Marketing’s Summer Road Trip

As Memorial Day hurtles towards us in the United States, one of my favorite forms of marketing is hitting the road—mobile marketing. And I am not referring to marketing via mobile phone, but rather trucks, cars and even trains sporting bright paint jobs, emblazoned with logos and packed with product samples.

The father of mobile marketing, Oscar Meyer, has tuned-up its latest Weinermobile for another summer tour. Last Sunday’s paper even promoted Oscar Meyer’s contest to win a trip on the Weinermobile. The uber dog, which first hit the road in 1936, is sharing the road with P&G’s mobile marketing fleet, which includes the purple Prilosec mobile home and the new Crestmobile.

The Crest Imagine Tour is making stops at major events including food and music festivals, vacation destinations, major cities and other venues where visitors can step into the toothpaste tube-Crest Whitening Plus Scope-to use brushing stations to brush their teeth. Via Adrants

While mobile marketing comes with a hefty price tag, this consumer marketing tactic is quite effective. Consumers are outdoors soaking up sunshine instead of strolling down store aisles this time of year. The unique, highly-visible vehicles raise awareness, encourage product trial and accelerate from zero to buzz in seconds. Look for them at carefully-selected events throughout the summer.

Have Buzz, Will Travel
This marketing convoy is not limited to consumer products. Business to business marketers use flatbed trucks to hawk everything from caskets, software and hardware to commercial food equipment, copiers and corrugated steel pipe. In fact, a client at my previous job created their mobile marketing effort back in 1956.

Manufacturers have been going to great lengths for years to get products in front of customers. It is a trickier proposition in business to business. Trade shows are one approach, but you are competing with the noise of an entire industry, which just happens to be tucked under the same roof for a few days. Sometimes these shows are not enough.

Mobile marketing can be used to visit outlying, rural areas where showrooms are not economical. Customers get first-hand experience with products and can meet with salespeople.

Batesville Casket Co. is taking its line of caskets and other funeral products on the road with its Honoring Lives Tour Center...two 18-wheeler showrooms designed to cater to busy funeral directors who are on call around the clock and cannot afford time to visit Batesville, Ind.

I’ve seen clients send their mobile marketing unit to a trade show to boost their presence. It served as an off-floor meeting space and was even used to conduct new product focus groups during the show. Siemens uses their train to educate US customers of the depth of their product offering.

Hmmm, maybe this gives me an excuse to get that big, shiny Airstream I’ve secretly yearned for all these years? If you know of a company looking to sponsor a summer tour, let me know. I’ll send you a postcard.

Tags: public relations, advertising, marketing

Comments

[Flora Samuels]

Re: Oscar Meyer mobile contest

If I won the use of the Oscar Meyer Wener mobile, I would have it delivered to the Ronald MacDonald House in Memphis, TN for the children staying there who are being treated at the St. Jude Hospital.

Thanks,

Flora Samuels

[karen]

IF I WOULD WIN THE MOBILE FOR A DAY I WOULD FIRST PARK IT AT MY CHURCH ST MICAELS TO REPRENTSENT ONE OF THE DRIVER OF THE MOBILE WHO PASSED AWAY ABOUT A YEAR AGO MR MOLCHAN HE WAS A GREAT AND CARING PERSON AND THEN I WOULD DRIVE IT TO CHILDREN MEMORIAL IN CHICAGO

[sandra harashe]

IF I WOULD WIN THE Oscar Meyer Weiner MOBILE FOR A DAY I WOULD Use it to help the Walmart I work at raise money for the childrens miracle network. So that more children can get the help they need.

[Dan]

If I were to win the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile for a Day, I would park it at the Elks Lodge I belong to, to help raise more funds for the Elks Major Project which helps out children with disabilities.

[Barbara Festa/Joanne Lupo]

If I had the Oscar Myer Weiner Mobile for a day I would drive to to Schnieder Childrens hospital and visit the children. I would give out plenty of hot dogs to the kids and if the company has any oscar myer promotional merchandise like minie weiner mobiles and shirts I would distribute them to the sick children as a courtesy of the Oscar Myer company to let the children know that we care and that they are in our thoughts and prayers. I believe a gesture such as this would be a great gift for the children who often only have medical tests and treatments to look forward to during the day. It would be an honor to participate in such an event.

[Jacob Appleby]

If I had the Oscar Myer Weiner Mobile for a day I would drive it to the 9-10 year old Little League State Championship in North Canton, Ohio.

[Shannon]

Hello fellow hot dog people. If I could ride in the Oscar Myer Weiner Mobile, I'd run around town showing off how delicious Oscar Myer Weiners are! I would have a hot dog feista~! Giving away free hotdogs to the poor. Each person who would eat a hotdog would get 5 raffle tickets for the drawing. If they were to win, they would get a 10lb. package(s) of (or a) hotdog(s).

i would be so happy AND joyful to help my hungry commuinity and drive in the best car EVER!

ALL LOVE TO THE ONE AND ONLY OSCAR MYER WEINER MOBILE!!!

[Rachael Perryman]

If, I had the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile for a day, I would pick up all of my friends and ride around to homeless shelters in the area. I would give the homeless families hotdogs. I would also have a loud speaker and tell everyone how good Oscar Mayer Weiners are while riding to and from the shelters.

[Jennifer]

If I were to win the Oscar Myer Weiner Mobile for a day I would drive over to a llama farm and put the llamas aboard. I would drive the llamas and myself to the circus and do tricks while handing out free hot dogs to the people that pay money for them.

[Rachael Perryman]

If, I had the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile for a day, I would pick up all of my friends and ride to the homeless shelters in the area. I would give the homeless families hotdogs. I would also have a loud speaker and tell everyone how good Oscar Meyer Weiners are while riding to and from the shelters.

