Why Caterpillar parked a 420,000 pound locomotive at a mining convention

Johnson, Marketing Manager for Caterpillar Global Mining, explained to MINING.com in a video interview last month that it is important to make a significant investment at these shows.

“MINExpo—there is no show like it in the world. It is every four years so you depend upon it. We made a significant investment because the ROI’s in the hundreds of percent. The right people are there.

Recently Caterpillar has developed more innovative marketing, such as a video of a giant game of Jenga using excavators and telehandlers. Johnson explained that the marketing is all about reaching a new audience.

“We are having to connect with that next generation of customers. There are so many channels they get influenced by.

“Our marketing has to do two things. It has to reach our current customers and make them feel good about their decision to buy and use Cat equipment. But I also think our marketing has to touch those who are not our customers.”

In assessing the brand penetration, the company looks at regions and products.

“We do an enterprise brand analysis. We look at the feedback we are getting from our customers and what they think about our product.”

Johnson is often asked the difference between “Cat” and “Caterpillar”. He says Caterpillar defines the company and Cat defines a set of products.

“Caterpillar really defines our company. We have a lot of products that are not Cat branded, for example Electro Motive Diesel and Solar Turbines.”

Johnson considers himself lucky getting to work with the Cat brand and speculated why it is so iconic.

“I have the number 60 brand in the world based upon Fortunes’ latest announcement. I am little below eBay but a little above Starbucks. I think what made it so iconic is that Cat is one of these transformational brands.”

Johnson says Caterpillar has deep industrial roots. The company has stayed visible by transforming itself, adding new and larger lines of business.