Sakai & Compact Power Take AEM's Measure of Success National Ad Awards

Sakai of Adairsville, Ga., a manufacturer of compaction equipment and Compact Power of Fort Mill, S.C., maker of mini-skid steer/compact loaders PICA "Measure of Success" Awards at the annual AEM Marketing Seminar this month.

Sakai took first place with its "bugs" ad campaign that included a series of colorful characters that raise havoc on soil and asphalt compaction jobsites. The bug 'repellents' for all of these problems, of course, were Sakai's high force soil and high frequency and vibratory pneumatic asphalt rollers.

As part of this program, readers were encouraged to respond to a website specifically designed not only to identify compaction problems and lead contractors to the solution, but also to track the hits and involvement of readers.

The Compact Power program, which gained the second place award, featured the company's Boxer line of mini-skid steer or compact utility loaders. Each ad in this campaign's Boxer series featured a number of product benefits that have driven this company to leader-of-the-pack status.  A special website also tied into the program, bringing the details of the products to life and showing action clips of the machines at work.

Both campaigns were developed by advantage Marketing Communications of Blairstown, New Jersey, agency of record for both Sakai and Compact Power.  Copy was developed by Creative Director George Smith and illustrations and graphic designs for the ads were created by Beth Laky, Senior Art Director.  The unique website designs and HTML were produced by Graphic Artist Amanda Caputo, advantage's web specialist.

Long-time AEM member advantage has developed numerous successful programs for industry OEM's over the past twenty years.  Other recent advantage "Measure of Success" award winners were a Terex ad campaign in 2003 and a Daewoo - now Doosan - direct mail effort in 2004-2005.  The ten-person full-service agency specializes in construction equipment accounts, is a member of AEM, AED and CWA and is very active in ConExpo and other industry events.

PICA is AEM's product-specific group for off-road equipment manufacturing industry media.  The group promotes high operating standards among trade media worldwide and fosters continuing educational and informational exchanges between manufacturers, other industry suppliers and the industry trade press.

For more information on Sakai, go to www.sakaiamerica.com or contact Shane Sirmons at 800/323-0535.  For more information on Compact Power, go to www.cpiequipment.com or contact Karrie Crocker at 800/476-9673.  For more information on advantage, go to www.advantagead.net or call Jennifer Hennion, President, at
908/459-0101 x 205.