Rachael Perryman

[cindy winstead]

If I had a chance to win a day driving the oscar meyer weiner mobile. I would do a selfish thing. I would go back to where I grew up. A place we skipped many a days to go to the beach. The highlight of our days on the sand was walking through the hot sand to the pier to eat a chili-cheese dog with mayonaise and the softest buns around. We would race back to our blankets tipping a ice cold bottle of Sun-Drop and munching on our delicious meaty oscar meyer weiners. At 13 I thought the world couldn't get any better than that and wish I could go back to the simplistic way of life. How just thinking of a hotdog brings back vivid memories to a time where the world was much safer and the biggest dilema was to wear the black bikini or the white one. Life didn't get much better than that in 1973. I would ride the mobile on the sand and pass out a bit of good food and fun and let the kids see something they will never see in these parts again.

[Monongalia County Teens Against Tobacco Use Program]

If our Teens Against Tobacco Use Program had the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile for just one day, we would love to drive it through our community during "The Great American Smoke Out" or "Kick Butts Day." As our high school participants presented their workshops on the dangers of tobacco we could pass out those delicious hot dogs. The theme would be "Be a WEINER (winner), Don't Smoke!" Who would EVER choose a cigarette over an Oscar Meyer hot dog???!!!!!!

[Monongalia County Teens Against Tobacco Use Program]

If our Teens Against Tobacco Use Program had the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile for just one day, we would love to drive it through our community during "The Great American Smoke Out" or "Kick Butts Day." As our high school participants presented their workshops on the dangers of tobacco we could pass out those delicious hot dogs. The theme would be "Be a WEINER (winner), Don't Smoke!" Who would EVER choose a cigarette over an Oscar Meyer hot dog???!!!!!!

[cheryl majer]

I am a home care provider, and if I won the
mobile for a day, I would take drive around
to all the people that I knew that were
homebound. Just to see them smile would be
so rewarding. Those who could go for a ride
I would drive about town. We would stop
at daycares, and churches and just laugh.

There are so many homebound people that
were enjoy this day.

I hope I win for them.

[Talib vaughn]

If I could win the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile for a day, I would go to the place where Foster Kids are kept and put as many as I could inside and let them ride around with me, eating hotdogs and drinking sodas and eating icecream. I think that everyone deserves that one special day that they would remember forever.
I hope I win.
Talib vaughn
2105 Miles Street
Copperas Cove, Texas 76522
(254) 547-5509

[Lindsay S.]

If I had the WeinerMobile I would first take my friends because we never get to do any of this fun stuff. I would take my mom because she always has to drive me places and it would be really cool if she could drive the weinerMobile. She does a lot of things too, so I want to do something for her and let her be the in the great weinermobile! So I really hope I will win for my mom!

[Lindsay S.]

If I could win the WeinerMobile I would take my friends because we never do any fun things like takeing the weinerMobile out for a ride. I would also take my mom because she does things for me and I want to do something for her because she always wanted to ride in the WeinerMobile! It would really be nice If I could do this for her so i really hope that I win!

[sherry conley]

hello, i live in n.j. and as a kid ,i remember the mobile driving around and playing the jingle.we loved it and also ate nothing but oscar meyer hot dogs.my two children also know of the weiner mobile,we have the whislle, and the hotwheels collector weiner mobile.if i won, first i would go pick up my two sons, go to the medford nursing home, so the older people could see it again and put a smile on their faces and know that they are thinking of their childhood, back when you had hotdogs everyday for lunch and dinner,making mud pies in the rain, in your bare feet. next i would love to take it on the atlantic city boardwalk , for everyone to see.

[Dianne Roberts]

I am a nurse at a retirement facility. What a joy it would be to see the weinermobile pull up at the door & take the seniors out for a ride & have a weiner cookout. Some of these people have few or no family this would be sunshine! after all "A DAY WITHOUT OSCAR MEYER " IS A DAY WITHOUT SUNSHINE!"

[Renee Edmonds]

If I were to win the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile for a day, I would drive it to the high school where I teach and use it as part of our ninth grade fall orientation. We are desperate to make school a welcoming and fun place for our students. The Weiner Mobil and Oscar Meyer Weiners represent fun. We want the kids to see school as more fun than the streets that offer nothing for them but destruction.

[Renee Edmonds]

If I were to win the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile for a day, I would drive it to the high school where I teach and use it as part of our ninth grade fall orientation. We are desperate to make school a welcoming and fun place for our students. The Weiner Mobil and Oscar Meyer Weiners represent fun. We want the kids to see school as more fun than the streets that offer nothing for them but destruction.

[Renee Edmonds]

If I were to win the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile for a day, I would drive it to the high school where I teach and use it as part of our ninth grade fall orientation. We are desperate to make school a welcoming and fun place for our students. The Weiner Mobil and Oscar Meyer Weiners represent fun. We want the kids to see school as more fun than the streets that offer nothing for them but destruction.

[Cindy Seymour]

I would let all the children at Rivermont Elementary ride around the block. We would sell Oscar MyerWeiners and use the profits to buy well needed school supplies. At the meeting the first graders will perform for the parents. With this kind of excitement we should receive 100% attendance.

[Cindy Seymour]

I would let all the children at Rivermont Elementary ride around the block. We would sell Oscar MyerWeiners and use the profits to buy well needed school supplies. At the meeting the first graders will perform for the parents. With this kind of excitement we should receive 100% attendance.

[kathleen whitney]

if i had the oscar myer mobile, i would drive it to band camp to raise some school spirit and make marching band alot more fun. the winner of the drill offs and other strange band contests could ride around in it. it would really pep us up for a long season.