The Evolution of PR & Marketing in Material Handling
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Come see their solutions and meet the Big Joe leadership team, including Martin Boyd, Jason Dunnigan, and Nick Malwecki, March 17th to 20th at ProMat in Chicago, booth N7157. That's booth N7157. The New Warehouse Podcast, hosted by Kevin Lawton, is your source for insights and ideas. From the distribution, transportation, and logistics industry...

A new episode every Monday morning brings you the latest from industry experts and thought leaders. And now, here's Kevin. All right. We are live here with this live version of the New Warehouse podcast. And...

Welcoming people in here. Thanks for joining us, tuning in here. And we're going to have a very timely discussion, I will say, here. We are on the precipice of ProMat, one of the biggest industry events for warehousing, material handling, community, over 1,200-some exhibitors coming up, and one of...

the early kind of catalysts, I will say, and, and embracers of, uh, the new warehouse podcast. That's kind of where we kicked off, uh, the podcast, uh, in 2019, about six years ago. And, uh,

And there's been a huge evolution in the industry just in those six years. But we're going to find out what the evolution of material handling has looked like. And from a PR and marketing standpoint as well today from our

Our guest is going to be Ashton Maxfield. He's the president and founder at Master Plan Communications. We've done some work with them over the years through the new warehouse. Ashton has been in the industry for quite some time. He didn't start out in the industry, but we're going to hear a little bit about that journey and kind of

material handling has evolved and how the PR and marketing aspect has evolved as well, which I think is a really interesting discussion. And I tie it into ProMat because with ProMat coming up, I think a lot of us are trying to figure out how are we going to get that exposure for our brand, our solutions, our companies? How are we going to

squeeze as much marketing out of that that week-long event as possible whether it's leading up to it or after the event or during the event so we're going to get some tips from Ashton today too as well so Ashton welcome in and thank you for joining me today thanks for having me it's really great to be here definitely happy to get you on here happy to be talking about this I think it's a very kind of hot topic I'm you know I'm

And just as you, you know, I'm in a position where I'm talking to a lot of marketing people and they're trying to figure out, you know, how to do different types of things. So I think it's going to be a really interesting discussion today with some great value for those folks and the industry as a whole. So why don't you kind of kick it off here? Just give us a little brief overview of Master Plan Communications and what you all do.

I'd be happy to. One thing you mentioned, you talk to a lot of marketing people. Sure. And I want to give a shout out to the marketers of the material handling industry. There's so many of them that are really talented pros and they're on the cutting edge and it's great. I've been able to meet them over the years through MHI and Mejita. And I saw many of them comment or like this pod and wanted to be sure to, you know, give them a little praise because I'm not the only one out here doing it. And there's some real great talent.

all right definitely well shout out to the marketers out there yeah and then i'll get to my intro so i'm the founder and president of master plan communications i started this agency back in december 2011 and right when we started i was really intentional about working in the material handling industry so i think that sets us apart it's not something that um

we fell into it's something that we had an opportunity to work in and we loved it and really leaned into it mpc provides strategic pr and marketing for business building results and we're our favorite thing and where we can really see the results happen is when we're able to do a full campaign where we're able to plan to align with the company's business goals um and

and then get approval on that plan, execute the creative and the media relations program, and then advertising program and traditional marketing as well, and then show that the results and really evaluate what worked and why for the client. We do a lot of annual programs where the companies bring us in for planning. They share with us their business objectives and goals, and then we write that plan for them, which is great.

We as a part of that, we also do offer marketing programs that are project based. So sometimes companies hire us just for video or design work or social media program or a trade show or an event. So we do all of that as well.

um examples are like new core warehouse systems we have been doing there yeah we've been doing their um total pr and marketing program with the support of their in-house team for many years um and others um project-based stuff like arnold

is one that will hire us for video work, which so we'll come in and just do video production at their experience center on different projects for them. So just a couple of little examples, but that's what we do. And, um, we really love it. Like I, I started in material handling, um,

out of curiosity. So as a teenager, even though I had my passions and hobbies, and I was interested in asking questions about business and how business works. I wanted to know how those things work. And when I got the chance to start working,

i wanted to know about the behind the scenes thing so when i first got that introduction in material handling and i realized that this industry is the one that provides all the shipping and of all logistics of everything we use from like this mic at my computer to my laptop to my coffee here on my desk if i look around all these things came through the supply chain and one thing that really is exciting about it is it

for everyone, every walk of life uses the supply chain from like a mother, a young mother that's getting diapers for her baby to like the elite that's getting new tires for his Lambo. Like they both use the supply chain, right? It's not just a little niche. It's not like one hobby or one thing like golfers that get golf stuff. This is everybody, which is amazing. So I'm pretty excited about it.

Yeah, we could tell definitely. And I think, you know, you have such a great point there because no matter what the item is, if there's some kind of physical product at some point, some, somewhere material handlers, material handling equipment has probably touched it. Right. And, you know, being a part of the industry and I kind of echo your, your sentiment there. I mean, it's, it is exciting because there's so much involvement, um,

it kind of makes, you know, it makes everything move, makes the world kind of go around in a sense, you know, from a product standpoint. So, so it's a really interesting to hear there too. And, and I'm curious about your, your background a little bit too. And, and kind of when you, you started to look at material handling, cause I know you're a, you're a, you're a skateboarder surfer kind of guy. Right. And, and then you switch over to like forklifts and racking and stuff. Right. Like how does that kind of come into the mix? Yeah.

