Fullen Dock & Warehouse

Press Releases & News

More Industries Expand Reach Through Branding

by Andy Meek, The Daily News

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—(April 04, 2005)—When the bosses at Fullen Dock and Warehouse decided to spread the word that they’re a major player in the aggregate business – something potential customers might not know – they tried a novel approach: They hired inferno, a Memphis advertising agency, to build a rock-solid campaign.

Reaching more people.

Fullen office manager Marvin Frick knew it was a tall order, but inferno designed postcard ads and a ‘snack bag’ of rock samples that he said perfectly fit the bill.

"There’s only so much you can do with a rock," Frick laughed. "We wanted to brand that part of the business so people would know us. Other guys on the construction side of it, they know Fullen Dock handles aggregate – I guess what we were shooting for are architects and engineers, people who don’t normally know who’s in the aggregate business in a particular area."

Fullen Dock and Warehouse is an intermodal river terminal situated at Mile 740 of the Lower Mississippi River. Its aggregate supply side, Fullen Stone, is one of the largest in Metro Memphis. Fullen supplied the construction aggregate for the 2-mile long International Runway at Memphis International Airport. It also delivered 200,000 tons of aggregate to build the Union Pacific Intermodal Yard in Marion, Ark.

Becoming more common.

Frick said a foray into the advertising world is unusual in the rock and stone business, which relies heavily on trade publications and word-of-mouth. But Brad Carmony, a public relations account manager with inferno, said the company’s decision reflects a growing trend.

An ad firm’s prowess comes in handy in targeting a message to a highly specific audience, Carmony said. Other inferno clients that have benefited from the approach include Eclectic Eye Eyewear Boutique and Smith & Nephew’s Memphis-based orthopedics division.

"The challenge we have with Fullen Stone is geographic targeting," Carmony said. "Any campaign is designed to hit a specific audience and many times multiple audiences. Aggregate publications would have reached way too many people, and our goal was to hit a very specific range."

Spending up.

More companies are apparently replacing word-of-mouth advertising with branding strategies. Mary Hilton, director of public affairs for the American Advertising Federation, said ad spending is on the rise nationally.

Increases especially can be seen in television and Internet advertising. A report by Borrell Associates Inc., a national research firm, found that local online advertising is expected to hit close to $4 billion this year, up almost 50 percent. From 2004 to 2008, television ad spending is expected to climb from $64.2 billion to $82.9 billion.

"Certainly, if a business is going to make a name for itself, advertising is the best way to do so," Hilton said. "Nationally, ad spending is going up. And as the economy continues to improve and people feel confident about their business success – their financial stability – the more apt they’ll be to advertise."

A public entrance.

In early March, Fullen unveiled the campaign to promote its stone division, which supplies construction businesses with products such as roadbase and limestone.

The launch of Fullen Stone was timed with a direct-mail campaign targeting the regional construction trade.

"They’ve been in existence since about 1979," Carmony said. "And the signage says Fullen Dock and Warehouse, so upon seeing that, if you didn’t know that they were back here, you wouldn’t know so much of their business is based on the aggregate side. So it was really branding that part of the company."

Amina Dilawari, an account executive for inferno, said Fullen’s campaign began with a mass mailing of a small bag of roadbase. Featuring information about the company’s aggregate product, it served as a teaser for the entire effort.

After the mail-out, inferno began sending follow-up cards.
"We’re sending these out in a two-week cycle to reinforce the message," Dilawari said.
"This is about a two-and-a-half month campaign where it’s really, really aggressive."

Seeing success.

Frick said the branding effort is already beginning to pay off.

"We deliver a lot of material to local customers, but our customers on the other parts of it are around the world," Frick said. "We’re fortunate to have these folks that put this together, and it’s just not something that’s normally done in the aggregate business – the creative part of it."

The Memphis Daily News - April 4, 2005

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.