"Lars" working for gas heater and furnace manufacturer Fég Konvektor Gyártó Rt in Hungary.

By Christine Liew

In a clever marketing ploy, Swedish forklift manufacturer BT has dispatched 40 LHM230 hand pallet trucks to 18 European countries to work free for new and existing customers.

The project, known as Lifter Diaries, is the brainchild of Mjölby-based, BT Europe's marketing support manager Michael Utterström and Tony Light from UK-based Kingsdown Marketing.

Utterström said: "Promoting the BT hand truck is a bit of a challenge. Many end users seem to attach very little attention to hand pallet trucks and it can be hard to deliver a strong message that will be fully understood.

"At the same time, the BT product has exceptional qualities and its overall cost efficiencies cannot be ignored, with a BT truck potentially having a lifespan several times longer than other products."

The Lifter Diaries was conceived to "make a hand truck promotion interesting and different".

Each lifter, as BT's hand pallet trucks are known, will be moved to a new customer's work site after three months. A work report detailing user experiences and the lifter's "activities and achievements" will be compiled by BT representatives and put on the BT website, www.bt-forklifts.com/lifterdiaries.

The lifters have been given names and are fitted with silver-finish tow bars instead of the usual black. Working in countries that include Italy, Germany, Ukraine and Romania, they have sticker labels on their tow bars, bearing their names and their countries' flags.

A lifter named Ringo is working for the Ringoot vegetable and fruit distribution market in Belgium, while Oscar is working for French fine chocolatier Jeff de Bruges. Ercole is working in GIVC SpA's vineyard in northern Italy.

BT sales companies in the 18 countries named the trucks individually, drawing inspiration from Nordic mythology, the Vikings and common human names in each country.

The LHM230 working in a fruit and vegetable market.

The sales companies chose participants for the project. Some were new customers who were not using BT lifters and some were existing customers. Participants use the truck for free during the Lifter Diaries period.

The first work reports will be posted early in 2007. Full details of the Lifter Diaries fleet and a video clip showing the start of the project are on the website.

In 2005, BT provided a lifetime guarantee for its hand pallet truck's fork frame. With the new project, BT emphasised its belief in the longevity of the truck.

"The very nature of the promotion shouts out 'we have a great product that will last a very long time'," Utterström said.

BT produced its first hand pallet truck in 1947. Modifications over the years include changes from mechanical to hydraulic lifting mechanisms and foot pump to tow bar pump lifting function, a quicker lift, a new polymer handle, greasable bushings for "improved serviceability" and an overload valve, which prevents lifting above the rated capacity.

This year, BT started producing the HPT truck, which it claims has the world's most durable high-performance pump unit (Forkliftaction.com News #283). In 2005, it released the LHM200SC, a hand pallet truck with a weighing scale. In 2004, it launched the Pro Lifter M motorised hand pallet truck and, in 2003, the Pro Lifter.