Doubling the fleet’s fuel efficiency through story
How do you sell a planet-friendly driver training program to road-worn truck drivers? You tell the story from behind their steering wheels, not from your passenger seat…or from a marketing person’s perspective.
Ecodriving Solutions, an online and classroom training curriculum for fleet truck drivers, was launching its first national brand. Its first customer was Coca-Cola’s sixty thousand-plus fleet drivers. Given the divisiveness of ecological issues – from the callousness about carbon emissions to the uncertain science behind global warming to dog-paddling polar bears – we knew it might be difficult to get independent-minded truck drivers behind a program that they could view as just another sorry attempt to save the planet.
If you visit the Ecodriving Solutions website, you won’t find images of fluffy bunny rabbits, green grass, blues skies, or leafy logos. Instead, we built a brand archetype that speaks directly to the sentiments of the driver: our hero.
We use the Story Cycle customer persona guide as an interview template to get to know our audiences. What we found from our research is that the Coca-Cola’s fleet drivers had four primary motivators that we would story to:
- They were committed to helping their company, Coca-Cola, tune up its operations
- Their independent natures inspired them to be the best and safest drivers they could be
- They exhibited a competitive spirit as a regional team member to outperform other company fleets divisions, not to mention their fellow drivers.
- They expressed a sense of national pride to do their part to help America reduce its reliance on foreign oil
We captured the insights we gleaned about the Coca-Cola fleet driver, we called him “Chuck,” and drafted a customer person. Here are some of the insights:
Chuck is proud to have been driving for his company for nearly ten years. He’s thirty-four years old, and his mid-West upbringing helps him appreciate what it means to work for a solid company. He’s not the “Ra-Ra” cheerleader type. Chuck is just extremely happy to be contributing to his team in his own personal way, and he knows the company appreciates his efforts.
Chuck believes in fairness, honesty, and an America that his father always said was the finest country in the world. He’s indifferent to climate change because he’s not really certain of who to believe. He finds global warming to be a political subject, rather than a real one. Chuck is saddened at America’s involvement in the Middle East but figures we have to protect our interests and abdicates to the men and women in leadership who are “smarter than he is” for such decisions.
The fleet driver is just one of the audience personas we considered when telling the Ecodriving training story. You have to consider all of the audiences and what each uniquely cares about relative to your product, service or initiative. And then tell your story from their perspective, placing them at the center of the story. We examined the eight following audiences and helped Coca-Cola guide the genre of story according to the wants and needs of each audience.
- Fleet Managers want to reduce fuel and maintenance costs
- Chief Training Officers want to implement a proven turn-key training program without tying up their own IT and training resources’
- Human Resource Directors want a new platform that engages employees and builds camaraderie
- Directors of Risk Management want to sleep better at night because the Ecodriving training results in safer drivers
- Corporate Sustainability Officers want measurable sustainability program they can promote to stakeholders that delivers real numbers on the company’s reduced impact to the community and the planet
- Chief Marketing Officers want to use the results of Ecodriving training as a powerful way to strengthen their company’s corporate social responsibility story
- Chief Financial Officers want an immediate return on their investment found in reduced fuel and maintenance costs
- Chief Executive Officers want to be proud of the leadership role in their industry inherent in a program that positively impacts people, planet, and profits
It’s worth repeating that Coca-Cola doubled its SmartDriver goals in the first few months of launching the program in 2010 because they presented a story that their fleet could buy into and prosper from. Coke focused on culture rather than compliance to make their SmartDriving program a hit.
The Story Cycle System™ overview of Coca-Cola’s SmartDriver program:
- BACKSTORY: Coca-Cola launched an Ecodriving training program called SmartDriver to reduce the carbon emissions from its fleet by 3%
- HERO: Dedicated Coca-Cola fleet drivers
- STAKES: Drivers want to help their company, community and country by being accountable behind the wheel
- DISRUPTION: New internal initiative that is going to require them to drive differently
- ANTAGONISTS: Old habits die hard
- MENTOR: Ecodriving Solutions and Coca-Cola’s new SmartDriver program
- JOURNEY: Classroom and online Ecodriving Solutions training
- SUCCESS: Coca-Cola double its fuel savings and carbon emissions in just the first few months of the program
- MORAL: Pride in knowing how to have a positive impact in your job every day
- RITUAL: Day in and day out dedication to driving responsibly and being reward for it