Well, I love that you mentioned skateboarding and surfing and snowboarding because those things are so fun and amazing and passions for me. I just got back from putting on a minute Brighton Mountain with 32, 32 day and we had powder, which was great. I think that, I mean, I think skateboarders have a really unique position in business because in skateboarding, if you ask Tony Hawk,

Christian Assoy, Eric Koston, any of Steve Barra, any of these pros that have also been successful in business. In skateboarding, you fall every time you go out and that's part of it. So it's not like another sport where when you get good at it, you don't fall anymore. You don't fail. And in skateboarding, you'll fail more times than you succeed.

even as a professional level. And so because that skateboarders had that mindset of just like, all right, onward, that didn't work. What's the next solution? And I think that serves them well in business, but I might be biased because I just love skateboarding. I started skateboarding when I was 10 and 45 still skate today. I started working in public relations and marketing in

Oh, well, back in 2000, I was at Cal State Fullerton. It was towards the end of my school. I graduated in 01. And in 2000, I decided to make everything I did in school work.

in the real world that I could. So if we had an opportunity to do a class project, to write a press release, to do anything, I would call the company that I wanted to work for and see if I could do it for them. And I got like many, many, many no's. But the Surfrider Foundation needed help. So I wrote a press release for Kelly Slater, greatest surfer of all time, for a premiere of September Sessions. That was my first press release that went out. And I also just started writing for them

And then there weren't a lot of companies in the industry that were big enough to have a PR department. They usually had like one marketing person back at that time. And so, and I was focused on PR and Quicksilver did. So I called him 20 days in a row after the 20th message.

They called me back. And they said they got all 20 messages and they hired me. So it was great. And that was a dream job for me. And it was incredible. And then at the end of that, 9-11 happened.

And when 9/11 happened, Quicksilver and much of industry contracted in the US and the jobs were gone. But I was 100% committed to sticking with PR and then marketing. So with PR, I worked for the government and then I found a job in wireless and that job in wireless.

Took those things that I was curious about as a teenager when I kept asking business people, including my dad, how business work and how deals were put together and all of that. It was like a lot of my curiosity was there because these like mobile phones are

or something that was going to connect everyone. Data hadn't started yet, and 3G was that thing. It's very similar to material handling, and everyone uses it. And I loved it. And I was one of my first jobs. So I had a wireless job that led to agency work. And in the agency work, I met Kirsten Brundahl, who was my boss at the time. We still work together today at MPC Now.

And one of my first clients was Qualcomm and the Super Bowl was at Qualcomm Stadium. So I was doing PR on the Super Bowl.

And then Kyocera Wireless and Nomadix and Nirvana and many others. But what these guys had in common was they were putting together 3G data for cell phones, which would connect the world. It would allow all the things we have today to happen. And I was so curious about it. And I loved being able to do global press tours and work with all the biggest media. And at that time in PR,

There wasn't social media then. It wasn't a thing. And the internet was much younger then than today. So print was still super important. Broadcast was super important. And the internet was coming of age. So we had all three types of media converging and they all still were relevant. And the only way to get access to them for editorial was through a good PR agency.

So we were these gatekeepers at a time when there was a recession and the wireless companies had money. They had both either venture capital or investor funding, or they were publicly traded and already an enterprise. And those were our firm's clients. So I learned a lot. I grew really fast.

And then from there, I was hired at Soul Technology, which is Etnies Skateboard Shoes and Apparel 32. And I worked there for several years, almost 10 years in-house. And then after that, started MPC. And immediately when I started MPC, I met people at Hannibal Industries, Steve Rogers, Amanda Torrance. And

And I went in the office and met them. And when I met them and pitched them on PR, they were launching TubeRack. And this was super exciting and important. Most people on this podcast probably understand TubeRack. But for anyone that doesn't, in warehouse rack at that time, we're going back to 2011. There had not been an innovation in the actual design of rack for 70 years.

And this is according to Andrew Kirby and many other industry engineers. Like I'm not an engineer, but there hadn't been. And what this rack does is it's square and it has a tubular component and it will bend in all four directions, kind of like a palm tree. And what that's called is dual moment. So that means it'll spring back, whether there's a seismic event or a forklift impact or some other dangerous impact. And that can happen.

make it so product shedding doesn't happen, which is when the rack sways and pallets fall off or the rock sways to a point where it can't come back up. And then you have that horrible domino effect that we've all seen on scary warehouse failure YouTubes. Yes. So,

So yeah, so I think it was God, but I love PR. I'm passionate about it. I'm curious about how business works. And then I walk into Hannibal the week that I founded MPC in 2011, and I pitched him on the value of PR.

And Steve Rogers and Amanda saw the value and they treated us with respect, hired us. We're a great partner, got us all the assets and info we needed. And we launched like weeks later, like that year in 2012, um, Modex was actually in January. And so I was pitching them in December. We got hired, we launched this new product and it went bananas, right?

like everyone covered it. Everyone was talking about it and their booth had a ton of traffic. And I can't take credit for the amazing product. That's Andrew and the team there. But for them to give us a story like that to tell for our first material handling product or project was amazing. So then from there, we were committed to this industry and being an expert resource in PR and marketing. So every year,

there's 10 people at npc and um every year we go through the material handling supply chains are market focused and this is why um we haven't let go of skateboarding snowboarding surfing we have that and do it with another with separate teams but and i get to transition back and forth because i'm passionate about both and the leader

But we are very focused and intentional about being part of this industry. It wasn't something that we fell into or couldn't get out of. It's something that we're excited about and love working in. Yeah. And I think that's a great story, too. And obviously a great story.

you know, new, new innovation, right. That you were able to work with there from Hannibal. And, and so really interesting there. And I think you said something super interesting too, right. That, you know, back around that time, a little, a little earlier than 2011, when you started this, there was kind of,

There were still all these different forms of media, right? Like, internet was not so prevalent yet. And I think that, you know, if I look at the material handling space, warehousing space, even when I started the podcast in 2019, like, I think, you know, some of that digital aspect was still kind of early. I mean, I remember...

asking people like, oh, would you want to be on the podcast? You know, trying to get guests in the beginning and they're like, oh, we don't see the value in podcasts right now, right? And, you know, and now fast forward, like lots of companies are creating their own podcasts, right? So I'm curious, you know, what have you seen from...

you know, 2011, that's kind of evolved to now on that PR and marketing front. Because obviously we've seen a ton of evolution in terms of like technology and what companies are doing, how they're approaching material handling, warehousing. We've seen a lot of attention to from the pandemic on, you know, just like, oh, what is material handling all about or the supply chain in general, right? So how has the PR and marketing side evolved alongside that?

