The Canadian Trucking Alliance’s ‘Choose to Truck’ landmark image campaign received well over 20 million impressions across various social media channels during its first phase, which ran from November 2021 until May 2022.
The social media campaign is the largest, most successful public relations effort in the industry’s history. Ottawa-based Spark Advocacy, the creative team behind the online ads, says pound-for-pound, it’s one of the most impactful corporate campaigns they’ve done.
The campaign – which is aimed primarily at Millennials and Gen Z as they embark on new career paths – consists of multimedia messages that are inspirational and aspirational while highlighting the opportunities and innovations throughout the Canadian trucking industry.
Many of the ads, displayed on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok, showcase the amazing people and diversity that make the trucking industry great; the evolving career opportunities; as well as technological and environmental innovations, lifestyle flexibility and benefits good employers provide and the sense of charitable and strong community spirit the Canadian trucking industry is renowned for.
Through the first phase of the campaign’s inaugural year, the graphics and videos were viewed 21 million times across all platforms. The top performing province by clickthrough rate was Quebec, followed by Ontario. The three most Western provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan) also saw high CTRs. The campaign has also generated for sponsors thousands of potential leads of those may be considering the trucking industry as a career choice.
Ads focusing on the industry’s vital role as the backbone of the economy, truck driving career opportunities and the benefits and flexibility offered by the industry’s top companies, performed best, especially on platforms that resonate more with younger audiences, like Instagram and Tik Tok.
For phase two, CTA will be adapting and enhancing some of its most popular ads, adding story carousels and creating a new hero video and adding additional platform expose like Youtube and Twitch. The Ontario Trucking Association, specifically, has also boosted the marketing budget in the Ontario market to create digital out-of-home messaging posters in known areas of high target audience traffic.
CTA would like to thank the industry sponsors who helped make the first part of the campaign a resounding success.