PORTLAND, OR — Alliance Truck Parts (ATP) has started to see growth from their marketing initiatives, said John O’Leary, senior vice president at Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA).

O’Leary oversees DTNA’s aftermarket business sector. Their recent marketing initiatives, he told a room of journalists at press conference in Miami, have helped ATP grow 19 percent in 2011.

The main driver behind that growth was due to a recently refreshed ATP brand coupled with a thought-out targeted marketing campaign aimed at NASCAR fans.

ATP surveyed 300 owner-operators and found that 70 percent of them were fans of NASCAR.

ATP now sponsors Penske Racing’s number 12 Dodge. The ATP logo and colors has been painted all over the car, the pit crew and well-known driver Sam Hornish Jr., allowing ATP to target the notoroiously brand-loyal NASCAR fans.

While Hornish didn’t take first place yesterday (he placed 7th), the bright yellow Dodge is hard to miss. Sweepstake winners were wined and dined this past weekend and treated to VIP passes at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. ATP did the same thing last summer, except on a larger scale when they were the main sponsor of the Michigan International Speedway. That scope of national coverage is worth the $1 million plus price tag for being part of NASCAR, O’Leary said — a self-professed number’s man.

The re-branded ATP comes with an expanded product line, as well. The thought behind the products, O’Leary said, is that budgets don’t always allow for premium parts, but value and quality shouldn’t be sacrificed. "Alliance parts are the eggs and butter," O’Leary said, likening it to grocery shopping." People come in, buy the eggs and butter, then take a look at the more mainstream stuff."

ATP hasn’t just focused on NASCAR, however. They’ve rolled out an app, called TruckerNet, which provides owners and drivers access to over-the-road parts and service support around-the-clock, expanded their advertising, and have plans to build a cross-referencing tool on their website for all-makes of parts in addition to their already humming social media campaign.

And while Hornish and the ATP sponsored pit crew didn’t take first place yesterday, the company has two more years in their agreement with Penske to take home the cup.

Todaystrucking.com was allowed to go behind-the-scenes last Saturday as cars raced to qualify for the Sprint Cup. You can check out our photos, and a couple of short videos, over at our Facebook page.

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