thompson lift truck
B2B doesn’t have to look like B2B
Thompson Lift Truck gave us something creative teams don’t always hear from an industrial client:
We want something different.
THE CHALLENGE
Lift truck advertising tends to follow a pretty familiar formula.
Show the machine. Talk about the specs. Put somebody in a hard hat nearby looking extremely serious about something.
Thompson had a much better story.
Again and again, we heard people inside the company talk about how far they would go for a customer. Their attitude was essentially, we’ll do anything.
That gave us plenty to work with.
THE IDEA
CAMPAIGN ONE: WE’RE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING.
The first campaign exaggerated Thompson’s willingness to help by taking “anything” considerably further than necessary.
Alongside actual capabilities like personal service, parts availability and around the clock support, we added a few situations customers probably would not encounter.
The campaign became a series of posters Thompson salespeople could leave with customers. Instead of creating another piece destined for the trash, we wanted something people might actually hang on a wall.
When we presented the work, people immediately started pointing out their favorites and asking for copies.
Exactly what we hoped would happen.
Concept Development, Creative Direction, Copywriting
campaign 2
making the truck do the selling
THE IDEA
For the next campaign, we started with the product itself.
A lift truck lifts things.
So we let it lift the headlines.
Huge blocks of copy leaned against the mast with messages about Thompson’s service philosophy and willingness to go further than competitors.
The product stayed front and center, but the personality gave people a reason to spend a little more time with it.
Two different campaigns. Same belief. Industrial advertising can still have an idea.
Hi, I’m Marc.
I wrote my first screenplay in seventh grade. It was about a family that adopted two orangutans and solved crimes.
Hollywood passed, so I eventually went to Portfolio Center and became a copywriter instead.
Their loss. I still think it had franchise potential.
Sometimes, I do photoshoots with my dog whether she likes it or not.