The antiquated, analog freight industry hasn’t changed much in 100 years — nor has the way it communicates. Flock Freight is dismantling freight’s outdated, unnecessary constraints with a modern, digital platform that puts customers first.

Over the past year, Flock has introduced a new brand identity, website, and social media presence to reflect its unique proposition and lay groundwork for future growth. To increase B2B awareness of Flock and its superior shared truckload option for shipping, the company designed a first-of-its-kind brand campaign, “Define Your Load,” driving rapid customer acquisition and breaking the historically bland mold for freight industry branding.

Across the United States, people have access to more goods than ever before. But the way most of those goods reach them — freight shipping — has remained largely unchanged for +100 years. Businesses shipping less than a full truckload have two options. They can use hub and spoke freight networks, accepting delays and breakage costs. Or they can pay extra for an entire truck that ships directly — meaning they’re paying to ship air.

Most choose the second, leaving nearly half the trucks on the road hauling half-empty. It’s a market failure that’s terrible for businesses and the planet. Shippers don’t know any other option.

Flock Freight’s proprietary matching technology solves this problem through shared truckload, which offers the efficiency of full truckloads for partial shipments. This B2B campaign — unique among freight companies — is driving awareness of the superior alternative Flock offers shippers, truckers, and the planet.

As an industry challenger, we wanted to distinguish ourselves from hide-bound freight companies, as well as explain our technical solution in understandable terms. We also wanted to link our practical benefits to the need to slash carbon emissions. Our goal was to transform Flock into the first branded solution for a systemic problem while creating greater trust and affinity.

Compared with giants like FedEx and UPS, freight B2B is very traditional. It lacks recognizable national brands, and communication is often hyper-masculine and monotone — serif fonts, simple logos, and limited B2B channels. To break through to shippers, we needed a creative B2B campaign that loudly broke industry norms.

Our idea placed a generationally trusted messenger in an unexpected context: explaining the differences between shipping F*ckloads and Sh*tloads. Instead of industry jargon, acronyms, and legalese, we used understandable and attention-grabbing language to connect with other businesses on a human level.

Our own market research, in the form of industry surveys, identified the pain points for both shippers and truckers. Shippers want timely delivery, savings on shipments that don’t fill an entire truck, and less damage or delays. Truckers, meanwhile, want full truckloads and efficient routing that enable them to earn more.

Our own operations analysis showed these pain points were bigger than any one market participant. Millions of individual decisions and shipments had created a massively disaggregated matching problem. Roughly 45% of trucks run half empty — a market failure status quo that wasn’t working for any of our key audiences — shippers, logistics specialists, or professional drivers.

To reach these different audiences simultaneously, we created a clear, emotionally resonant, end-to-end campaign that credibly presented a superior way to ship goods — one that’s both more profitable and more sustainable.

We started by designing an end-to-end refresh of our marketing and communications to fuse our human values with Flock’s modern technology. In September 2022, we introduced a new logo and color palette. We also implemented a new communications strategy that reintroduced Flock as a fresh voice solving stubborn freight problems while bettering the planet. Using these assets, we revamped our website with animated explainers demonstrating our technology and posted them on social media to create traction for new SEO efforts. This work set the stage for our November brand campaign, “Define Your Load.”

We released 4 unique spots featuring Steve Burns of Blue’s Clues fame explaining the differences in truckload sizes in memorable terms, and amplified their reach with social teasers. The shock of using Mr. Blue’s Clues to explain “Sh*tloads” resulted in 130+ earned media articles, thousands of new social media followers, and a jump in customer acquisitions.

The “Define Your Load” campaign garnered significant attention that increased awareness of our brand and helped us reach strategic business goals. The campaign:

● Raised B2B awareness by generating 130+ news articles, 2+ million video views, 86k engagements, and 3.2K new social followers.

● Resulted in 181% brand awareness lift and 140% ad recall lift over Flock’s previous best performing asset, plus a 101% lift in online brand searches on launch day versus our previous record.

● Built B2B buzz, earning Flock recognition as the only B2B brand on Adweek’s ‘30 Best Ads of 2022’ list.

● Created year-over-year record-breaking business lifts, including:

o 604% increase in new in-bound leads

o 481% increase in new Marketing Qualified Leads

o 104% increase in new marketing starts that doubled acquisitions

o New well-known enterprise business customers

o Ad recall that continues to drive interest at industry trade shows and on

sales call.

Shippers know they have limited options, but they don’t necessarily know that a third option — shared truckload — exists. Most are sending less than a full truckload to any single customer. Because trucking has unchanged for a long time, they accept paying for half-full trucks as the cost of doing business.

Our business proposition is straightforward: lower costs and faster service for partial truckloads, all while reducing CO2 emissions by up to 40%. Our strategy has a clear objective: Tell shippers there is another way, one that saves money and move goods more sustainably.

We had to draw a sharp contrast to the status quo, as well as explain a technical market solution in understandable terms. We also had to link the practical benefits of our technology to the overarching goal of helping the planet. The goal: transform Flock Freight into a branded solution to a systemic problem.

27 years ago, the U.S. children’s network Nickelodeon launched an iconic show called Blue’s Clues, hosted by Steve Burns. Steve helps his young audience find clues as they examine the world around them.

Blue’s Clues quickly became the highest rated show for U.S. preschoolers. Steve was beloved by kids, and their parents, as a genial, trusted, and gently funny guide who could understand the world through the eyes of children. The format for Blue’s Clues used repetition, simple graphics, and bright colors to reinforce his explanations.

Those preschoolers are now Millennials, and their older siblings are among Generation X. Many of them have grown into the logistics and supply chain professionals we need to reach. Our idea used the incongruence of a kids’ show host cussing to grab attention. It also used nostalgia to connect a new idea, our brand, to a show with deep emotional resonance.