Partnerships key to Mack’s growth

OAKLAND, Calif. – Mack Trucks has been aligning with individuals and organizations that reflect its shared values, strengthening its following among fans of everything from sports and music.

The latest of these partnerships is with Petty’s Garage, the high-performance speed shop run by NASCAR legend Richard Petty. Mack is now the official transportation sponsor for the garage, and will be carting around its equipment between race venues behind a 2018 Mack Pinnacle axle-back tractor.

Country singer Steve Moakler is one of the individuals Mack has partnered with to promote its brand.

“Mack is pleased to partner with Petty’s Garage and to be named its official transportation sponsor,” said John Walsh, Mack vice-president of marketing and global brand. “Richard Petty is a NASCAR legend, so it is fitting that Mack, a legendary truck brand, would partner with the Garage. Both are committed to delivering superior performance to customers along with unmatched customer service, so we are enthusiastic about this new partnership.”

Mack is already the “official hauler of NASCAR” and provides a fleet of 10 custom-designed Mack Pinnacle sleeper models to transport equipment for the racing series. These will be replaced with the new Anthem model.

“Our plan from the outset was to use current product for a couple years, and switch to Anthems when we rolled it out,” Walsh said.

The new Anthem was displayed over the weekend at Raiderville, a playground for passionate football fans outside the Oakland Raiders stadium. Mack has also partnered with defensive end Khalil Mack, whose agent actually approached Mack Trucks with the idea after Mack had been considering such an arrangement. Walsh said he read about Mack’s upbringing in Sports Illustrated and saw many values were shared by the two Macks.

“He comes from a small town in Florida, there were only a few hundred kids in his high school, he was not highly recruited coming out of high school, he had no division one offers at all until the last minute when he was selected by the University of Buffalo. Khalil goes to the University of Buffalo, works his butt off, and ends up being one of the top picks in the NFL draft,” Walsh said. “It was a great story about hard work and determination and to me it was a very Mack story.”

Mack is one of the Raiders’ most popular players. Mack also has partnered in the past with Evel Knievel, and more recently joined up with country singer Steve Moakler to produce the song Born Ready.

“You can’t roll out a product called the Anthem without having an actual anthem, Walsh said. “The song really brought a lot of attention and furthered an emotional connection to not only the truck, but to Mack itself. It all comes back to a genuine connection on the level of shared values.”

As for the latest partnership with Richard Petty, Walsh said Mack will be working with him at events to interact with customers and provide a greater race event experience.

“The reason we got involved was to amplify the experience we’re providing to customers 40 weeks a year at NASCAR events,” Walsh said. “There is nothing like the king walking into your hospitality area to say hi, do pictures, and sign autographs.”

 

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James Menzies is editorial director of Today's Trucking and TruckNews.com. He has been covering the Canadian trucking industry for more than 24 years and holds a CDL. Reach him at james@newcom.ca or follow him on Twitter at @JamesMenzies.


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