INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana—Now you, too, can “see yourself in a tank truck.”
National Tank Truck Carriers launched its industry branding campaign and unveiled the new gotanktruck.com website—which aims to educate the public about the tank truck industry and drive employee prospects to member fleets and carriers—during 2023 Tank Truck Week here at the Indiana Convention Center.
“This campaign represents a significant milestone in our industry’s history, and it will not only enhance our visibility and strengthen our workforce, but also strengthen our position as leaders in the world of logistics and transportation,” said Herb Evans, NTTC chairman of the board, and Eagle Transport vice chairman.
The website went online Monday with immediate results. Ryan Streblow, NTTC president and CEO, indicated during Tuesday’s advocacy committee meeting the site generated 4,077 page views from 3,408 users within the first 12 hours of its launch. “That speaks volumes to the activity that’s going on there,” he said.
The campaign is the product of 16 months of effort, first by NTTC’s workforce committee, then a branding committee spearheaded by Greg Hodgen, Groendyke president and CEO. The association has spent $443,491 to the build the campaign, including $275,000 on the initial ads for the test run and radio spots on Sirius XM. “National Tank Truck Carriers has invested a lot to build this program, so we’ve got something that’s built to last, we can modify it as we go, and there will be things we alter and change after we roll it out.”
The campaign was developed in association with Markstein, a creative communications firm headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, that won a Mark Russell Trucking Image Award for its work with the Alabama Trucking Association. They plan to test the campaign in the Houston and Chicago markets for three months before a larger nationwide rollout, likely sometime next year. “The pilot phase is critical to really be able to diagnose what’s going to work best,” said Chris Hoke, Markstein chief creative officer, who introduced the campaign—and previewed two commercials—along with Lindsey Gatlin, the firm’s branding director.
They designed the program to initially spotlight four key driver “personas” who best represent the prospects they’re targeting: The provider, who wants to make money and still make it home more often; the problem solver, who thrives in a fast-paced, challenging environment; the initiated, who has a CDL and wants to join the “elite” trucking segment; and the adventurer, who wants to see new places and meet new people.
The different types of prospects are featured in the various 15- and 30-second videos.
“We wanted to tell stories that are authentic,” he said.
“[And] this is absolutely one of my favorite projects I’ve worked on because it was real drivers. Every actor is a real driver—and we rarely get to present authenticity like this.”
The campaign “toolbox” includes the videos, ads for digital, print, and social media platforms, educational materials, and more. NTTC also showcased full and partial trailer wraps inside Markstein’s exhibit hall booth, and Hodgen said they were careful to make the materials scalable for carriers of every size. “We’re just not going to let you modify it very much because we want to have a very consistent campaign,” he said.
Most importantly, the campaign will help NTTC members address the workforce issues plaguing numerous industries by pointing prospects to the carriers who best match their skillsets and locations by linking to their sites. “The good news is you’re not alone,” Gatlin said. “Everybody is going through workforce pain.
“The bad news is everyone’s going through the same existing workforce that’s out there. So now is the time to get ahead of that—and make a difference in the way we look at our future.”
