Putting respect back on the road.
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, One20 was an ambitious startup with a goal to leverage collective economic and social power for the benefit of the truck driver community. From naming and branding to app design and marketing communications, Multiple worked with the company’s founders to bring their idea to life, get on the road, and gain significant traction in the trucking community in a very short time.
Face it. Trucks are annoying. They jam up our roads and highways, always seem to be where we don’t want them to be, and generally scare the heck out of many ‘four-wheelers’. And even though they’re absolutely essential—without them our economy would literally grind to a halt—there’s very little public respect for the people who do the physically and emotionally taxing job of keeping us supplied with everything from food to flat-screen TVs. Massive efforts have been undertaken to try to wring more productivity out of already hard-pressed professional drivers, but virtually nothing has been done to try to make their lives on the road less frustrating, costly and isolating. Until now.
Breaker breaker, what’s your handle?
When a group of former trucking industry leaders realized that the biggest positive impact yet to be made in their world was with drivers themselves, they asked us to help turn their idea into reality. After framing up and detailing out the broad concept with our clients and their advisors—to bring collective buying and communication power to bear on behalf of millions of previously disconnected individual truck drivers—the first order of business was to give it a name.
For insight and inspiration, we immersed ourselves in the trucking industry’s history and folklore. Through CB radio, truck drivers arguably created the first real social network, and the associated jargon became so prevalent in ’70s popular culture that terms like ‘10-4’ have become almost universally understood today. Since our clients were looking to generate a single, unifying connection between dispersed people, and in CB lingo, your ‘20’ is your location, the name One20 was born.
After securing legal rights to the name and acquiring the associated social media ‘handles’ (another CB term!) we developed the elements that would form the basis of the company’s visual identity and branding, its go-to-market / launch strategy, and its overall brand communication framework.
Key components included:
- establishing the overall One20 tone of voice (for marketing, social media, etc.);
- developing the One20 visual voice, identity and branding elements;
- designing a visual voice and brand communication system for TruckThat—a trucker voice platform;
- developing proof of concept app screens to help demonstrate product for various audiences;
- guiding visual/UI/UX development of the app;
- designing and developing pre-launch teaser microsites and websites;
- shooting and editing a series of truck driver interview videos;
- designing and producing various communication elements for the TruckThat and One20 launch events.
Delivered!
Just four months after our first meeting, and following the launch of the TruckThat trucker voice platform (designed to give drivers a place to express their frustrations), One20 was officially introduced at the MATS Mid-American Trucking Show in Louisville.
As a One20 member said, “It’s about time someone did something for us instead of to us.”
