During the 2016 Thanksgiving Holiday, we wanted to see what Thanksgiving, Black Friday special or weekend promotion would stick out to us – and we found it. It was a free Thanksgiving Feast for CDL permit holders at the Boise Stage Stop, about 17 miles East of Boise, ID.
The reason it caught our eye was we saw it everywhere on social media while we were doing some posts for several accounts. It was being tweeted, retweeted, and #hashtagged all over the place by other truckers, trade publications and other news outlets such as the Idaho Statesman and KTVB Channel 7.
There Facebook page showed over 3.7k likes, 265 comments and over 2.3k shares. Simply remarkable. These were all ‘organic’ hits also, not a paid advertising program. And the comments were largely an outpouring of thanks and gratitude to our nation’s truckers for the work they do, especially those who weren’t able to make it home for the holiday. We thought it was great that several posts recognized the wait and kitchen staff and the fact that they weren’t home either.
The amount of coverage it received by numerous on-line trade publications numbered into the dozens and we quit counting the amount of Tweets on it after a few dozen as well.
Our learnings from this promotion were many. First of all, it wasn’t a ‘big & shiny’ promotion with fancy graphics and photos, but rather a heartfelt effort that Boise Stage Stop has been doing for years. The promos we saw were done with simple clip art and gave the details of the promo which was enough to drive interest. Second, it shows how sincerity and being kind can spread like wild fire. We watched the interviews on KTBB and you could tell the staff truly appreciated the truckers that visit their stop year round. Finally, it shows that a good hearted story can attract attention, I’m sure there are numerous media agencies and marketers out there thinking “wow, we want to get that type of traction for our client/business, this story was picked up by many of the leading trade journals, how can we do that?”
So, kudos to Boise Stage Stop and we wish you continued success – and if some of your team makes it to Yakima, WA look us up – lunch will be on us!
The @boisestagestop Twitter account received numerous tweets, retweets and comments.
The Boise Stage Stop Facebook page received over 3.7k likes, 265 comments and more than 2.3k shares
KTVB.COM did a great story on the free Thanksgiving Feast
The Boise Stage Stop had a wonderful feature article from the Idaho Statesman.