Vermeer Corporation is looking for the ultimate crew and seeking entries from horizontal directional drill (HDD) contractors and their crews from across the country. The ultimate crew will win the use of a new Vermeer D24x40 Series II Navigator drill for 12 months and be featured in future Vermeer marketing efforts.

During 2013, Vermeer launched the ultimate operator campaign to celebrate HDD drill operators, recognize their impact on the world and identify the ultimate HDD operator. Derrick Pursley was crowned the ultimate operator out of more than 100 HDD operators nominated for the award. Now Vermeer wants to showcase the importance of the entire HDD crew through the ultimate crew campaign.

“During the ultimate operator campaign, drill operators made one thing clear — they could not do their job or be successful without a great crew,” said Jon Kuyers, senior global product manager, underground of Vermeer. “Vermeer wants to showcase the importance of an entire drilling crew rather than just one individual. Therefore, Vermeer is launching the ultimate crew campaign in 2015 to identify the best directional drill crews across the United States and Canada.”

How the campaign will work:

Interested individuals — contractors,, company owners or the crew themselves — can enter a crew for the award by visiting NavigatorNation.com and in 350 words or less sharing why the crew is the ultimate crew. Entries are due by April 30, 2015. An independent panel of judges will review the entries and select a group of eight finalists.

The eight finalists will participate in a video interview. The video will profile the crew in action and show the personal side of the crew members talking about why they enjoy their work and how the team works together.

The videos will be posted to NavigatorNation.com where industry peers will vote for their favorite video/crew. The four crews with the most votes will be invited to participate in the Underground Showdown HDD skills competition in the Vermeer booth at the International Construction & Utility Equipment Exposition (ICUEE) held in Louisville, Ky., in October. The crew with the best/most accurate performance in a carefully designed course by Vermeer will be named the ultimate crew.

After the ultimate crew has been selected at ICUEE, they will be the reigning champions highlighted in Vermeer advertising running in key underground publications and participate in a “Behind the Job” Web series. Each episode will focus on the challenges faced on HDD job sites and focus on the operator and the crew and how they work together to complete a job; as well as how they are using technology to succeed and stay productive. The Web series will be hosted on NavigatorNation.com and YouTube.

Complete campaign rules and key dates for the campaign can be viewed at NavigatorNation.com.

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