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Geoff Roy 6th June 2016

The Coca-Cola Method of Using HGVs For Marketing

HGVs, trucks, lorries or whatever you want to call them are, in and of themselves, iconic features of our road-based landscape. Consciously or otherwise we have a familiarity with the different shapes, dimensions and, mostly, designs of the various HGVs we see on the motorways and streets of the UK.

And, thanks to TV, advertising and movies, in our homes as well.

If you want any evidence of this, then refrain from fast-forwarding through the adverts in the weeks before Christmas and you’ll undoubtedly hear the familiar seasonal chant:

“The holidays are coming, the holidays are coming.”

Followed by the bright red vision of that big Coca-Cola lorry rolling into some fantasy festive scene.

The Coca-Cola Lorry

It’s become an icon of Christmas marketing for more than twenty years and arguably the most recognisable truck in the world. The red with white trimmed truck and trailer, sparkly lights and the world leading soft drink on the side.

It’s mass global branding at its most effective and, front and centre, there is the distinctively recognisable truck – a symbol of how Christmas is ‘delivered’ in western society.

And, of course, the Coca-Cola lorry is no longer a figure of the screen; these days it’s a toy and, in recent years, a real live lorry that visits towns and cities the world over, spreading the inimitable message that Christmas isn’t Christmas without Coke.

Cadbury’s Own Lorry Fleet

And the placement of a lorry as a subtle (or maybe not) symbol of delivery for our most beloved brands has grown. Over the past few Christmas’ the UK’s leading chocolate manufacturer Cadbury’s have got in on the act.

Cadbury’s have added their own clever twist on the marketing however. Noted for their range of advent calendars, Cadbury’s have launched a fleet of trucks across the UK, all instantly recognisable and each with its own number (1 – 24, like the advent) for eager spotters to chalk off upon sight.

Yorkie – A Man’s Chocolate Bar(?)

Of course, Cadbury’s are not the first chocolate bar to use HGVs at the centre of a marketing campaign.

As far back as the 1970s Nestle promoted their chunk chocolate bar Yorkie towards a distinctly masculine market via the rugged and manly means of a great big Yorkie truck. The message was clear. Yorkie bars were big and tough – and there was nothing bigger or tougher or more manly than a truck and its ruggedly handsome driver.

As I say, it was the 1970s

Eddie Stobart

Of course, making your trucks a distinctive and iconic feature of the road and the culture at large is another proven and powerful way to promote your brand. After all, trucks are huge and easy to remember when you see them rolling along the motorways.

Eddie Stobart’s fleet of green and red HGVs have been a fixture on UK roads for decades. Instantly recognisable, the vehicles themselves becoming the very beacon of the company’s brand and overall marketing. The fleet itself has taken on cult status, with each truck having a different female name (taking note there, Yorkie?) so that eagle-eyed drivers and truck-spotters (is there such a thing?) can note which of the ‘girls’ in the fleet they’ve seen.

It’s no surprise that HGVs feature heavily in so many marketing strategies. Symbolic of how we receive those things we love the truck is at the heart of our infrastructure. And, of course, being huge vehicles that spend a lot of time in the public eye on the roads, they also happen to be like great big advertising hoardings.

Geoff Roy

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