Tombras Integrated Search Wins Big at 2020 US Search Awards

Written By Steven Hines

Following a year of hard work, a global pandemic, and a career’s worth of business model shifts, Tombras Integrated Search received great news - we were bringing home not one, not two, but SIX honors from the 2020 US Search Awards. Steven Hines and Pilot Flying J were honored with three awards, including: Best PPC Campaign [Overall], Best Use of Search - B2B, and Best Local Campaign.

Overall, the initiative for Pilot Flying J was simple: honor those who move America by rewarding professional drivers on the road and at home with healthy food options, mobile fueling points, free offers in the Pilot Flying J app, and more.

From phones to furniture, coffee to cabinets - if you use it, it came from a truck. In a world without professional truck drivers: Fuel stations will be empty in 1-2 days, food shortages will occur in three days, and retail deliveries will halt within one day.

Professional drivers are the definition of “essential.” Pilot Flying J, the largest network of Travel Centers and Truck Stops in the United States, sought to digitally amplify this message with Tombras. By engaging professional drivers across Google Search, YouTube, and App Campaigns, we were able to drive localized store visits to Pilot Flying J Travel Centers nationwide, while also engaging with known CRM audiences to build brand loyalty and rapport among drivers. 

In leveraging the Pilot Flying J App, Tombras was able to offer exclusive benefits to professional drivers, measuring redemptions at Pilot Flying J Travel Centers nationwide to validate campaign performance. 

To achieve local visitation goals, Pilot Flying J enlisted the digital prowess of Tombras, a digitally-minded full-service agency built to “Connect Data and Creativity for Business Results.”

The result? Over 450,000 campaign-attributable store visits during “Driver Appreciation Month,” bolstered by 164K offer in-app redemptions at Pilot Flying J locations. 

Performance highlights that garnered these honors include:

  • +258% Search-Based Credit Applications

  • $2.69M Estimated Lifetime Value

  • 464K Campaign-Attributable Store Visits

  • +32.6% Past Overall Store Visit Volume Goal

Mirroring a agency-wide initiative to integrate SEO and SEM/PPC teams to synergize insight and learning, the Tombras SEO team also brought three honors back to Knoxville, including Most Innovative SEO Campaign, Best Use of Search - B2C, and Best Use of Search - Retail/E-Commerce.

Aside these honors, Tombras Integrated Search received incredible accolades from the judging panel, including Frederick Valleys (CEO, Optmyzr), who said:


“This was a very solid application with a clear objective and well-achieved results. They used a combination of CRM and App Engagement data to create an omni-channel campaign targeting strategy, where they were able to have audience-specific messaging. This took them well beyond the Search Results Page.”


For a full breakdown of US Search Awards winners, click here.


Steven Hines