The Tire Pros franchise program of American Tire Distributors Inc. (ATD) is adding national advertising, new online channels and a mascot to its marketing efforts in 2015.
Tire Pros executives presented the initiatives to dealers attending the 2015 Tire Pros National Dealer Business Conference in Orlando, Fla. ATD will contribute $1 million to fund the national advertising program. The total national advertising spend could approach $1.75 million depending on dealers’ contributions.
B. Quick Chadwick, director of marketing, says Tire Pros is currently negotiating with several collegiate athletic conferences across the country. Tire Pros may become the official tire retailer in 2015 for the:
* Big 12 Conference;
* Big Ten Conference;
* Southeastern Conference;
* Pacific-12 Conference;
* Mountain West Conference; and
* Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Tire Pros franchise also introduced several new vendors for delivering marketing messages through digital channels. One is the Weather Channel. The tenth most downloaded app in the world is the Weather Channel’s, according to Chadwick.
The Weather Channel offers dealers an opportunity to market to people who are checking the weather in their ZIP code. “We’ve got a relationship with Weather Channel that offers at a store level local geo-target premium ad placement across multiple platforms- the Weather Channel website, mobile devices and the iPad,” says Chadwick.
Tire Pros also has partnered with Pandora Media Inc., which provides the Pandora Radio music streaming and automated music recommendation service. Chadwick says Pandora gives dealers the opportunity to geo target ads to listeners across desktops or mobile devices. “It’s not advertising on the radio, it’s advertising on the screen.”
Also new is My Car Care Rewards, a vendor which offers a customizable loyalty program. “Dealers give customers a reward for shopping with them which can be used for future services,” says Chadwick. He says the program can be used as a customer acquisition strategy or a retention strategy.
These initiatives bring Tire Pros into the 21st century when it comes to marketing, according to Chadwick. “The common thread is this is 21st century marketing that is fully trackable so we can monitor how well dealers’ investment is driving traffic.”
Tire Pros also unveiled a mascot, an owl called PROfessor Tire. Chadwick says the owl was chosen for its association with wisdom. “It’s all about our independent, elite local dealers who are true tire professionals and have the experience and the knowledge to help our customers.”
