Commercial Fleet Graphics Award Winners

First-place day winner, Great Falls, Mont.-based Hi-Line Moving Services, transports household goods over the Alaska highway.

Commercial Carrier Journal and the National Private Truck Council, Alexandria, Va., have co-sponsored the Commercial Fleet Graphics Awards since 1978 to recognize individual and corporate commitment to excellence in the design and use of commercial vehicle markings.

CCJ and the NPTC continue to coordinate, sponsor and publicize these awards for three reasons. First, attractive trucks enhance the public’s perception of the motor carrier industry. Second, encouraging design excellence is good marketing. An effective vehicle graphic design sends a controlled, positive message about a company and its products on a mobile billboard rolling down the highway. And finally, more conspicuous vehicles add to the margin of safety on our highways. That is especially true at night, when reflective materials – beyond those required by law – are used.

“The National Private Truck Council believes that the NPTC/CCJ Graphics Award program gets better every year,” says Gary Petty, NPTC president and CEO. “The overall sophistication and innovation of private truck graphics continues to rise and the NPTC/CCJ Graphics Awards meets an important need in the industry to showcase the best practitioners of this unique blend of advertising artistry. We applaud CCJ‘s leadership.”

The Commercial Fleet Graphics Awards competition is open to fleets operating vans, straighttrucks, tractor-trailers and buses. Excluded from the competition are fleet cars and one-of-a-kind, special purpose vehicles, such as show trucks. The contest has two categories: Day and Night, and there is no distinction for vehicle type. Each category has a first-, second- and third-place winner, and an optional honorable mention place may be awarded at the judges’ discretion.

Entries in the 2002 contest were judged by:

• Stephen Campbell, executive director,
  Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance
• George Mundell, senior vice president,
  National Private Truck Council
• Linda Longton, vice president-editorial,
  Randall Publishing Company
• Tony Breland, art director,
  Commercial Carrier Journal

Second-place day winner is Sargento Foods Inc., Plymouth, Wis., a family owned business that produces cheese and cheese products.

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“The entries in this year’s contest were, overall, very good,” says Tony Breland, awards judge and CCJ art director. “We were particularly impressed by those fleets that made an effort to have their trailers’ graphics match the tractors.”

Winning by day
The first-place day winner, Great Falls, Mont.-based Hi-Line Moving Services, transports household goods over the Alaska highway. In the past, this type of service was typically done over the “ocean highway,” but Hi-Line claims that routing goods over the Alaskan highway is more efficient and economical. Currently the fleet consists of 24 vehicles with four displaying the award-winning graphics. Hi-Line’s graphics are designed to convey the beauty that exists in Alaska, including its wildlife and native people. The company hopes that winning this award will help them expand and grow, says Brian Smith, relocations advisor. “We’re quite honored to be able to receive this recognition,” he says.

The second-place day winner is Sargento Foods Inc., Plymouth, Wis., which is a family owned business that produces cheese and cheese products with three business divisions: consumer products, food service and food ingredients. The company, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, operates out of four facilities in Wisconsin: Plymouth, Kiel, Hilbert and Elkhart Lake. All 48 of the company’s trucks display the award-winning graphics, which are designed to convey a strong Sargento brand image. “The use of a large Sargento logo on both sides of the trailer as well as on the tractor helps strengthen the brand prominence,” says Bob Peiffer, senior manager of creative services for the company. “The vibrant red primary color also helps to ‘pop’ our logo off the vehicle and create a visual impact on the road.”

Third-place day winner Mayfield Dairy Farms also won third-place in the day category of the Commercial Fleet Graphics Awards last year. The Athens, Tenn.-based company produces milk, ice cream and other dairy products at its Athens, Tenn., and Braselton, Ga., plants. A select number of Mayfield’s 955-truck fleet features the company’s most popular ice cream flavor.
This year’s award-winning graphics feature Coyote Caramel. “Our trailer graphics are a great billboard for our products,” says Mark Stiles, the company’s director of fleet, facilities and equipment.

Winning by night
First-place winner Sheetz Inc. is ranked 117 on Forbes 500 list of top private companies. Sheetz, headquartered in Altoona, Pa., operates nearly 300 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio. The company prides itself on its fresh, made-to-order food. “In addition to gasoline and the many convenience products and services offered, the primary message is food,” says Darcy Brandt, graphic designer for the company. “Our sparkling clean fleet is the perfect carrier for this message. What better way to break down the barrier between good food and gasoline than by adorning our tankers with a fresh food message.”

Although there were several entries in the nighttime category, the Sheetz entry was the only one the judges deemed worthy of recognition.

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