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Absolutely. Well, I'd love to, I wanted to kind of like reminisce down memory lane to what it was like in material handling in 2012 and then come current and then talk about things that are tried and true and will never change, I guess. In 2012, if you went to the press room at Modex,

there were stacks of press releases and actual folders with the company's branding and great imagery on them, um, physical press kits for all of the major players, which was pretty amazing at the time. And it was normal. And to go to a show back then, um, we would either have like a, a little carrier where it's like a suitcase carrier where you could strap on your press kits and wheel into the press room. Cause there were so many and they were actually in demand. Um,

that was something that was really different because today nobody wants to carry anything printed yeah um everybody wants everything digital send me a dropbox link we transfer or better yet do you just have it downloadable from your site right all of those things it's changed so much so that's that's a big shift back then um print was still in 20

I've been kind of lucky, I think, or depending on how you look at it, but it's been interesting to be there for all the eras. When I started in PR, there was a Bacon's book or a Cision book, but I think it was Bacon's at the time. That was a thick book that came out every year that listed all the journals and it

You would go through and like you wanted to pitch someone who covered this industry. You would flip through that and find them or you would know because you've been reading the Wall Street Journal or reading all the key trade media and following it and getting it to them. But now, of course, everything is so digital and it's all spread and changed so much. There were there were a lot more.

Um, press conferences, I believe at the show, I don't know numbers wise, but there were a lot more like often a separate area back then. And now even, um, MHI, I believe has made a lot of recommendations to have them at the booth, at least at the most recent show pro they did. And we've seen a lot of success with that too, driving more traffic to the booth through a press conference.

One thing that we did in 2012, which wasn't the norm at the time at the show, there were probably others doing it. I want to make sure that I'm not claiming to be like the first or only, but no claims here. But one thing that we did coming from wireless and consumer product PR before material handling was we were really aggressive at scheduling projects.

full interview schedules for a company spokesperson at the show. So we went into that modex in 2012 with a full day of interviews and our company spokesperson for that year for that client, that was the one client show for us 'cause we started material handling in December, show was in January. The next year in 2013 and each year since we've had many clients at the show and different staff members attending.

But that year, when we went in in 2012 to launch TubeRack, we had a full interview schedule for two days or two and a half days, actually, for Steve Rogers at the show, which was great and something that wasn't as hard for us to schedule at the time, I think, because there weren't a lot of people doing it.

So when we went, we had news, we had a product innovation, a patented product, which was going to really change things. And then we had a great spokesperson to pitch that was a company leader. And we pitched it to all down the list, like modern materials handling, DC velocity, all the lists we could go through. And we had them come by. There weren't any podcasts yet. You weren't there yet, Kevin. I wish you were. Not yet. No, I was just getting out of school. But it worked.

Yeah, I know I date myself, but it worked really well. Then there was less competition scheduling. Now the industry has really matured. There's a lot of bigger players involved. Well, actually, since COVID, the whole world knows the word supply chain. The whole world knows about that.

Amazon and all of the other direct to consumer people are used to it and know so much more. So many of our terms like 3PL that others didn't even, what would that be? Everybody says no. So those things have changed. One thing that hasn't changed and never will, I think, is having a good story that sets your company apart or

actually even really connects with solving a problem for your target customer. And I know in material handling, we don't often call them customers, they're end users or distributors. But depending on how your company goes to market, how is your product or service solving a challenge that they face? And if you figure that out and you connect with them, you don't really need to reach

thousands of people. We do often, and we have really good metrics in our plans with those KPIs and measurable objectives. But if you know that this company that you're working for and you're marketing and doing PR for has shifted, and they're really focused on a smaller number of really big enterprise or really big, big box customers, then how do you solve their pain point? And how do you make sure that you communicate that to their decision maker?

and if you do that then problem solved there's a lot of fun ways to do it but um keeping that in mind i think is something that no matter how the communication mediums or the cool tactics that we can use change with technology the ones who really have the best story and can connect on a human level get that attention are going to be the ones who win yeah yeah i think that's a great point because i think that

You know, if I think back to when I was working in the warehouse as ops manager in the past, right? I mean, you know, ever somebody would show up at the door and try and pitch me something or, you know, or through email, whatever the case may be. I mean...

it's definitely like you need to be able to connect, right? And you need to kind of hit that pain point in the sense that that person is feeling, right? Whether it's, you know, the GM of the building, inventory control side, whatever the case may be. That story needs to, and the message needs to be able to speak the same language in a sense, right? So I think that's a great point there. So I'm curious, you know, you mentioned that

And I'll pause for a second to say to the audience, you know, if anybody has questions here, feel free to put them in the comments and we'll bring them up here for Ashton to answer. But, you know, you mentioned there that, you know, back then, right, when you were getting started, you know, there was like no podcasts in the space. Right. And now, you know, that's totally changed. Right. Like the whole idea of, I think, podcasting.

Right.

So how have you kind of, I guess, guided some of your clients or how are you approaching that? And how are you looking at like some of these maybe newer forms of media versus some of like the more traditional like magazines and things like that? We'll be back after a quick break. Have you heard of Nucor warehouse systems? Well, they should definitely be on your radar.

