 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
MCI coach disguised as moose hoofs it for Alaska Cruises It was a tour de moose. The MCI "Moose Mobile" spent four months on the road touring 52 cities in 27 states, promoting Holland America Line's Alaska Cruises and CruiseTours. The MCI motor coach was wrapped with a dramatic Alaska backdrop created by a Pacific Northwest artist as part of Holland America Line's marketing plan to educate consumers about Alaska and bring cruise business to Seattle.
"We wanted to create excitement with the traveling Moose Mobile so we commissioned Bryn Barnard to create a dramatic scene that depicts the beauty of Alaska," said Richard D. Meadows, CTC, senior vice president, marketing and sales. A native Alaskan husband and wife team, Steve and Dot Helgason, drove the Moose Mobile and hosted one-hour seminars at each destination for travel agents and consumers. As they drove from state to state, they generated gawks, talk, media attention and new walk-in business for travel agencies. The leader in Alaska travel, Holland America Line will have seven ships offering 134 cruises and 28 CruiseTour programs in 2005 with more departures featuring Glacier Bay National Park and Denali National Park than any other company. With a fleet of more than 320 motor coaches, including 56 E4500s, Holland America is North America's ninth-largest private coach. Westours, headquartered in Seattle, is a major subsidiary of Holland America Line, operating as Holland America Tours and Gray Line of Alaska. Holland America also owns Evergreen Trails, Inc., which operates as Gray Line of Seattle and Horizon Coach Lines, Vancouver, British Columbia. To learn more please visit www.hollandamerica.com. Sprint on the air Chances are, if you've been watching television lately, you've seen it: a splashy MCI coach, rigged out with a huge LED video screen on its side and a destination marquis that simply reads "Better." It's the Sprint bus, converted in service of the company's $100-million advertising campaign for its wireless plans.
It all started shortly before Labor Day last year, when the production company headed by Kenyon Robertson walked into MCI's Los Alamitos showroom asking for a coach shell they could have right then and there. Within six days, MCI was able to get the coach prepared for the ad. Sales representative Marshall Deems handled the sale, and he gives much of the credit of compressing what is normally about a three-week process into a matter of days to new-coach sales administrator Kathy Leech and Walt Novak, manager of MCI's Loudonville service facility, and others. Even Robertson, who presided over a Hollywood team that managed to convert the coach (complete with wrap, giant video screen and extra AC to keep the equipment cool during shoots) in a week, was impressed. Says Robertson, "They really caught it in the end zone." There are many more examples of how businesses are using coaches as an addition to their marketing mix. If you have an example to share, e-mail us at fyi@mcicoach.com we may profile your coach in an upcoming issue of FYI. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
