Get Your Brand Back on the Road with an Experiential Marketing Trailer

An article in the March issue of Event Marketer magazine highlighted the benefits of mobile activations using a trailer as trade shows were decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic over the past year.

“Trailers, like this one used for a Stratasys tour, are budget-friendly assets with their customizable features and portability,” the caption on the hero image read.

The article, titled A New Lease on Leads, highlights a trailer that Craftsmen Industries built for Stratasys, a 3D printing technology company.

“Mobile units are becoming a critical business asset for many exhibiting brands,” the article read. “Reusable, customizable and able to shift from an intimate activation at a corporate headquarters to parked within or outside a convention center, they’re a flexible investment with which brands can ride out the uncertainties of the pandemic.”

You don’t say!

As a custom trailer dealer and fabricator with over 30 years in the business, as well as an in-house team that has more than a decade of in-agency client service and account management experience, we’ve been preaching the benefits of trailers for brands for years.

• Almost exactly a year ago, we made the case for trailers over expensive trade show booths
• Right when the pandemic started, we described how brands could position themselves for success when events return
• We also gave ideas for how to continue to activate during and after the pandemic
• We’ve highlighted 8key benefits of an experiential marketing trailer
• We’ve provided 10unique uses for an experiential marketing trailer
• We’ve described how Advantage Trailer can help brands and agencies
• We’ve spotlighted our Top10 Custom Trailers of 2019 and 2020
• And we’ve shown how brands are having success with trailers during the pandemic

Do we have a stake in the game? Of course! But as mentioned above, we’ve also been in your shoes. We’ve planned, implemented, and managed brand experiences for clients such as Verizon, Kettle Brand, Evolution Fresh, Welch’s, Sea Cuisine, Grey Goose, and more.

We’re not just pushing trailers to make sales. We push them because they work. Just ask Stratasys marketing manager Amy Teal, who describes it well in the Event Marketer story.

“The advantage of a tour is that the team can invite key customers that are already in the pipeline, but hard to meet without you coming to them,” Teal said. “We are able to initiate those meetings to help move the needle when we can say, ‘We’re going to be in the city, would you like to stop and see us? Can we bring it to you?’ We’ve seen a lot of success and people intrigued by us bringing everything to their door.”

The current problem, however, is availability and timeline. While events are returning this summer, raw materials shortages have severely impacted the trailer industry (among many others). Due to the enormous consumer demand for trailers and the scarcity of raw materials (lumber, steel, etc.), most manufacturers have prioritized stock trailers with no custom options in order to simply get trailers out the door. Those needing custom trailers –brands and experiential agencies – lose out in the form of longer wait times.

If you plan to activate a mobile tour or utilize a trailer in any way for 2022, now is the time to act! Maybe you can find a used trailer to convert for your needs, but if you want a fully custom-built trailer for your brand, it’s going to take 10-12 months or more to build as of now.

If you want to lease a trailer this summer, we have a 24-foot stage trailer that is currently available immediately. We have several bids out for it as we speak, but as of this moment, it’s not spoken for. We also have some stage trailers on order that will be arriving over the next few months, so if you would like one of those, you better act fast.

Either way, let’s talk. We love helping put brands on the road and we would love to do so for you. Contact me at justin@advantagetrailer.com or630-580-5840 ext. 114.