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and learn about their sustainability, safety, automation, and end-to-end storage solutions in booth S1056. That's booth S1056. And make sure to join us on a panel hosted by Nucor Warehouse Systems on Monday, March 17th at the Sustainability Transportation Theater, where I...

will be moderating a discussion on the process of recycling steel and how companies can reach sustainability goals within the warehouse. We will see you in Chicago. Well, it's been interesting, right? And I know that word can have big quotations and market around it where it's like, interesting. But it's been wild. When I started MPC back in 2011, I saw the shift.

in a big way and I knew that we couldn't we couldn't approach a company like Hannibal or Raymond or twin load or Big Joe or epicker or any of these companies and say hey can we offer you a program um and but not offer video or not offer performance

Professional photography or some of these other content creation avenues. And because of that, the people that I hired first, when we had four people originally, I hired a professional photographer. I hired a videographer and someone to head up all of our video. And then I hired an account executive PR person to manage and do the account work.

We've since expanded, but that was super key from the beginning. And when we would pitch them, even back then when it was,

2012, we knew that we had to offer photography because if we weren't going to provide really good content and assets to the media, they might not have had the resources to get it. At the time, some of, they all had photographers and we'll give you that, but they were very thankful when we could provide them with good product photography or good photography of the team. So with that, we've expanded and we make sure that with each program that we offer, social media is an important part of it.

And if it's in material handling, that of course, LinkedIn is a key avenue for it. Also, so is YouTube, other things where it's really impacts directly. And a lot of those things, just like podcasting, like you mentioned, are so similar to consumer media. And it's really, I think it's also brought the community together. And you know who really knows their stuff. You know who's authentic.

and um you build connections with these brand spokespeople and brand representatives because you can see them and you could connect with them on a weekly basis i mean or whatever cadence they put out content but so often it's a lot and a lot of people that i've met at mhi just on a personal level um i see on linkedin so often that i end up feeling like i know them maybe better than i do

I feel like we're tight. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Like you show up to these conferences and you're like, oh, yeah, I know you, but I don't. Now, you know, in real life. Yeah. So so it's very interesting there. And I think that, you know, it's interesting to see that, too. And I love that you said initially, you know, you invested in photographer, videographer, because I think that.

so much of what happens in our industry is so visual, right? So it's really great to capture that. And especially now, as we see, you know, more automation, robotics, things like that coming into play. I mean, people, people want to see those things. Like, what does this actually look like in, in reality, right? Or, or in a, in a warehouse or, or in the real world, right? And,

And I think, you know, it's so great that you recognize that for sure. So we have an interesting question here from Barnard, I think is how I say your name. Thanks for tuning in. We are AMR platform manufacturer, and I was wondering if you would use emotions to trigger the end user to gain market share.

I would, well, to answer that question, I feel like there's kind of a lot there. But anytime that you can connect with an end user on the emotional level is great. Those are things that everyone has mindshare. And for each category of product out there, an individual can remember three to four different products in that area. And if you're able to connect with them on an emotional level, you have a lot better chance to be in that top mindshare position. So when they think of your product,

product or your service, you're in that top group. So yes, but I definitely like want to connect with them on a good emotional level and think about how it could be positive. So one thing with that,

consumer products are always so great. Consumer brands are so great at doing that. And there's nothing wrong with looking at some of the best campaigns that you've seen and taking a nod from that. I mean, think about it. Coca-Cola basically invented Santa Claus for the modern Santa Claus. And how much of an emotional attachment do we have to that? Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious there because, you know, prior to like getting in on maybe, um,

material handling, right? You're working wireless and some of these like action sports brands, which you still do too, right? Yes. Which is very much more consumer facing, right? So what kind of maybe interesting inspiration have you taken from a little bit of that side of the world and this like B2B material handling side? Well, that's kind of cool. That makes me smile just to think about it actually. So we've had so much fun telling marketing stories and connecting brands.

One, that's a consumer one that we just actually put kind of a behind the scenes case study on our website if anyone wants to check it out. It's called Pipetream. And Robbie Madison is basically a modern day Evel Knievel. He wants, and that's how he describes himself. He met Evel and Evel Knievel kind of gave him his blessing many years ago. And Robbie's continued to push that envelope. And one of the things that he came up with was riding his dirt bike on one of the biggest, highest consequence waves in the world.

So he's surfing on a heavy dirt bike. And it physically, how this can happen is, um, you have a little skid plate on the bike that he invented, and then you have a sand tire and with enough speed, just like skipping a rock. Um,

the bike will maintain a plane on the water. But as soon as you like hit too much chop or turn too hard, it sinks and there's no, it's hard to get it back up. So basically you got to do well and time it perfectly.

And he went to Jeff Taylor, who was the head of DC Shoes at the time, at a party. And he told Jeff his idea. And he's like, I've got this. I've been testing it at Lake Elsinore. I believe he'd been testing it in the Bay in San Diego at the time. And people were just...

tripping out seeing this motorcycle going across the water. So Jeff is an amazing marketer and an amazing leader. And basically, Jeff was like, we can tie this to a product collection. We can launch this in a big way and get global attention that connects the brand to the world. And at that time, DC's slogan was defy convention.

and DC to supply convention. And he believed that this would have an emotional connection with the consumer defying convention. I mean, a dirt bike on a giant wave. So they did it and they got back from Tahiti. They were in Tahiti testing at Choku. They got back from there with the film. They called myself and then I had Debs with me who also has done a lot of material handling work. They had us go into the office. Under NDA, they showed us the footage

and they were like we want you to connect this to the entire world at one time globally come back with a plan tell us how you can do that how much time you need and we're like a week when we came back with the plan we launched it on sports center did a huge event that dc was behind we did the media relations of the event dc did the event and they did it huge at the us open to surf and then the plan was to do a global press tour globally so we were going to start in la we were going to do today show gma night shows

all the big US media, and then fly to both Australia and Europe. And when we started pre-event press, because we did a bunch of interviews under embargo so that all the news could hit when we launched it and not wait, no delay. And when we were supposed to do those interviews, Robbie was in a coma.

