Branded Food Trucks for a Good Cause

SHOW YOUR EMOTIONS

Take a look outside and you’ll see we’re living in a “new normal.” With over 73,000 confirmed deaths as of May 7th in the U.S. alone, according to Johns Hopkins University, it is impossible to not be impacted in some way, directly or indirectly, by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

If you were to look up the basic definition of “marketing” you’d find, from Merriam Webster, it means, “the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.” 

Even in a time where over 33 million jobs have been lost, businesses are shuttered, countless states have yet to fully “reopen,” and economic uncertainty prevails, most people are more concerned with their health and safety and that of their loved ones than opening their wallets and spending money. 

That concept flies in the face of what “marketing” is because consumers aren’t prioritizing purchasing in their lives. 

So, how do brands cope? Frankly speaking, how do brands stay relevant and stave off their own financial freefall in a time where one story dominates all our lives, but without coming across as insensitive and tone-deaf? 

If you think about it, experiential marketing, at its core, is emotion-based marketing. It’s a formidable tool that brands can leverage to connect with consumers on a personal level, evoke powerful emotions, and call its audience to action. 

Harnessing experiential marketing with a branded food truck to “give back” and “do good” has the power to promote and endear your brand to consumers in a way that is compassionate, thoughtful, and self-aware. As the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates once said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

Earlier this week, Ralph Lauren dedicated Nurse Appreciation Day to the nurses on the frontlines at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York fighting COVID-19 with a branded food truck serving up free cups of the brand’s Ralph’s Coffee.