Highway Angel Ceremony and Wreaths Across America™ Commercial to Highlight Trucking Industry Positives to Millions of Football Fans

Dual publicity campaign will provide fans watching the uDrove® Humanitarian Bowl with a new appreciation for trucking’s humanitarian aspects

Alexandria, Virginia:

As the end of the year approaches, the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) is coordinating two massive publicity efforts aimed at highlighting TCA and the trucking industry to the general public. Both campaigns — a Highway Angel of the Year award presentation and a television commercial about trucking’s support of the Wreaths Across America™ program — will be geared toward fans watching the uDrove® Humanitarian Bowl. This year’s Bowl, which kicks off December 18th at 3:30 p.m. MST at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho, will feature the Fresno State Bulldogs against the Northern Illinois Huskies and will be broadcast on ESPN.

The first of the two-pronged publicity efforts relates to TCA’s Highway Angel program. For the third year in a row, Bowl sponsors are allowing TCA to tell the story of its Highway Angel of the Year to close to 30,000 fans in attendance.  In what is sure to be an emotionally charged ceremony, TCA Chairman John Kaburick will present Shawn Hubbard, a professional truck driver for Ruan Transport Corp., with a special trophy for heroism. Hubbard, acting almost entirely alone, pulled a trapped 23-year-old man from a burning car seconds before it became fully engulfed in flames.

As its second publicity effort, TCA has produced a 30-second television commercial highlighting the patriotism of the trucking industry. Scheduled to air during the first quarter of the Bowl, the commercial will tell ESPN viewers about the role that TCA members play in Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit organization that oversees an annual weeklong campaign to honor fallen veterans. In fact, because of the trucking industry’s generosity, wreaths are escorted from Maine to more than 500 veterans cemeteries, including Arlington National Cemetery, every year.  Along the way, the convoys stop at various schools and veterans rallies as part of the program’s mission to remember the fallen, honor those who serve in the military, and teach children the value of their service. On the second Saturday in December — designated by Congress as “Wreaths Across America Day” — the campaign concludes with special ceremonies at Arlington and other memorial sites.

TCA members will get a sneak preview of the commercial on Wednesday, December 15th from noon to 5 p.m. EST.  The commercial has been specifically designed to be “timeless,” allowing for use during future Bowl games.  TCA members will be encouraged to provide a link to the commercial from their Web sites and run it on their local television networks, thus giving driver recruitment efforts an extra boost.

“One of TCA’s goals has always been to ‘put a face behind the wheel,’ highlighting to large audiences the positives about the trucking industry and the men and women who move America’s freight,” said Kaburick. “Thanks to uDrove®, we’ve significantly ramped up our Highway Angels’ visibility and exposure to the general public. We consider the wreath commercial as an extra opportunity to extend our outreach even further.”

Joel McGinley, president of uDrove®, said, “We are excited to partner with TCA to provide significant exposure to the positive humanitarian contributions of the trucking industry. We are looking forward to hosting Shawn and giving him the hero’s welcome that he and the other Highway Angels deserve.”