He was playing on his BMX bike. He has a huge dirt bike track at his house. And he was like playing, he was riding and doing tricks and he slammed and he knocked himself out. So he was in the hospital in a coma. And as PR people, we were like, Rolling Stone's coming to your house today. Like what are we going to do? Then we have the Associated Press and Sports Illustrated. We had the whole lineup, the biggest media. So we called the press super important to be honest. We called the press, but you also don't have to tell every detail or anything.

gatekeepers and information providers and communicators. So what we did was we told him he had a huge family emergency and regretful, but we'd like to postpone the interviews. And we did. First interview, Robbie's coughing. It's August. He's coughing. And the reporter's like, from the Rolling Stone, was like, hey, do you have a cold or something? And he's like,

No, I just came out of a coma and I had a breathing tube down my throat. So, but it did launch and it, we pivoted and we weren't able to do the global press tour because, um, Robbie had had a brain injury and you can't fly right after a brain injury. So what we did was we did all of the interviews from LA. So the cool thing is most of the top European media had, um,

or studios in Los Angeles and same with Australia. So we just packed it all into multiple days in LA and hit all those stations without traveling. And one thing that was kind of wild in between the interviews,

he's like, do you have a break in the schedule? And I was the one taking him from interview to interview with his team manager. And I was like, yeah, we have an hour break right here. Do you need to get some food or something? And he's like, no, I need an MRI. MRI in an hour in LA? He's like, yeah, go to

go to the red bull center so we did we went to the red bull center and they just ran them in gave them the mri and ran them out and we were back with the next interview right after i can't i think it was today show that we did immediately after that they had no idea it was incredible yeah yeah wow wow that's an incredible story definitely so how well how we took that to material hand yeah i was gonna ask you like you have like forklifts like driving on the ocean or something yeah you nailed it yeah

No, but what the key points of that, I think were, it was really inspirational. It was something that people will remember seeing a dirt bike on the water and talk about. And it was newsworthy. And back in 2018,

So 2018, I keep talking about Hannibal and they were and are an amazing partner for us. We have about 25 clients a month. So I don't want it to seem like

We're one client company. We're not. We work with some amazing companies in the material handling industry. But I just happen to have a couple. They love big ideas and they love running with them and not being scared. It was almost like a startup culture for this big, powerful pallet rack manufacturer. So we had an idea similar to the pipe dream one that taught those same things and engaged on an emotional level. And what that was, was we took steps back.

when we were planning for the trade show that year. It was a Modex, and it was in the fall, and we had all of our big plans for the show long set, but we didn't have a big hook yet. And we had launched Tubrak for them in 2012, and this is 2018. And we were still really pushing Tubrak, but you can only tell a Tubrak story so many ways. So we dug in, and we're like, what do people...

what does this industry and many decision makers in this industry care about? And we're like, well, they like sports. Lots of people in America like sports. A lot of people that work in our industry like football and it's a huge sport. And then we're like, how could we connect football to Tubrak? And we like really thought about it. And we were like, well, football has a position called free safety.

And tube racks saves lives. It's a super safe product. So we, we kind of melded that together and we thought, let's tie this together with an NFL safety signing at Modix. So we got the safety for the Atlanta Falcons to come to the show in his full gear and

And he wasn't wearing a helmet when he walked in, but he stood out. Like there was a lot of people in polo shirts and colored shirts. And we had some guys in suits and you see a football player walking into the show. We had a videographer follow him in, follow Cam and get everyone's reactions. He walked to the booth.

We had a poster of him, an action shot poster playing, running with the ball, and then tied it all together with the Tubrak branding about safety. And so everything that he signed, and there's a huge long line at the Hannibal booth, was about Tubrak and safety, but he's an NFL player. So that tied it together. We had a lot of fun with that. And then we also put out the video. And so we got a lot more bang with the content. But that really connected. I feel like it tied everything.

something that people emotionally care about sports, football, and then the safety. So it communicated our brand message. And

And then the next year at the show, there were other companies that tied in football and professional football at the show to their booths. And we were like, hey, that seems like the best compliment, you know. So that worked and it was fun. And it was like in that same time period where we were like, let's take something that people really connect with and love and is fun, but make sure it really is on message for this brand's point of difference, safety. Yeah.

Interesting, yeah. Yeah, I think that's a really smart idea, and I like how you tied that in. And I like, too, I mean, I think that's a great...

tip like is that you know it wasn't just about like oh the safety was at the the booth signing right but it was also about like him entering you know making kind of a spectacle of it in a sense right which you know started to started to catch that buzz and garner that attention and then you know capturing it on video too like i think that's such a a great point of like how to you

you know, capture that engagement, that activation as well, and then be able to have something to share beyond that too, just at the, at the moment. So we had a question here from the audience, which I think ties into a little bit of the Robbie Madison story there with pipe dream. So a big fan, big fan here of Ashton. Thank you. Shout out Alyssa. And what's the best place to start playing,

What's the best place to start planning a crisis calm strategy? It feels like a huge mountain to start to climb. We'll be back after a quick break.

