Navistar MaxxForce
Silver Addy Award Winner
American Advertising Awards
A Silver Addy Award–winning print campaign that turned a static magazine ad into an interactive experience—by printing it upside down on purpose.
The brief
Navistar needed to move MaxxForce engines into the transit conversation—not as another spec sheet, but as a power platform fleet operators could trust. The audience: transit agencies, coach builders, and maintenance directors who live by uptime, support response, and proven scale.
The campaign ran through Complete Coach Works (CCW)—Navistar's proud distributor celebrating 25 years of service—positioning MaxxForce Custom Power for the coaches and fleets that keep cities moving.
The creative challenge was not just what to say, but how to earn attention in a trade magazine full of look-alike engine ads—before a single spec was read.
Print that makes you interact
In print media, grabbing a reader's attention sometimes demands a creative approach to the grab itself. Print is static—there is no click, no hover, no motion unless the reader supplies it. Geogram's answer for MaxxForce was to make the ad interactive anyway: we intentionally printed the piece upside down.
At first glance, it reads as a mistake. How often do you see something misprinted and upside down in a magazine? That rarity is the hook—it sparks curiosity. The reader pauses, reaches for the page, and physically flips the ad right-side up. In that moment, static print becomes participation.
True Innovation is never seen right-side-up.
The headline lands only after the flip—rewarding the reader for engaging and reframing everything they thought they knew about engine advertising. Beneath it, a glowing instrument cluster carries the proof: 100,000+ engines produced every year, and one call for immediate world-class service and support. Around the dials, the markets MaxxForce already wins—U.S. Military, FedEx, UPS, refuse trucks—signal that transit operators are joining a proven ecosystem, not taking a gamble.
Proof on the panel
The creative lets the product story read at a glance—scale on one gauge, support on the other.
What we delivered
Interactive print concept
Deliberate upside-down placement in magazine print—using perceived misprint to stop the scroll of the page and turn passive readers into active participants.
Campaign concept & copy
Headline, body copy, and proof-point architecture built around the flip reveal: True Innovation is never seen right-side-up.
Art direction & design
Photorealistic dashboard environment, MaxxForce and CCW lockups, and gauge typography tuned for transit-industry print placement.
Transit-industry targeting
Messaging and visual tone aimed at coach operators and agencies evaluating powertrain partners—not consumer automotive gloss.
Response path
Integrated call-to-action with CCW contact—completecoach.com/maxxforce and 1-800-300-3751—so interest converts to a distributor conversation.
The result
The campaign earned a Silver Addy Award from the American Advertising Awards—recognition for a B2B transit message that refused to behave like print. Readers did not pass it by; they picked it up, turned it over, and read the line that was waiting for them on the other side of curiosity.