That’s exactly what the pest control chain called Truly Nolen did.  Their trademark yellow mouse cars and yellow trucks have helped identify Truly Nolen as the pest control company with a sense of humor and a taste for fun

Though it was founded in 1938, Tucson, Arizona-based Truly Nolen of America first transformed their utilitarian vehicles into moving billboards in 1961.

Today they are one of the largest family owned pest control companies in the United States. Truly Nolen has over 80 branch offices in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. The company also has independently owned and operated franchises in an ever-growing number of territories including California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas as well as Puerto Rico.

While a rodent-themed vehicle might not be in keeping with your company’s brand image, is there a way for you to transform your vehicles into marketing vehicles?

Relentless marketer Sean Kelly is a 20 year veteran of the franchise industry, and founder of the award-winning marketing firm IdeaFarm. In 2006, he founded the FranBest franchise network, best franchise opportunities, the top new franchises, franchise marketing, franchise public relations and small business marketing. Contact him at seankelly[at]ideafarm.net.

Busting on snobby-gourmet branded competitor Haagen-Dazs is more than a tradition for hippy-gourmet branded Ben & Jerry’s.

It’s part of Ben & Jerry’s heritage.

In fact, Ben & Jerry’s might still be muddling along as a regional brand if reps from Haagen-Dazs (owned by Pillsbury at the time) hadn’t tried to force retailers to drop the little-known brand.

Ben & Jerry’s fought back with a grassroots PR Campaign (What’s the Doughboy Afraid Of?) that thrust the little ice cream brand into the national spotlight… and soon national distribution.

Then who can forget the Ben & Jerry’s ad that poked fun at the phoniness of their competitors’ contrived names (Haagen-Dazs was just concocted to sound Scandinavian)

There ain’t no Häagen, there ain’t no Dazs,
There ain’t no Frusen, there ain’t no Glädj
There ain’t nobody named Steve at Steve’s,
But there’s two real guys at Ben & Jerry’s.

Back in January, 2009, Haagen-Dazs announced that it was downsizing its package size:

To offset increasing costs, we did not consider reducing the quality of our ingredients or the care we take in making your ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt. We opted instead to slightly reduce some of our carton sizes.

Beginning late January 2009, all Häagen-Dazs branded 16 fl. oz. cartons will change to 14 fl. oz. In March 2009, all Häagen-Dazs branded 32 fl. oz. cartons will change to 28 fl. oz.

This was a difficult decision. But we hope you’ll agree that our promise to never sacrifice the quality of our ice cream—what we put in as well as what we leave out—is what the Häagen-Dazs brand is all about.

I just received a Ben & Jerry’s “Chunkmail” email newsletter with the subject line:  “A pint is still a pint!” that featured the graphic above along with this message:

One of our competitors (think funny sounding European name) recently announced they will be downsizing their pints from 16 to 14 ounces to cover increased ingredient & manufacturing costs and help improve their bottom line. At Ben & Jerry’s we think downsizing pints is downright wrong. We understand that in today’s hard economic times businesses are feeling the pinch. We also understand that many of you are also feeling the same, & think now more than ever you deserve your full pint of ice cream.
We are even more committed today to lead with our values through the quality of our ingredients & how we source them to make the best ice cream possible. So, while our competitor may be experiencing a bit of shrinkage, rest assured that your Ben & Jerry’s will still be standing tall in the freezer. Enjoy!

Good to see Ben & Jerry’s stand by its heritage.  Just because there ain’t no Ben at Ben & Jerry’s… just because Jerry’s now a figurehead and the  hippy ownership is actually the multinational conglomerate Unilever… is no reason to end a fine tradition.

It just goes to show you, if you use cool cows in your ads, you can get away with anything.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Graphics:  Ben & Jerry’s

Technorati Tags: Ben & Jerry’s,Haagen-Dazs,email marketing,advertising,packaging

It’s called Lighten Up! Marketing, and his stndicated column is making it’s debut on Kelly’s Relentless Marketer blog on AllBusiness.com.

Lighten Up! Marketing Instant Classics:

Lighten Up Marketing #1:  Starbuck’s Mobile Marketing

Lighten Up Marketing #2: One For The Road

Lighten Up Marketing #3: Babe Ruth as Marketing Tool

Lighten Up Marketing #4: Be a Smartie

Lighten Up Marketing #5: Chipotle’s Boo-Ritos

Relentless marketer Sean Kelly is a 20 year veteran of the franchise industry, and founder of the award-winning marketing firm IdeaFarm.