Old Dominion Merchandise Line
When Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. landed an advertising and marketing contract with Major League Baseball earlier this year, it was part of a long-term strategy to grow its business, officials with the Thomasville, N.C.-based trucking and logistics company said.
Old Dominion ranks 11th on the Top 100 Transportation Topics of the largest for-hire air carriers in North America.
The MLB logo will eventually adorn Old Dominion’s entire fleet of 32,000 semi-trucks, designating it as the official freight hauler of the league.
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“As far as the growth of Major League Baseball goes, there’s all sorts of debate about whether it’s growing or not, it’s doing pretty well,” said David Carter, Old Dominion’s vice president of marketing and communications. “It’s attracting a younger audience, which is great, and the World Series certainly helps that a lot.”
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The company began exploring sports marketing opportunities several years ago as a way to build its brand, Carter said.
They knew that a large portion of their target audience was very interested in football, but the expense would be considerable for a relatively short season.
“Baseball is right behind, in terms of interest, and baseball is a good, long season,” he said.
Old Dominion initially entered into promotional and advertising agreements with individual franchises. Carter said he “continued to look at whether we wanted to add teams and do something bigger. I’ve been talking to MLB for a while and looking at how we could get involved on a league-wide basis.”
The comprehensive deal brought the company television and online advertising opportunities, as well as exposure during the All-Star Game and World Series.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“It’s a really great partnership because one, it elevates and broadens the understanding of our brand,” Carter said. “Second, it aligns with the culture of MLB, in that we’re an all-American company and they’re an all-American sport, America’s pastime.”
Old Dominion uses the MLB logo on its trucks and in its advertisements.
The company has about 19,000 employees in total, including about 1,800 in the Triad region of North Carolina. It has grown rapidly across the country, opening service centers that manage its freight network.
“You can’t necessarily put out an ad and, boom, make sales the next day. That’s not how it works,” Carter said. “You have to set prices, you have to set contract ranges, all kinds of things before you even see a shipment of goods come in. Like any brand, you have to build your brand over time, and that takes discipline. And you have to surround the customer with a message that resonates with them.”
Old Dominion customized a trailer with a transparent design that it filled with baseballs and took to ballparks throughout the summer.
The “billboard on wheels,” as Carter called it, was used in a promotional campaign where he handed out tickets to the World Series to the fan who made the most accurate estimate of how many baseballs could fit inside.
More than 51,000 people tried to guess, and Nicholas Haas of Roanoke, Texas, won with a guess of 178,596 baseballs.
We have a winner! Nicholas, originally from Texas, won tickets for 3 #World Series guessing 178,596 baseballs to fill our trailer! #HomePlateFreight pic.twitter.com/NzY05EveqZ
— ODFL, Inc. (@ODFL_Inc) October 26, 2017
