Up, up and away: ever think about delivering concrete with a balloon? - As the Drum Turns

Concrete Producer, The, Jan, 2004 by Jimmy Ambrose

Every so often a great photograph comes up that shows something truly unique happening around our operations. When I saw the one on this page, it gave me a new feeling of what the word "greenfield" really means.

One of the more unique photo ops you'll ever find occurred in October, just outside of Albuquerque, N.M., on property owned by the Sandia Indian tribe. This is where the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is held each year.

Nearby is Waycor Ready Mix, which spruced up its facility and washed and cleaned its trucks for the event. The normal activities of batching and delivering our product usually don't include being in the middle of an international ballooning event.

Imagine having a picture taken with all of the colorful balloons rising against a crystal blue sky, high above your plant. Seeing just one of these rise high in the air can be breathtaking. Imagine what it a sight it had to be to see dozens all at once.

I know this is a far-fetched idea, but just imagine if we had balloons delivering our product instead of ready-mix trucks. Just think what our plants would look like with all those balloons parked at the plant. What a spectacle!

There probably are a lot of football fans out there. You'll see lots of television pictures of football stadiums taken from blimps the next couple of weeks during all of the college bowl games.

Which got me thinking, there are many ways to advertise to get our names in front of potential customers. What would a hot air balloon in the shape of a ready-mix truck do. Wouldn't that be an eye catcher? Plus, it would he very appropriate because there are a lot of our customers that are (here it goes) full of "hot air."

Maybe it's far-fetched, but so was the idea of advertising with a blimp. Do you think the people at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. thought their blimps would still be hovering in the skies and getting national exposure 78 years after the first one flew.

Think of all of the advertising images that bombard us every day. My local newspaper advertises on the rear of a city bus. Think of how many people see that message. There are several producers in our area with messages painted on their drums. Think of the revenue that could be generated by painting a business's logo there. Thousands of people would be exposed to such a message.

Your local construction materials supplier would greatly benefit from the idea. Maybe you're delivering several loads of concrete to a residential customer and he forgot to order his sealer or curing compound for the month. He sees the supplier's logo and telephone number on the drum and it reminds him to place his order.

How many pencils, scratch pads, and coffee cups in your office have various company logos on them. Somehow, the idea of a ready-mix truck balloon might not be such a far-fetched idea after all.

-- Jimmy Ambrose Hoover Concrete, LaVergne, Tenn. Jimambrose@aol.com