ong-haul truck drivers are modern-day cowboys, but with a whole new kind of horsepower: big, chromed rigs that carry them from sunup to sundown, then offer shelter for a bedroll at night. “These long-haul truckers spend days and days on the road,” says Al Saltiel, vice president, truck marketing at Navistar International, parent company to International Truck and Engine Corp. “Their vehicles are the place where they make a living, but they’re also their home away from home. In the heavy-duty market, the truck is a reflection of the driver’s personality. A lot of these guys take a great deal of pride in their wheels.”

EVENT AT A GLANCE Objective: To become a dominant player in the heavy-duty truck market. Strategy: Launch a collaboratively designed vehicle prototype alongside a major industry trade show. Tactics: Hold a private, off-site launch event for media, dealers, and customers the evening before the trade show opens. Results: Event attendance exceeded goals by 100 percent. Since the production rollout in mid-2007, International has sold 3,838 ProStar trucks, even in the midst of a substantial industry-wide drop in class-8 truck sales.

International, a dominant force in the mid-size truck market (think cross-town moving vans), was looking to make a noticeable splash in this heavy-duty, class-8 truck market (think 18-wheelers) with the introduction of ProStar, a new highway tractor model designed for optimal fuel efficiency.

ProStar was also the company’s first class-8 model introduction in more than 10 years. To succeed, International needed to steer the attention of long-haulers away from the likes of class-8 industry leader Freightliner Trucks and make sure its new ProStar was top of mind.

In an industry where a new vehicle costs $90,000 to $120,000 and closing a deal can mean months of research and financial discussions, dealer loyalty and passion for the product are paramount to winning over truck buyers and making sales. International knew that the best way to build that connection between the trucker and his ride was to get him to one of its 600 dealerships and behind the controls of one of its shiny, massive rigs. And the best way to do that, International thought, was to build 370-horsepower buzz among dealers and long-haul drivers before it even started building the trucks.

So the company opened up the design and testing process, inviting select dealers, customers, and its dealer-advisory board to contribute to the truck’s concept and design. In addition to ending up with a product that customers would love — since they had helped design it — the non-traditional, inclusive approach helped strengthen International’s bond with its dealers and sparked excitement about ProStar years before the first truck went public. But in the big scheme of the ProStar launch, that was only the opening act.

Armed with built-out model samples but not ready for mass production, International faced its first fork in the rollout road. The annual Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS), the country’s largest event for the heavy-duty truck market, attracts nearly 80,000 dealers, buyers, and other big-rig truckers to Louisville, KY, every March. What better place to get ProStar in front of a critical mass of trucking-business honchos, own the industry headlines, and then back up the hype with some product chops? “Launching ProStar at Mid-America was our way of communicating to dealers and customers that we’re serious and focused on the heavy-duty part of the market,” Saltiel says.

Yet while Saltiel believed that a strong presence at MATS was important, he also had a tough choice to make, as the 2006 show would take place nine months before the first ProStar production models would be available for purchase. His options: Launch at the big show and then hope ProStar could sustain the excitement and momentum for close to a year until production models rolled off the line, or wait until the 2007 show and run the risk that the trucks would be yesterday’s news.

Saltiel chose to get on customers’ radars early. “The launch was a huge undertaking, and we wondered if we were doing it too early,” Saltiel says. “But the only other opportunity would have been after the trucks were out there in the market. We were very deliberate in our desire to create early interest.” Saltiel’s objectives: Build media and buyer interest and own the headlines. Then fuel that interest with a follow-up marketing campaign to get buyers to the dealerships and inside the cabs to check out the rigs for themselves.

KING OF THE SHOW

Once Saltiel had made the decision to roll out ProStar at MATS, the real challenge began. How could he possibly grab attendees’ attention amid the hum of more than 1,000 other exhibitors? For International, the answer was simple. Instead of competing with the cacophony of other companies on the show floor, it focused on building buzz before the show began by hosting an exclusive, invitation-only event the night before MATS opened.

The Truck Song A surprise performance by country-rocker Lyle Lovett was the finishing touch to the ProStar reveal event. In a nod to spotlighting the trucks as the real rock-n-roll stars of the night, Lovett’s show was not publicized in any event-related materials.

