TJM Launches First National Brand Campaign In Its 50th Year

Weekend warriors and outdoor adventurers unite in TJMs latest campaign that encourages Aussies to Take the Lead and explore Australia beyond the beaten track.

With 85 per cent of the target audience keen to explore new places, TJM want them to know they have the gear that will take you further, ‘As fuel will only get you so far’.

Today, TJM announce their first national brand campaign. The iconic 4×4 brand that became renowned back in the 1970’s and 80’s for producing the world first airbag tested bull bar design has set about revitalising their much-loved brand. The new campaign is designed to inspire drivers and young professionals with a desire to explore our great nation, to go further and Take the Lead, and challenge 4×4 owners that, ‘fuel will only get you so far’. With a mix of OOH, short form pre-rolls, programmatic display advertising and 4×4 contextual placements the campaign will connect with people highlighting that you need TJM gear to get you safely to Australia’s hidden gems in far off places. The campaign will be featured in gyms and at fuel pumps across Australia and will connect with people on the go.

Over the last eight years, Aeroklas Asia Pacific Group (AAPG) owner of the TJM brand, has invested heavily in the revitalisation of TJM. Today, TJM boasts over 80 distributors and stockists across the nation and in September AAPG is set to open its third 13,000m2 warehouse and its seventh corporate store. Restoring TJM to its rightful place as a national powerhouse in four-wheel drive retailing and technology.

f“As part of TJM’s brand revitalisation program we have gone further than upgrades we’ve made to our infrastructure or our additional investment in product R&D and innovation. We have completely reimagined the potential of the brand and we’re following through with that vision,” said Matt Logan, head of customer experience and retail strategy, Aeroklas Asia Pacific Group.

“Recently we completed 30 per cent of our retail store upgrades refreshing our in-store customer experience and with this new national campaign we’re inviting customers back to experience a new and energized TJM.” Reflecting on the overarching campaign strategy, Kristy Thompson AAPG’s head of marketing, discussed the heritage of the brand and what consumers can expect.

“This year is TJM’s 50th year and we are excited to be investing in a national brand campaign to maximise reach and visibility by inviting Australians to go further in the great outdoors. We see this as the first of many national brand activations we’ve got on the horizon, this represents the next logical step as part of our broader brand revitalisation.

“As part of the campaign, the brand’s positioning tagline Take the Lead has been extended to include ‘Fuel will only get you so far’ and ‘Muscle up your 4×4’ to really connect with our audience and create greater freshness in our communication approach.

“I’d like to thank both our media agency Scout Frontier and creative agency next Thursday for working with us to develop our new brand and retail communications strategy. They helped craft a range of assets to extend our brand narrative and I’m excited to see the campaign come to life. ” Shelley Cook, managing director, Scout Frontier spoke about getting to know the four-wheel drive accessories market and building the media consumption profile of the TJM audience.

“Working with the team at TJM we took the time to get under the hood of 4WD-ing enthusiasts and identified channels and contexts that would reach them during the week when they’re muscling up for weekend adventures,” she said.

“We identified this audience leads an active lifestyle; they spend a lot of time outside of the home. This presented an opportunity to build brand familiarity through targeted outdoor formats in weekday routine environments such as gyms and petrol stations. The campaign reach was extended via lean-in digital video formats where the audience seek lifestyle and contextual content.”

Campaign creative agency next Thursday’s Head Honcho Dan Adler was excited about the campaign assets and keen to see how the market would react.

“TJM is one of those cool brands that everyone wants to work on,” said Adler.

“We created the campaign tagline ‘fuel will only get you so far’ as this double entendre translates well in both the gym and at the pump. We wanted to let potential TJM customers with the right vehicle, a full fuel tank, and a healthy lifestyle know they can go above and beyond the norm, but they need TJM gear to really Take the Lead.”

“We’ve been grateful for the long-standing partnership with AAPG since launching the TJM positioning line Take the Lead a few years back now.

“For the campaign we’re launching today, our team are really proud of the fresh toolbox of design assets we have produced to play with across brand to retail communications and can’t wait to see the reaction from 4×4 enthusiasts.”