Mobile meets mobile: Why smartphone-savvy brands are hitting the road
The trend toward big-name brands, even some upscale ones, placing their logo on a truck and driving around the country to engage with consumers is being driven as much by the high cost of real estate as by mobile-enabled consumers who can follow a truck via social media.
Starbucks, White Castle, Veuve Cliquot, Polaroid and Four Seasons are just a few of the brands that have embraced a strategy that, while not brand-new, is gaining steam alongside growing mobile adoption. Mobile trucks - as in moving around - are a great example of how mobile helps marketers bring their brands to local communities in a way that is viral while also appearing folksy and high-tech at the same time.
?Consumers? ?mobility? plays a huge role in any location-focused marketing initiative,? said Vanessa Horwell, chief visibility officer at ThinkInk, Miami. ?And that includes branded trucks.
?While bricks-and-mortar establishments are doing everything they can to get customers into their venues via their smartphones using location-based, geo and proximity marketing technologies ? branded trucks, or even pop-up stores, to a degree, can go where their customers are,? she said.
?If you think about it, smartphones support mobile truck endeavors because consumers can track where their favorite one is located in real-time, anywhere in the city or nearby. For that to be effective, however, marketers need to create mobile messaging campaigns that reach nearby consumers ? there?s no point sending any type of mobile message to a customer who?s not in close proximity ? that inspires them enough to go wherever the truck is located to have a tangible, physical experience with the brand.?
Road trip
The idea of a branded truck is not new but more brands are hoping on board these says. The strategy cuts across categories but appears to be most popular with food and beverage brands in recognition of the growing popularity of local food trucks more broadly.
Mobile marketing plays a key role in driving viral awareness of the trucks as well as enabling ongoing engagement with a brand. This is accomplished via a social presence that builds excitement for a truck before it pulls into a city, makes nearby consumers aware when it has arrived at a specific location and gives fans a way to follow its travels once it leaves.
For example, White Castle encourages fans to post photos to social media for a chance to have the the brand's Crave mobile truck come to their community.
The strategy was highlighted in this year?s film ?Chef,? with the leading character?s young son taking to social media to chronicle his father?s food truck?s adventures, helping to turn it into a success.
Upscale appeal
What is interesting is that the trend is attracting upscale brands such as Four Seasons and Veuve Cliquot, pointing to how a mobile social strategy can help marketers connect with their fans away from traditional physical outposts.
For example, a Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts food truck is driving the East Coast through Nov. 11 to treat locals to food from its top chefs, with the menu changing along the way to reflect the culinary tastes of each destination. The effort is a repeat of a successful strategy from last year (see story).
A number of brands have signed up to sponsor the tour, including Coca-Cola, Red Bull and Bacardi.
Fans can follow the food truck on the brand?s food Web site, Taste, or on social media with the hashtag #FSFoodTruck.
The social media strategy also gives brands a way to gauge how engaged consumers are with the trucks to help them decide whether or not to build on the effort.
On campus
?Starbucks, which has just 300 of its 11,500 United States outlets on college campuses, is deploying mobile trucks at three campuses this fall to serve on-the-go customers. The trucks are announcing their locations through posts on Twitter, Facebook and other social-media channels.
?Starbucks, which has just 300 of its 11,500 United States outlets on college campuses, is deploying mobile trucks at three campuses this fall to serve on-the-go customers. The trucks are announcing their locations through posts on Twitter, Facebook and other social-media channels.
The trucks, operated through Aramark, will adjust their business hours to suit the customers? needs, in some cases staying open later than a dining hall, according to Starbucks.
While the Starbucks trucks do not currently leverage the coffee chain?s successful mobile payments app, other trucks have made mobile payments a big part of their offering.
There are also a growing number of food trucks not tied to a big brand but that have a strong local following. Many of these small businesses are embracing mobile payments because this requires less of an upfront investment in equipment and there is a smaller fee for processing credit card transactions.
?For the most part, larger brands focus their efforts on above the line spend and digital campaigns that don?t have hyper-localized reach,? Ms. Horwell said. ?That said, the upside for these brands is having access to a large mobile customer base and being able to promote their localized efforts through other channels, i.e., cross channel, to educate customers about local campaigns including mobile trucks.
?The issues for smaller brands are limited resources and cross-channel marketing strategies,? she said. ?They need to ensure their channel strategy is able to address local communities effectively in order to direct foot traffic to wherever they?re located.
?This can be achieved through the use of event marketing platforms, targeting local influencers and using location-specific hashtags, which then goes beyond mobile-only marketing.?
Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York