The Peelle Co. faced an interesting dilemma for its marketing communications plan: How does a 117-year-old company with a very mature product and well-known industry personnel communicate information in a new and fun way? Peelle is no stranger to marketing its products and services. They have been owned and operated by the same family, producing the same product for the same industry for their entire history. In fact, few companies, if any, can make that claim in the elevator industry.
During a recent visit to the Peelle factory, Vice President of Business Development Michael J. Ryan happened to glance down at Dave Kairis’s desk. Dave Kairis is Peelle’s graphic artist responsible for Peelle’s marketing materials, website, videos and advertisements. What Ryan noticed was what looked like a freight door but with arms, legs and eyes. It seemed as though some of the engineering personnel were having fun and brought a freight elevator door to life. Ryan said, “That’s it. I’ve been looking for a new spokesman, and I think we have just found ours.” Freight Man was born.
Once Peelle fine-tuned the design, they located a cartoonist who made Freight Man a reality. They started slowly with some holiday announcements and COVID-19 tips on social media. Now, Freight Man appears at trade events and is shared on social media during most holidays. Additionally, these images have been combined into a coloring book that sales personnel leave when they visit elevator contractors.
Ryan routinely posts pictures of Freight Man during his various sales trips, asking, “Where is Freight Man?“ Much to his embarrassment, Freight Man is wildly more popular on social media than he could have ever hoped. Although Peelle is a very mature and conservative company, Freight Man has allowed it to have fun with its product and, at the same time, reinforce its brand and its importance.
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