Are you looking to grow sales this year? Strategic Marketing Communications can help you do that. For more than a decade, Master Plan Communications, Marketing, and PR has been building awareness and creating demand for material handling companies. MPC offers strategic marketing and PR planning, media relations, video productions, photography, websites, digital marketing, social media, and more. Connect with MPC at masterplancommunications.com and on LinkedIn.

It is a big mountain to climb, but if you're prepared, it can make all the difference when that crisis hits being prepared ahead of time. Nobody wants to deal with the crisis. And when it comes to crisis communications, I kind of think about it like a fire and firemen. And in Southern California, there's been devastating wildfires this year. And, um,

firemen, you definitely like don't want the firemen to come to your house or have to come to your house, but you're really glad that they're there. I'm really glad that they're there. And I'm really glad that when and if there ever is a fire at my house again, that they'll be here and that they could save lives and save the house and really do damage control. So with crisis communications planning,

The key is to have a plan ahead of time. And the way that MPC tackles that, we have a real expertise in crisis communications. I studied it in school. I went on to get my APR accredited in public relations.

certification, which is an accreditation program that you can get after you've been a professional for five years. And then I've just continued to really hone this. So as an agency, we have a whole practice focused on that. And what we recommend for a company is to have that plan ahead of time. And what's in the plan is it's an overview and a set of guidelines. It's key message points for the company.

It's a sample statement and then key points to add in. And then it also is the crisis communications team that is set before. And the roles on the crisis communications team are not always the same role that are

the title and a person's daily job in an organization. And so with that, there's a crisis communications team leader, there's a PR leader, there's a company spokesperson, there's a legal department, which is very important and should be involved. There's an HR department. And these people are set, they know their role, and as soon as there is a crisis, that team is pulled together. And that team is able to move very quickly, and it's important that the leads there know

know their stuff and know what they're doing. We don't recommend having a statement made for every possible situation that could happen in a company because you can't plan for everything. But we do recommend having that statement prepared. And then we have in that plan also a social media strategy for the company, which is also consistent with the company's HR policy.

And it also, we have a media log, which is super important to manage and stay on top of what media coverage is hitting. And then also separately, a log of media inquiries and having someone dedicated to managing

have all of media inquiries and all customer inquiries funneled to one spokesperson that can handle them. Because in today's world, one thing that's much different in crisis communications today than it was 10 or 20 years ago is everybody has a phone. Everybody has access to be a spokesperson and the media will pull from employee posts if they're public. They'll pull from these things. And so every employee has the opportunity

opportunity and to harm the organization unintentionally if they don't realize it because they might not understand how much power comes with words and their words. So it's really important to have that kind of lined up ahead of time. That's kind of an overview, but that's something that MPC does a lot of. And a lot of times

Crisis situations that we handle are really very rarely or very minimally reported because of the way that we're able to stay ahead of it. And really part of our business building PR and marketing that we offer is also reputation management. Because if the company gets destroyed because of a crisis, then it's really takes a lot of rebuilding. It's important to protect what you have.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Great advice there for sure. And it sounds like, you know, it's all about kind of contingency practices.

in a sense, like you said, you don't, you don't want something to happen. Right. But if it does, then you want to be prepared to do that. And I think it's a great point that, you know, everybody has a phone, right. And everybody has a voice now and in some way, right. Through, through social media or online. And, and, you know, it's, it's kind of easy to find some of those things that are happening. I'm curious, you know,

I mean, are there a lot of crises that are happening in the material handling industry? Maybe there's like an example you could give us. You don't have to name any names, obviously, but I'm curious on that. There are. I mean, some of the different crisis situations that do happen in the industry include lawsuits, data breaches, fatalities, etc.

Those are some of the top three really I feel like we deal with in our material handling industry and they all really need to be dealt with separately. There's crisis that pop up instantly because of an event or there's crisis situations that are emerging where you have kind of a heads up that this is coming and so you have more time to prepare.

One that I could speak to and definitely not listing any names because we can't, knowing that we have about 25 clients at a time. So no way to really, hopefully no one tries to narrow it down. But there was a, we've had this happen actually at multiple customers. So it wasn't one speaking highly.

In a warehouse situation, safety is so important, as we all know, and we focus on in our industry being safe and following proper procedures. But accidents do happen. And there was a fatality on site at two different companies in the same region. And one of the companies

the media were alerted, whether they heard over a scanner from emergency personnel coming to the building and showed up, or if it was employees reaching out to their customers and telling them because they felt like they should, or social media, it was covered widely, not just in the material handling industry, but it was covered in broader consumer media as well. And that situation, I thought a lot about it. I was close by when that one happened. And I didn't feel like

did anyone any good. I felt like for the individual who lost their life, it wasn't a great legacy for them to be covered everywhere. That's how they passed. And it wasn't great for their family. It was a very sad situation. And then it was really harmful for the company because this company

do you want to work there if you know that this happened to someone else? So just on multiple levels, it wasn't, it was not great. And within like six months, that same similar injury happened to another company in the area that was an MPC client. And during that time,

We were able to help them with the crisis communications and we were able to manage inquiries, work with the team there, follow that whole system that I spoke of earlier. And through that, it was handled a lot differently. It wasn't covered in any mainstream media. It wasn't covered in the trades. The employees were informed as they needed to be. OSHA was worked with as they needed to be. And the family was

was communicated with very respectfully and i just felt like if more if more crisis situations hopefully they never happen again but if there ever is one and it could be handled like that and it just works a lot more smoothly so there are times when it when it just does get covered if it's a public lawsuit or something else they they do and then npc has a whole another um system for handling that but it follows a lot of the same principles but it's with a lawsuit

most often and it's more emerging because you um you're alerted and the company's alerted before it goes public and with that you have some time to to plan and strategize but the same tactics and the same principles of proper crisis communications are followed so yeah yeah thanks for sharing that i think that it's um

