Trucking's Importance and Safety Are Focus of Ad Campaign
Freightliner Corp., the No. 1 truck maker in North America, has contributed $1 million to the project and will take a lead role in developing the creative strategy and other program elements.
Other contributors include Paccar Inc., giving $50,000, and Mack Trucks, giving $6,000. Al Koenig, president of Midwest Specialized Transportation in Rochester, Minn., pledged $10,000 to support the ad campaign — the first motor carrier executive to do so.
“The trucking industry is an essential, vital element of our economy,” said ATA President Walter B. McCormick Jr. in announcing Freightliner’s contribution. “Through this campaign, we will work to remind a wide range of audiences about the essentiality of trucking, and tell them what responsible trucking companies are doing to make the roads safer for all motorists.”
According to Regina Blakely, senior vice president of communications at ATA, a seven-member task force made up of industry suppliers and carriers will select a new slogan that broadens ATA’s current tag line — “Without Trucks, America Stops” — to convey essentiality and safety.
he task force is headed by Pat Quinn, a top executive at U.S. Xpress Enterprises in Chattanooga, Tenn., and chairman of ATA’s Communications and Image Policy Committee.
“We hope that it will be a multiyear, multimillion dollar campaign,” Blakely said.
A year ago, ATA placed a series of ads in USA Today during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. One of those ads featured a close-up photograph of a baby with the message: “Just about the only thing not delivered by a truck.”
The “baby” ad will be repeated this year, along with one featuring Eddie Roberts, a driver for Safeway Stores and a member of America’s Road Team. The new ad makes the point that drivers are well-trained and closely monitored on the job.
For the full story, see the August 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