To get people excited about the event, International’s Chicago-based event-marketing partner, ProActive Inc., began marketing efforts about three months ahead of time. “We sent invitations in early January to let the dealers and everyone know that something big was coming and it was better than ever,” says Gloria Athanis, senior director with ProActive.

The invite-only event for press, dealers, investors, and key customers (who were identified and invited by the dealers and International’s internal sales force) took place in a 24,000 square-foot airplane hangar — a venue large and impressive enough to accommodate the anticipated crowds, the prototype vehicles, and a few surprises.

Holding the event off site was integral to its success — it gave International an unchallenged environment, while indicating to attendees that this was something special. “Our event was all about challenging convention by getting to people before the show began and bringing them to a cool environment where we immersed them in the ProStar brand and allowed them to focus on the trucks,” Athanis says.

Unlike the show floor, which was cluttered with competition, the off-site event belonged entirely to ProStar. There was nothing to distract attendees from the ProStar brand, and International was able to exercise complete control over the atmosphere. “The event was really cool,” Saltiel says. “The environment was unlike anything attendees would see on the show floor. It was a little more hip but still comfortable and welcoming for our audience.”

To create the right atmosphere for the event theme, designers converted the hangar into a club-like lounge by color washing the walls with light and installing two temporary 60-foot fabric walls and one 120-foot wall, as well as placing an easily accessible bar in the center of the room with additional bars on the sides of the space. White leather, cube-shaped couches and high-top tables were scattered strategically throughout the space, facilitating conversation and networking among attendees, and subtly echoing the collaborative nature of ProStar’s customer-inclusive development.

Throngs of truck drivers, dealers, and industry professionals started arriving at the airplane hangar just before 7 p.m. Located five minutes from Louisville’s Kentucky Exposition Center, the site of MATS, International arranged for buses to transport attendees from nearby hotels. The crowd spent the first 10 minutes or so mingling, eating, and drinking. Then the countdown began. An announcer’s voiced boomed through the crowd, marking the time until launch. A countdown clock also popped up on the 120-foot projection wall, blending visual and audio cues to direct the crowd’s attention and build New Year’s Eve-style anticipation. Once the clock hit zero, a four-minute video about the making of the truck filled the screen. As it wrapped up, music began to swell, and the right-side fabric wall raised for the big reveal.

	One Hot Launch International Truck and Engine Corp. introduced its newest model, ProStar, to the eager audience by giving its industry debut the rock-star treatment. The trucks emerged to greet excited fans through a swirl of pyrotechnics-like smoke effects.

Three trucks emerged like rock stars from behind a cloud of smoke. “People literally ran to the trucks,” Athanis says. “It was a mob! If you look at pictures from that moment, you can’t see white space because there are swarms of people around these trucks.” Attendees got the opportunity to get hands on, climbing into the cabs, talking to the development team, and literally kicking the tires.

About 20 minutes later, the left wall rose, sending a jolt of excitement through the crowd. They had already seen the trucks. What else could there be? Behind the left wall, waiting to rock the crowd, stood country-rocker Lyle Lovett. “We felt like Lyle Lovett would appeal to people who like country music as well as to people who like pop music,” Saltiel says. “And what’s more, he loves trucks.” Lovett proved to be the right artist for the setting, keeping the crowd in the large-yet-intimate space engaged. His 90-minute performance, followed by photo ops with dealers and customers, revved up the crowd and kept the energy level high for the entire four-hour event.

In most cases, a performance by such a big star would be the thing that drew people to attend the event in the first place. But, with a tip of the hat to Lyle Lovett, the trucks stole the spotlight, and Lovett was kept under wraps until the wall in front of his stage rose. “Lyle Lovett was a surprise for the audience,” Athanis says. “To be honest, we really didn’t even need a musical draw. The trucks were the stars.” But, to cement the event in the minds of the crowd and keep ProStar top-of-mind until the trucks hit the pavement, the event team came in guns blazing with a performer who connected with the cowboy sensibility of today’s modern drivers.

Driven to Succeed

The event’s success was evident before the doors even opened. With 1,250 invites sent and 1,300 people arriving on the scene, some of the International staffers actually had to give up their spots. In addition to educating the media and the target audience about ProStar, the event helped engage dealers and build their belief that International is a force to be reckoned with in the heavy-duty market.