Michelin Truck Tires - Mobile App

BMA_Ribbon The MICHELIN® ONCall™ Emergency Road Service is the best in the business, but drivers needed an in-cab computer to search for the nearest service station. But wait. More and more truck drivers have smartphones, right? So the time was ripe for an easy-to-use, powerful app.

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Client

Michelin Truck Tires, a global leader in commercial truck tire manufacturing.

Challenge

The MICHELIN® ONCall™ Emergency Road Service for fleet operators is the industry's best-in-class. But truck operators don't always have an in-cab computer to search for the nearest location. They do, however, often have smartphones.

Solution

Many small fleets have upgraded to smartphones because of the GPS tracking, web browsing and email delivering capabilities. And Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) saw an opportunity to reach these fleets with an easy-to-use mobile application that offered road service right at their fingertips. The Dealer Locator solution would ensure any driver on the road with a Blackberry, iPhone or Android-based smartphone could locate a Michelin truck tire dealer anywhere in America. The app would use the GPS location of the mobile device or a manually entered location to identify the nearest Michelin dealer and provide information about that dealer, as well as the surrounding area–even providing the weather forecast.

Execution

JMG and Michelin Americas Truck Tires decided the Great American Trucking Show (GATS) would be the best venue to announce the new service. The show would provide a significant industry presence in which to introduce the new app, and also provide user testing and feedback on the app.

The app was developed by JMG and approved in time to be launched at GATS with a press release to industry media, as well as a focus on the app at the tradeshow booth, including live demos from JMG employees and QR codes (Quick Response matrix codes) that allowed show attendees to download the application. More than 50 dealers and media at GATS were able to quickly download the app using the QR codes, and user feedback was gathered for making minor adjustments to the functionality and usability of the app.

Results

Currently, Michelin Truck Tires Dealer Locators are available for the Apple iPhone, Blackberry and Android-based smartphones. App Brain® has already registered 100-500 downloads of the Android version, and its users rated the Android version at 4.67 out of 5 stars. These apps are an extension of the MICHELIN® ONCall™ ERS and Online Locator, which JMG helped launch in 2009. Each of these services has helped increase traffic to Michelin Truck Tire dealers. The apps also received significant coverage in various industry publications, further promoting the technology aspect of the brand, as well as the apps themselves. Most importantly, the client was very pleased with the development and execution of the apps and the service that the apps provide to their customers.