‘Mini-Malls’ Take to the Open Road
When this truck pulls into rest stops--Ralph Lauren’s Double RL Truck shop--even truckers’ heads turn.
On the outside, it’s an 18-wheeler brightly painted with a herd of wild horses running across the side. On the inside, it’s a Ralph Lauren shop on wheels--stuffed from floorboard to ceiling with Lauren’s newest collection of men’s jeans and casual wear. It comes complete with vintage American memorabilia, four fitting rooms and a sales staff of seven.
Besides the Ralph Lauren truck, there are a slew of other “interactive” marketing vehicles--giant trucks that consumers can board and browse through--hitting the road these days. The trucks usually lure customers by providing free entertainment or free products. They offer soft drink samples, music videos or free play time on video games.
Marketers say the concept may have begun with library bookmobiles, which bring books to people who can’t get to the library. But it has since evolved into a marketing medium that uses trucks to haul products, promotions and live entertainment anywhere that consumers are.
Pepsi has a “Rock Motion Theater” truck that it bills as the nation’s first music video ride. Bud Lite’s “Magic Truck” has one side that converts into a sound stage and another side jammed with video games. Teledyne Water Piksends an 18-wheel truck--complete with 14 fully operating shower stalls--to athletic events to promote its Shower Massagers. Even Cooking Light magazine has a massive truck that pummels shoppers with product samples, coupons and recipes.
Not everyone thinks this newfangled marketing barrage on wheels is all that swell. It’s one thing for trucks to tool around with giant portraits of cola cans or beer bottles on their side panels. But it’s another thing entirely when consumer product marketers also transform the insides of these huge trucks into veritable product showrooms.
“They’re mini-malls on wheels,” said Alan Durning, senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based environmental think tank. “And when they do this, they don’t have to monkey around with things like building and zoning codes. It’s just another example of the creeping commercialization of American life.”
“Maybe they’ll do this sort of thing with trains next,” said a rather confounded Ivan Preston, professor of advertising at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
The Ralph Lauren truck began rolling onto college campuses three weeks ago. It typically sets up shop for two days--then donates 10% of the profits to student groups. Students can step onto the truck and buy designer clothes--from T-shirts for $12 to jeans for $68.
“There’s a certain mystery to stepping into a truck and walking around,” said Mary Randolph Carter, vice president of advertising at New York-based Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. “We sort of think of this as the Polo Peace Corps.”
Interactive trucks are also becoming marketing staples for the soft drink giants.
Crystal Pepsi, for example, has a 75-foot-long “Rock Motion Theater” truck that has been canvassing the country since early last summer. The truck theater--which some have compared to the “Star Tours” ride at Disneyland--seats 16 people. Riders spin in their hydraulic seats while watching an extravagant music video by Peter Gabriel. When they leave, they are offered a sample of Crystal Pepsi.
Consumers have waited in line up to an hour to see the five-minute video, said Pepsi spokeswoman Amy Sherwood. “It’s a great way to get people to try your product,” she said.
Coca-Cola has “Cherry Coke Sonic Shuttles” rolling around to promote that beverage. The trucks are loaded with video games aimed at attracting young consumers to sample the product. Coke also sponsors the “Coca-Cola Road Trip,” a customized tractor-trailer that unfolds into a 25,000-square-foot sporting skills game center.
Beer makers are also on the road. Bud Lite’s “Magic Trucks” were developed last year after the dazzling trucks in Bud Lite TV spots received so much consumer interest, said Bob Lachky, director of Bud Lite marketing. With the help of special effects, the trucks in the ads could be converted into almost anything--from race cars to ski parties on wheels.
The real trucks aren’t quite as agile. But the flashy white and silver rigs have emerged to become rolling billboards for the brand, said Lachky. Five such trucks will make 400 stops nationwide this year at everything from state fairs to shopping malls. That’s a 60% increase in bookings from last year. “They’ve become brand icons,” Lachky said.
Miller Beer has a handful of 26-foot recreational vehicles that it has converted into rolling entertainment centers promoting Miller Genuine Draft. The trucks have deejay booths as well as sound stages, and they show up at everything from car races to store openings.
But few trucks have quite the commercial wallop of Cooking Light magazine’s 48-foot tractor-trailer, which parks in supermarket lots--occupying 12 full spaces. Consumers are lured in by free product samples, coupons and sets of recipe cards. “It is not just some carnival-like promotion,” said Publisher Jeff Ward. “We consider it to be educational.”
Briefly . . .
The Santa Monica agency Rubin Postaer & Associates, which already handles the $160-million national account for American Honda Motor Co., has also picked up the Japanese car maker’s $130-million regional dealers ad account for combined billings of $290 million. The win at Rubin Postaer will result in at least 60 new employees in the firm’s Santa Monica office, and it plans to open six more regional offices. But the win clearly threatens the Los Angeles agency Robert Elen & Associates and its 30 employees, which has counted on Southern California Honda Dealers for the bulk of its business. . . . The Los Angeles agency Anita Santiago Advertising has picked up the Spanish-language ad business for Pomona Inter Valley Health Plan. . . . New York-based Arbitron Co. plans to end its syndicated local market TV and cable rating service by Jan. 1 and redirect its efforts to “qualitative” audience measurement.
