As part of CEO John Kreidel’s May 28, 2015, announcement that Tire Factory Inc. was partnering with Point S Development, he and the Tire Factory board members sent out a Q&A to the group’s member dealers.
The licensing agreement between their cooperative and Point S Development, which oversees 3,300 independent tire store owners worldwide, gives Tire Factory members buying power, a Point S private brand tire (“a quality brand we will control”) and the Point S brand name, which offers “a long-term advantage over the Tire Factory name.”
Here are a few excerpts.
Q. Can I keep my local identity under the Point S branding?
A.You bet. Our license with Point S Brand provides for you to co-brand the name of your store, similar to what we do now.
Point S does require that we follow their brand guidelines as to how and where to use the Point S logo. We want to be good stewards of the Point S brand.
Point S requires us to be very diligent in the use of their brand identity, and we want to do that. Look at your larger competition. They create a brand and image, then they follow it to the letter to make sure they provide customers with a clean and inviting place to buy tires. We need to do the same.
Tire Factory will help you pay to rebrand (up to $25,000). We will use this opportunity to improve our stores and customer experience.
Q. What changes for me? How will I do business with Tire Factory?
A. We are only changing the public facing brand on our stores, colors, logo and marketing materials. Everything else stays the same. Same member elected board, same co-op bylaws, same control over the tire brands we sell, etc. You still share in owning the group. You still run the group and you get all the profits as owners.
Q. Is the board in favor of the decision to rebrand to Point S?
A. Absolutely. They leaned heavily on the feedback you gave them at our Annual Meeting Breakouts. The board stands unified on this historic decision for your future as an independent tire dealer.
