Ross Ambrose is the president of PortaServe, a provider of portable toilets and sanitation services in north-central Florida. He is a big believer in the “power of positive appearances”; namely serving his clients using trucks that are professional-looking and well-branded.
Pumper talked to Ambrose about the impact of cleaning up the appearance of his fleet and company brand. Ambrose explained how updating his trucks’ look helps boost customers’ perception of his company and the industry, which contributes to business success.
Pumper: Why is it important for pumper trucks to be professional-looking, well-branded and clean?
Ambrose: There are a lot of stigmas associated with our industry, and people have a lot of preconceived expectations oftentimes when they have to use a portable toilet. I think that a lot of those stereotypes, which are fairly negative, are reinforced when people see trucks driving down the road that don’t look their best. So when they see a truck that looks like it’s taken care of and is clean, the toilets are secured well and they’re being transported in good clean condition, improves the impression people have about the industry and the company in particular.
Pumper: You’ve applied this logic to your own trucks. How did you update their appearances to make them communicate a positive, professional message about PortaServe?
Ambrose: Our old logo contained the letters AAA, which was a throwback to being listed higher in the phone book; plus a half moon, which is a traditional symbol of an outhouse. Because times have changed, we dropped the AAA from the PortaServe name when we wrapped the trucks, and replaced the half-moon with a cheerful-looking cartoon of a portable toilet. The result is something that communicates who we are, while looking clean and professional.
Pumper: So how have people reacted to these changes?
Ambrose: They’ve been impressed. It is such a step up visually that a number of our customers thought that the business had been sold and bought out by a national franchise. So there was definitely the impression that we were a larger company than we are.
At the same time, people still notice the trucks. They do not blend in. Standing out is part of our marketing strategy: Our trucks are moving billboards that are clearly identifiable, allowing people to find us easily on the web.
Pumper: How did you come up with the new design?
Ambrose: I have a friend who does custom signs for businesses. I talked to him about what we were looking to do and he recommended a company out of New York that specializes in branding. We worked with the team from CL Visuals and they guided us through the process. Our goal was to have a logo that communicated what we did, looked clean, professional and a bit fun. We think they nailed it with a very unique image — that is now a registered trademark for our company. We would definitely recommend CL Visuals to anyone that wants something special. They were not inexpensive, but handled everything from letterhead, business cards, images for the web and other marketing as well as the wraps and installation of the wraps.
Pumper: What about the cost of wrapping and rebranding your trucks? Was this money that was well-spent?
Ambrose: We were told to expect the wraps to last at least three years, and we haven’t rewrapped any of the original trucks yet. We think we’re going to get at least five years out of a wrap. So when you look at the cost of a wrap and the number of people that see it, the way they justify their price is the number of eyes that see that billboard. And so when you amortize the cost of the wrap out over, let’s say, even a four-year life span, and the number of people that see it, it’s really inexpensive advertising.
Pumper: Is it important to extend this quality of branding to everything associated with your company?
Ambrose: Yes. Your branding isn’t just about the trucks that you’re using. It applies to everything. This is why our logo and everything related to it appears on the toilet, which is consistent with the wraps, the logos on our uniforms, our invoices and everything else. I mean, branding is important and you want to take every opportunity to tie your name and your brand to quality service.
Pumper: So how do your staff feel about these changes?
Ambrose: The staff definitely have commented that they like driving our trucks. They can tell that people look at ‘em, and they feel good about being in them. The same thing is true about the uniforms and the shirts with the logo.
As far as a return on investment, I think people have confidence in our company just having experienced how good our equipment looks. Now, whether it was just growth in the market or whether it had something to do with our rebranding, the year we rebranded, we had the largest increase in growth in 10 years. Meanwhile, our return on investment for the design and the artwork, wrapping the vehicles and everything else was one year.
