When construction began on the new International Runway at Memphis International Airport, Fullen Dock provided delivery of 150,000 tons of construction aggregate for the two-mile long, three-foot thick, steel-reinforced concrete runway.
Press Releases & News
Fullen Works to Develop Rock-Solid Ad Strategy
MEMPHIS, Tenn.—(March 23, 2005)—The folks
at Fullen Dock and Warehouse know there's nothing intrinsically sexy or even
mildly compelling about a pile of rocks.
(Don't worry, you can't hurt their feelings. They've heard
all the comparisons and made a few themselves.)
But when they decided to go after more of the rock business -- last year Fullen sold 1 million tons of aggregate -- they tinkered with strategy and branding.
The biggest effort went out the mail chute this month: 1,500 4-ounce bags of chips (you read right, but these are bags of roadbase, Fullen's No. 1 seller) in a direct-mail campaign announcing Fullen Stone, the rebranded division that accounts for 75 percent of sales.
"Our name Fullen Dock and Warehouse doesn't tell people what we do," said Marvin Frick, office manager. "People see the piles of rock, but they don't know what they are."
To solve the identity problem, Fullen brainstormed with inferno, the Memphis advertising agency that won an Addy Award this year for its in-house stationery and last year helped Fullen promote its new container shipping division.
Before that, inferno designed Fullen's Web site, a moving pictorial of Fullen's divisions, from dock services to trucking and transport.
But designing a public relations campaign to sell rocks?
"This was a very interesting challenge because there's no differentiating factor between Fullen's product and their competition," said Dan O'Brien, one of three partners at inferno. "So we had to find something else. You have to find a point someone is going to care about."
It turned out to be Fullen's variety (hard to sneeze at seven kinds of
aggregate) and river location, which, as it turns out, is a big plus for
shipping, but who knew?
In an industry where the standard bearer is pen or calendar,
inferno designed a chip bag (after a staffer made the connection at a brown-bag
brainstorming session) and illustrated it with a heroic figure in overalls
for a look Frick describes as "hard and edgy with a meaty-looking guy."
"Anyone can send out a little postcard," he said.
The snack bag "shows both Fullen's convenience and variety," O'Brien said.
It became not only a novel way to capture attention, but the means for carrying the subtler message, which is that the postwar industries that will make it in the 21st Century are brave enough to try something new.
In Fullen's case, it was finding a memorable way to reinforce product and customer service.
"With its sister company, Jimmy T. Woods Trucking, Fullen can provide instantaneous response to customer need," O'Brien said.
In two weeks, every contractor, architect and home builder likely to have a project within 50 miles of Fullen will get a reminder mailing -- an insert printed on card stock -- to jog the memory. They'll come every two weeks for two months.
"A lot of different folks provide construction aggregate, but because of Fullen Dock's location on the north side of the city on the river, they are able to distribute to a very wide radius and do it effectively," O'Brien said.
That matters, because aggregate is heavy and expensive to ship.
"The nice thing about direct mail is that it's very measurable. You know what you send out; you know what you receive. We'll look at the conversion three, six, nine months out," he said.
Frick plans on a less scientific approach.
"After two or three years, we think we'll be seeing new jobs and new shipping addresses. We'll know which contractors called in new orders."
Commercial Appeal - March 23, 2005
When the historic bomber Memphis Belle needed a lift from the Millington Naval Base to its newly constructed pavillion at Mud Island in downtown Memphis, Fullen Dock got it there safe and sound.
Overview for Reporters and Editors
Fullen Dock and Warehouse is a full-service intermodal river terminal and warehousing facility located at Mile 740 of the lower Mississippi River, immediately north of Downtown Memphis. Fullen Dock clients include barge brokers, freight forwarders, and manufacturers requiring barge services, harbor and tug services, transshipment, trucking and storage within the Mid-South (Memphis, Tenn.) and to other continental U.S. regions. Fullen Stone stores, sells and transports a wide variety of aggregate products to the regional construction trade. Founded in 1979 in Memphis, "America's Distribution Center," Fullen is located near the junction of I-40 and I-55, with open rail access to CSXT, Burlington Northern, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. For more information on Fullen Dock and Warehouse or Fullen Stone, visit www.fullendock.com or call 800-467-7104.
Expert interview contacts and guest columnists
Fullen Dock provides expert interview contacts and guest columnists to trade publications and other press, as well as panelists for trade conferences. Their areas of expertise include inland waterways, doing business and working on the Mississippi River, the steel industry (distribution and logistics), intermodal logistics, homeland security (as it relates to inland waterways), and Memphis as a distribution center.
Press Contact: Brad Carmony, inferno, 901.278.3773, 980-429-0189 (cell), brad@creativeinferno.com
Photos: High-resolution versions of many of the photos on this site are available for publication, along with images of Fullen Dock and Warehouse officials.