You know, obviously we never want anything like that to happen, but I think you had a great point there that, you know, it kind of gets spun out of control in a, in a sense. And, you know, at the end of the day, like, who's it, who's it really impacting. And, um, you know, I think it's, it's great to be, I would have that in place and make sure that, you know, everything, like you said, is being handled, uh, in a respectful manner. Right. And, and make sure that that happens. So, so really great advice there and, and appreciate you sharing that story as well. Um,

so now if we look at overall kind of, we talked about some of the evolution of PR and marketing here and, and the industry as a, as a whole and, uh, some interesting stories from you as well. We're just about, uh, we're like 10 days from ProMat right now. We're at the seven starting on March 17th. Um,

Frank says T-9 days until ProMAT. Am I off here? Well, yeah, I guess so, right? We're almost... We could say we're almost done, right? It's Friday. We discounted half the way through the day, right? So we got...

ProMath coming up. So I guess tell us, you know, uh, obviously you're, you're sharing all the secret sauce with your clients directly. Right. But I guess tell us some of like, what are your top tips for, you know, companies that are going into ProMath this year? Um,

And, you know, how can they get the most out of that experience? Because it's about, it's not just about like the presence that week, right? But then like, how do you build momentum off that? How do you, you know, get like a week left basically to create some buzz to about it as well? Like, what would be some of your tips for companies that are trying to get the most out of that week?

Well, I take a step back and say like full, fully go to show pro next year. MHI is amazing and they provide some great materials and also just training over that event for anyone who wants to get the most out of the show. They're a great organization. NPC works does a lot of trade shows a year and MHI is one of the best. So with that, I would do that. But now we're, um,

So we're nine days out, right? Right, Frank? Nine days. So with nine days out from the show, you already have your booth set. If you have one, you have your parties set. You have all of your marketing dialed. You already even have, like, of course, your social media scheduled for the show and know which photos you're going to drop in or other digital video assets. So you're ready. What I would say nine days out is...

if you have time or make time take a breath and step back and look at who you really need to connect with did your company that you're doing pr marketing for um adjust at all in the last year or two years on who they're really selling to is there a big problem that popped up recently

I mean, how are tariffs going to impact the products and prices that you're selling? Are there going to be delays or cost overages? Or is it going to be a benefit because your company isn't going to be impacted like some of the competition? But take a step back and look and has anything changed that you could tweak in your messaging or that you could address just directly with a certain customer group?

And then look at your different communication channels, whether they're owned media or earned media or paid media that you're paying for. And is there anything you need to do to tweak messaging so that you can really have that point of difference that will help you resonate and make that difference at the show? And then with that, is there anything that so often

companies get disconnected, whether it's like their sales group versus marketing group versus operations and management. And is everyone going to have the right talking points to be able to speak to that point of difference that your company has that has adjusted with the current market conditions? So I know that we're nine days out, so your program is pretty set. So there might be some tweaks right now to make and be sure everybody's aligned on that messaging.

Yeah, good tips there, definitely. And I think that, yeah, I mean, to your point, like MHI, I think, you know, has some great resources, right, to if you have more than nine days, right, to get ready and do some things there, especially that show pro that you mentioned and some webinars they do as well, like leading up to ProMan or Modex. But, you know, if you look at 999,

Because there's so much going on with the social media aspect too as well, right? So like that week, how can you kind of suggest to your clients or people out there, companies, I mean, how do you...

tell them to kind of leverage social media, maybe to, you know, capture some of what's going on at the show because, because not everybody can make it to the show. Right. So how do you kind of like, you know, Hey, we're here, but like we can also reach another set of eyeballs beyond the show too. Right. Well, well, it's social making sure that,

you leverage your point of difference, you're tagging properly, everyone at the show on your team is tagging properly so that it can all be synced up together. If you're using hashtags that everyone knows what's your company hashtag for this show. And if you have key partners, and key releases or other key things that you be sure to get the shot of the whole group. And if you're on LinkedIn specifically, that you're tagging all

all the right people the way that the LinkedIn algorithm knows everybody on this call is an expert I'm sure but um it's not about the company post as much even though they continue to adjust the algorithm it's really an individual professional networking so the more that we tag other professionals the more people see it and I know there's some people on this call that are true LinkedIn Masters which is pretty cool yeah yeah I mean we're live on LinkedIn right now

Yeah. Some of them, they're probably just posting as, as we're on here about their other things, but one thing to add to, so at a trade show, I know we're close on time, but tying in both with your own media, whichever own channels you're using from social to your site and then earned media, all the PR that you're doing. It's so interesting.

At ProMap, of course, you have a booth. It's important to have that standard presence. Some of our clients, even big clients like Amatek, which is a very large publicly traded company, they don't have a budget to go to every show. But as they look at the year and they're like, these different markets are important. We serve them, but we're not going to have a full booth. One of the things that we did for them at those shows was we

Follow all the trade show rules, not break any of them, of course, but create news around that industry at that time. Issue the news either the first day of the show or today, sometimes a day before the show, business day before, so media get a chance to see it before. And then set up meetings for them at the show, which are totally legal, depending on the show, because people go to trade shows to meet.

We're not setting anything up, we're not building anything, but they're having a time to talk. And during those meetings with top tier press, they get a whole bunch of press coverage out of this show. They're not breaking any rules, but it worked really great for clients with limited budgets to do that. And as you were talking about, they end up having this big presence in the industry, people that weren't at the show, but it ends up raising a lot of awareness, raising visibility of them.

And it has led to sales, which is great. So.

