Tricked-out truck features ‘Guitar Hero’ duels
September 9, 2008
When Currency Marketing started planning the rollout of TDECU’s Young & Free Texas campaign, the agency’s media team was looking for non-traditional options to reach the 19 to 25 crowd. That’s when they found GoMobile Advertising based in Kent Washington.
The two firms hatched the idea pitting Guitar Hero players against one another in a truck that’s one-part cage-fighting arena, one part human fishtank.
GoMobile, which owns the truck, needed only 10 days to build and wrap the truck with artwork once the concept was approved.
Currency’s Tim McAlpine says the Texas truck from GoMobile is an 8 week campaign. The deal includes production, media, parking licenses, gas and a “brand ambassador” who works events and drives the truck around.
The truck’s features include seven flat panel TVs, an eight speaker surround sound system which blasts a hip playlist, a Guitar Hero competition setup and wireless microphones. GoMobile calls it “a festival on wheels.”
(click to enlarge photos)
When on the road, the truck is a mobile billboard.
Such coolness doesn’t come cheap. When asked what
the GoMobile truck deal cost, Currency would only say
it was “tens of thousands.”
Because GoMobile owns the truck, the license plate is from Washington — unfortunate for a Texas-themed campaign.
The truck will be hitting hot spots in Houston until voting for the spokesperson is over in mid October.
Next week, another vehicle will become active in Alberta for the new Y&F Alberta spokester search.
Key Question: How seriously do you take your event marketing?
Key Takeaways: You need to be making “marketing events” to maximize your event marketing opportunities. Free pens and water bottles don’t cut it. While you don’t need something as expensive as a custom truck, what you do need is an idea of a similar magnitude. “Cutting through the clutter” is just as tough in real life as it is in advertising.
Share
Previous related stories from The Financial Brand:
- Young & Free – South Carolina
- “B@%k” is a four-letter word in this promotion
- 15 of the best guerilla promotions in banking
- Dallas credit union launching ‘Young & Free’ knockoff
SPONSORED MESSAGE: Is your bank or credit union ready to go green with its branches? Watch this free webinar playback, “Green Is The New Black,” where the branch-building experts at Momentum outline the strategy, rationale, challenges, advantages and ROI of eco-friendly financial facilities. WATCH NOW
Filed Under: Marketing, Promotions
Tags: Currency Marketing, event marketing, Guitar Hero, TDECU, Young & Free
September 9th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Haha – yeah man, it’s not your typical koozie-and-calendar-fest. We’re giving away glowsticks, temporary tattoos, and plastic megaphones at the events with the truck. Laptop stickers instead of brochures at teller stations. Theatre ads instead of TV spots. Campus stickering/flyering (guerrilla style).
September 9th, 2008 at 11:20 am
We, too, are very proud to have been a part of this initiative. When we were tasked to look for solutions that would pair up TDECU’s interest and investment in youth with suppliers who really “got” this demographic, Go Mobile seemed the perfect fit.
Since this initiative is, at it’s heart, an awesome employment opportunity, we’re really excited to see the responses back from the community. Everyone wants a job that they can be proud of and this position allows people from this age group to have a voice and know that it’s being heard.
This is such a great project to be working on and we look forward to seeing the finalist’s submissions.
kathryn slater
Interactive/New Media Specialist
DSA Media
September 11th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Congrats to Trey and Tim on doing this correctly. I was wondering what they were going to do to really separate the TDECU from the Y&FA campaign. Excellent job!
I just wanted to make a point to any credit unions that may be looking at this and saying “Well yeah it’s great if you can AFFORD that kind of marketing.”
Creativity means working within impossible constraints to create something exceptional. No matter what your budget, you can do awesome things. Never let money get in the way of making a splash!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Hey All!
My name is DeAndre’ and I’m one of the finalists for the Young & Free Texas Spokesperson position! If you want to see how the competition is going, head on over to http://www.youngfreetexas.com and check out all of the candidates’ campaigns, and cast your vote. It won’t take but a second, you know you want to!
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:32 pm
[...] there are no plans to bring the Young & Free “Guitar Hero” dueling truck to South [...]
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:21 am
[...] is a blatant rip-off of the Guitar Hero model. But so what? What better inspiration than Guitar Hero, the most popular cross-generational game of all time? The graphics are fantastic, and the overall [...]
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 am
[...] had been watching the amazing things that Currency Marketing had been doing with Young & Free and we wanted to try something like [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 9:01 pm
[...] anything fun and crazy like setting up a “Banking Confessional” on the street or hosting a Guitar Hero duel? Financial marketing doesn’t have to be [...]