"Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has undergone a calculated transformation in the past 18 to 24 months," says Pat Brown, president of global branding and communications for Cooper. Those changes are "perhaps best personified" by the company's new series of TV ads.
Cooper's new commercials "combine hard driving rock music in a sleek black and white format, designed to break through the clutter of conventional advertisers. The spots will be shown on popular cable networks, including MTV, MTV2 and ESPN.
"These spots are strategic for Cooper, furthering our emphasis on high performance tires. They will resonate with the young and be memorable to potential buyers of all ages."
The TV ads will be accompanied by a matching set of print ads that highlight the performance tires.
One of the new Cooper print ads features Funkmaster Flex, the hip-hop DJ and custom car show organizer with whom Cooper just entered an endorsement partnership.
The campaign also includes placements on weather.com and cardomain.com, two popular Web sites.
"Cooper's outreach to a younger audience is evident in its growing involvement in racing and other motorsports, as well as a focus on non-traditional advertising and marketing," say Cooper officials.
"The Cooper Tire interactive mobile tour, an experiential marketing exhibit targeted toward performance-minded audiences, will appear at national custom car show events, big college games and other high-profile venues throughout the year."
Brown explains that the above initiatives "are the next steps in a strategic transformation designed to drive Cooper's growth."
"As with the replacement tire market in general, high performance tires are taking on a much larger share of Cooper's business," say Cooper officials.
