Why I am irrationally excited about a U-Haul truck

Mark Schaefer
3 min readJul 26, 2024

I was having coffee with a friend in Portland, Maine, when I suddenly jumped out of my seat. “Wait a minute!” I said. “I have to go see this U-Haul truck!”

I ran out the door, skipped across the boulevard, and stood in front of a U-Haul truck parked on the street. It looked like this:

So why did I abandon a perfectly nice coffee shop and an above-average friend for a U-Haul truck? It just shouted “Marketing Rebellion!”

Four main principles from my Marketing Rebellion book:

  1. The customer is the marketer.
  2. Marketing is about their story, not your story.
  3. Make the customer the hero.
  4. User-generated content is among the most valuable marketing assets.
  5. Help customers belong.

I love this truck because it hits on all cylinders and, with apologies to U-Haul, it’s honoring customers through a pretty boring product, too.

How this U-Haul program works

In 2018, U-Haul created a program called U-Haul Famous. It allows any customer to upload a photo to their site for consideration on a truck. Within 6–8 weeks, a customer photo appears on a U-Haul truck decal.

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Mark Schaefer

Keynote speaker, marketing strategy consultant, Rutgers U faculty and author of 10 books including KNOWN, Marketing Rebellion, and Belonging to the Brand!