The Great American Trucking Show 2011

The verdict is back. The Great American Trucking Show (GATS) in Dallas, TX was this past week (Aug.  25-27th) and the 1st Guard team had a great show! The foot traffic was steady all three days with Saturday being the highlight. We saw a ton of our customers who are very satisfied with our services and spoke with hundreds of potential customers that hopefully will call for physical damage and nontrucking liability quotes on their trucks. 

As an aside, we had fun handing out 1st Guard bumper stickers - Diesel is a hit with all ages, especially little kids. The pictures don't lie!

Lastly, we'd like to congratulate Dan Ribar, 1st Guard truck show roady and CIO, for participating in the BIG RIG 5K run on Friday. We're glad you had a great run and ran for a great cause.

Copy Cats - Are They Flattering?

Recently, we fumbled through the trucking publication Movin' Out and discovered an advertisement that struck very close to home. If it wasn't for the picture of Flo, we would have been convinced the advertisement was ours. Subsequently, the chairman of 1st Guard, Ed Campbell, sent a friendly email to Progressive's Trucking Division Marketing Executive Bill Kampf. Here's what he had to say.....
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Bill,


I'll say I was a bit chagrined but also flattered when I stumbled across your recent ad in Moving Out.

Glad we're still the inspiration for the largest truck insurer in the country. Still, I would have thought a company with Progressive's marketing reputation and resources could have come up with something original as opposed to lifting from our 18 month old campaign theme.

If you insist on learning the business from 1st Guard we'll eventually have to start charging.

Ed
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Left image is 1st Guard'scampaign. The right image is Progressive's so-called original campaign. Sure looks a lot like ours, doesn't it?