All right. I definitely appreciate that tip. I think that's an interesting approach, too, and strategy as well. So we do have a couple minutes left here. So if anybody else has a question, feel free to drop it in the comments here. But I do have one more question for you because this was a conversation I had a couple weeks ago with a company that's a startup, and they were just kind of doing their official launch, I guess, into...

into the market and been around a little bit, had customers, things like that, but really kind of making a big announcement about it. But, you know, as a startup, right, a lot of times the budget is tight, right? So, you know, hiring an agency or something may be like a hard thing to wrap the mind around or even wrap the budget around in a sense, right? So, so

So what would you recommend for someone that's like in the, you know, the startup section of ProMat coming up? How could they kind of maximize their presence on a tight budget? Well, they can find us at masterplancommunications.com. No, I'm just kidding. But we would love to help when we help a lot of startups and it doesn't have to be a huge budget. But if they don't have any budget for PR, to answer your question more directly, I would...

Take a step back, like we talked about and say, like, what, what are we offering that's different? What's our point of difference that they know? That's why they started this thing. What do we need to say to resonate and which customers are we really targeting, whether that's distributors or end users or a combination of both? And then, yeah.

How would we like that portrayed and what do you think is going to resonate with them and really develop those key points as a separate key messages document. Then once you have those key messages dialed, then take that into a PR and marketing strategy with the PR section having a news release that really is written well and hits all those points. And that news really should go to all the trade media in this industry. And if they're just launching, it should go on the newswire too because

Because the news wires, business wire, PR news wire, those services, we use business wire primarily currently, but there's other good ones, have a lot of downstream partners. And those downstream partners keep that online forever, including Bloomberg, AP, Yahoo Finance, and many others. They're broad, they're big, and they're not going to probably find your end user directly, but when they search...

That is great SEO. And if it is something that is really timely, it does get picked up in a lot of important earned media just directly from the wire. So you have the guarantee of the downstream partners, but then you also have all the thousands of media contacts that are getting that over the wire in addition to directly sending it to all the trades.

having really good social media content schedule with the announcement and then also following it up and planning that and if you only if you have 20 posts on it that are all different talk about different things figuring out what that cadence is cadences leading up to the show and after before the show being sure to reach out to and proactively schedule meetings with the important media and today media aren't just traditional well

print media and online media and news media. They're also podcasters like you. They're also influencers. And there's some really key material handling influencers to be sure that are on your radar, you're meeting with and give them time just like they were your most important customer. Value them, respect them. We have seen

companies treat media sometimes differently than their most important buyer. And that's a mistake. You really need to treat them with the value and respect. And then looking at other ways to stand out at the show, depending on your budget, I would reach out to the show organizer and I'd look at ways to

advertise or market at the show that works with them depending on the budget. And then I'd also talk to partners. If there are

If you have partners, like, say that you're a component or your service that syncs well with others, or certain distributors handle multiple brands that aren't competing. Talk to them about doing an event. If you do an event at the show, and it brings in the right people, that would be a really great thing to do. One thing that we've done is recommend that our clients put on an event, but also bring in their top five partners that

Work well with them and those partners can actually pay a sponsorship fee and cover many of the event costs and It brings together all the same customers that you want to work with Another thing they might want to do is talk to the new warehouse podcast. There's a after-hours event. What are you calling it? the show we're housing after dark live Yeah March 18th. Yes

I've got to say on the warehousing after dark. So I've done a whole bunch of virtual events, but the warehousing after dark virtual event for anyone who hasn't tried it, please do it. It's amazing. There's all these different tables and you can just click on your computer. I want to go hang with those people for a little bit. And that's all I did because the people that I hung with were cool, but I knew I could jump around and then they have speakers and

and other things throughout the programming. So it stays really fresh where you're with a group of four, then two, then there's a great speaker, then you're back with your crew, and then you're paired up with someone else. Might've got off on the scheduling part of it, but it was a really great experience and I won't miss another one.

there you go. How's that for a PR and marketing? That was totally unsolicited. So I appreciate that Ashton, but glad to hear you had a good experience. And, uh, yes, he is correct. If you're going to be a pro man, we're having, uh, an event, uh, hosted by the new warehouse and supply Cheney with some sponsors. Uh,

uh, uh, March 18th at night, eight 30. So it will be kind of the, the after party for everybody. So definitely check that out. Um, but Ashton, it's been a pleasure to have you on here. Lots of definitely valuable nuggets here from the PR marketing side, how to kind of, you know, get the word out there in this industry and also for, you know, the, the big event coming up pro Matt. So really appreciate you joining me. Uh,

if people are interested in getting in touch or learning more about master plan communications, what's the best way to do that?

Our website URL is our name. So just go to masterplancommunications.com. My info, I'm Ashton Maxfield on everything. You can look me up at LinkedIn with just my name. Same with Instagram. The MPC name, we have all of our own accounts on social and of course, Master Plan Communications everywhere. And you can reach me directly if you'd like at 949-289-6493.

There you go. Fill up that man's voicemail, text him, get in touch with him. All right. Thank you very much, Ashton. And thank you everybody for tuning in as well. Um,

Um, if you didn't catch us in the beginning, once we finished this stream, you'll be able to watch the replay, whether you're watching here on LinkedIn, YouTube, uh, feel free to do that. And we'll also be posting the audio to our podcast feed in a couple of days, just in time for pro mat as well. And if you're going to be a pro mat, we hope to see you there. New warehouse. I have a booth. So stop on by. And if you're free Tuesday night, come out to that party as well. So Ashton, thank you once again and hope everybody has a great day.

You've been listening to the New Warehouse Podcast with Kevin Lawton. Subscribe and check us out online at thenewwarehouse.com. Enjoyed this episode? Make sure you are subscribed to the podcast and for more content from The New Warehouse, find us on LinkedIn and YouTube. Links to subscribe can be found in the show notes and for everything The New Warehouse, head to thenewwarehouse.com.