Marketing on the road: rev up your engines! There is no better way to promote your bank at community festivals, parades and other events than through the use of distinctive customized vehicles.

• Author: Albro, Walt

MARKETERS ARE ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR UNIQUE WAYS TO ENGAGE THE PUBLIC, especially at community parades, festivals and other events. For such promotional activities, banks with footprints spread over the map often opt for the use of distinctively decorated vehicles that can be driven from town to town.

Below we profile two examples of banks that employ select promotional vehicles to help their institutions engage in the art of "marketing on wheels."

Want Free Ice Cream? Call in Forcht Bank's Ice Cream Machine

Bank Marketer: Eddie Woodruff, CFMP, Chief Marketing Officer

Institution: Forcht Group of Kentucky and Forcht Bank, Lexington, Ky.

Asset Size: $972 million

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In the past, Forcht Group of Kentucky participated in community events mainly through event sponsorships. The bank--whose market consists of 12 different geographic-areas in North, Central and Southern Kentucky--would urge as many of its employees as possible to attend each sponsored event.

Recently, the bank decided to develop a way to interact more directly with the public at events. The bank hit upon the idea of using a uniquely decorated truck to dispense free ice cream. "After all, who doesn't love ice cream?" asks Eddie Woodruff, CFMP, chief marketing officer.

The bank selected a truck and then brainstormed a name for the vehicle, which became the "Ice Cream Machine" The banks in-house graphic designer came up with the decoration, which was vinyl-wrapped on the vehicle by a local sign company. In the rear of the vehicle, the bank installed a commercial freezer capable of holding up to 600 sundae cups of ice cream. The truck was jazzed up with chrome wheels and topped off with a flashing green light. "Everyone who sees it comments on how sharp it looks," notes Woodruff.

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The bank started dispatching the vehicle in April to community events, parades and festivals. The bank has already booked 53 events through the end of September, including Relay for Life Cancer Walk, State Baseball Tournament, Customer Appreciation Day at the bank, Summer Reading for Kids at the local library--and a July 4th parade.

The Ice Cream Machine is a natural lit for generating publicity through social media. "We promote appearances on Facebook and Twitter and post photos after the events" says Woodruff. "Without a doubt, it's the best PR we've ever done."

The success of the truck proves that it pays for banks to think long and hard about creative ways to...