Tenneco's Monroe brand launching mobile marketing tour

AKRON (June 16, 2014) — Tenneco Inc.'s Monroe Shocks & Struts brand is taking its “Everything Gets Old. Even Your Shocks” marketing campaign mobile, kicking off a six-week tour of more than 50 U.S. cities.

The firm stopped by Tire Business' office in Akron to show off its new mobile marketing vehicle, which features a 25-foot-long, 10-foot-tall custom-built trailer designed to look like a Monroe OESpectrum shock absorber. The LED-illuminated trailer will be towed by an SUV featuring matching yellow and black graphics that include social media hashtags like #EverythingGetsOld and #InspectAt50K.

Monroe said the marketing campaign and mobile tour are designed to remind vehicle owners that ride control components wear out and need to be replaced. Often degradation of these parts goes unnoticed, the company noted.

“You have thousands of pounds hitting your suspension from your vehicle, so every little toll kind of hits your shocks and struts first,” Denise Hanefeld, Monroe marketing coordinator told Tire Business. “We just want to remind consumers that as they're replacing their wiper blades, their tires — some more important things that get replaced more often—that their shocks and struts should also be inspected at 50,000 miles and replaced as they get worn.”

During the first three weeks of the tour, Monroe will be making a variety of stops in the Northeast U.S., including Washington D.C., Boston and New York. The next three weeks will be focused on the Midwest. Customer events are scheduled for various places, including Fenway Park in Boston and Niagara Falls, N.Y.

The mobile marketing vehicle will be driven by brand ambassadors Kyle Keech and Michael MacDonald, who will interact with consumers and document their 50-city tour via daily tests, photos and video postings to Monroe's website, Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Throughout the tour, Tenneco will award random weekly prizes to consumers who share photos and videos of the Monroe mobile marketing vehicle and its drivers via social media outlets. Three winners will be named each week of the tour and will receive prizes such as baseball caps, laptop sleeves and Monroe-brand t-shirts.

“We wanted to find a fun, interactive way that our businesses and customers could kind of interact with us on a more personal level,” Ms. Hanefeld said.

Monroe's comprehensive “Everything Gets Old. Even Your Shocks” promotion draws parallels between worn shocks and struts and a range of other consumer items that show clear signs of age, such as bananas, socks, shoes, tires and toothbrushes. While ride control products don't share the same visibility as these items, they play a crucial role in protecting drivers and passengers, Monroe said.