition
Last year, Budweiser teamed up with Jim Beam to carry out a fleet of mobile billboards that parked outside their alcohol competitor’s offices in celebration of the 85th anniversary of the 18th Amendment’s Prohibition repeal. This truck side advertising stunt caught the attention of marketers, advertisers, and consumers everywhere. As a form of brand marketing, Budweiser was strategic in recreating their identity as a friendly competitor to other brands. All in the name of lighthearted marketing, Budweiser carried out truck ads that playfully targeted their competitor’s through welcoming copy alluding to celebrating many years without Prohibition on December 5.
Carrying out trucks that were parked in front of Miller, Samuel Adams, Heineken, and more, Bud expressed their messaging to more than one alcohol provider which signifies their inclusive personality. This advertising stunt truly rocked the face of truck ad potential because it gave a good reason to team up with the competition without challenging their competitor’s brand assets. By using truck advertising to express their messaging, Bud was able to quietly invade the space of their competitors without damaging or vandalizing their properties. Truck side advertising, in this way, extended its giving hand to the competition.
Venmo’s Experiential Pop-Up Store
Another way to rock the world with successful truck advertising is to reimagine your truck as a storefront, fully equipped with an experience that well-targeted crowds can share around. This is exactly what Venmo did when introducing their debit card to the marketplace. In the centre of NYU’s campus, in order to target a younger more millennial crowd of consumers, this brand partnered with an agency called Evolve Concepts Inc. to invite guests into a glass truck and take photos using celebratory props. Balloons and confetti, among other party items, burst to life inside the truck for guests to celebrate with. The two day event reached around 400-500 people in just two hours of its outdoor launch.
The exterior of the truck featured a bright visual of colorful stripes with a tagline reading, “Fun money isn’t just green. Meet the Venmo card.” which implies that this brand’s personality is exciting and multi-faceted. They were smart to use this color scheme because it resonates with the consumers they’re hoping to seek; millennials enjoy vibrant displays because it captures their attention, and their cameras. This was a strategic color decision as well. By using an array of colors, they’re expressing that their debit cards come in a multitude of colors tailored to consumer’s preferences. This advertising truck is special because it isn’t just a mobile billboard, it’s a fully functioning experience for people to take part in. By opening up the truck so participants can come inside, Venmo is promoting inclusivity and engagement with potential customers. They’re not just creating brand awareness, they’re capturing social moments.
International Women’s Day Political Messages in Melbourne
In lieu of International Women’s Day, and inspired by the movie “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”, Union protestors took hold of three trucks and positioned them outside a politician’s office in Melbourne pleading for paid domestic leave for workers. These truck ads were placed outside Kelly O’ Dwyer’s office, who is in the electoral office of the minister for women. The stunt was organized by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus and an outdoor mobile billboard company called Running Boards. The messages push for the Prime Minister and O’Dwyer to make it the norm for workplaces to provide 10 paid days of family violence leave. Currently, Australian law doesn’t mandate domestic or family leave under the government.
These truck ads rock the world because they’re not consumer-focused, they’re change oriented. This is an example of cause advertising that also doubles as a political protest. Different from Bud’s or Venmo’s approaches, these truck ads aren’t really ads; they’re messages hoping to enact permanent change in governmental policies surrounding serious topics. They’re executed in a similar way as the Oscar-winning film, and have full impact on the future of harnessing mobile billboards as catalysts for modern law development. Unlike the other two truck ad examples, this one truly rocked the streets as it unfolded a narrative that impacts people’s lives and demanded a better solution to a human problem.
After examining three distinctive examples of truck ads that worked the world, it’s easy to see how influential mobile billboards are at promoting brands and increasing the chances for explicit change. The opportunities for an impression-heavy truck ad are endless and, looking at these examples, their impact on the world of advertising and other markets are dominant.
