OK Tire CEO Sims retires

SURREY, British Columbia (Oct. 3, 2013) — Greg Sims has retired as CEO of OK Tire Stores Inc., effective Oct. 1. President Robert Downs has assumed the CEO position in addition to his current role as president.

"The board of directors has been working on this succession plan for some time as the company continues to grow," said David Twanow, national advertising manager.

Neither Mr. Sims nor Mr. Downs was available for comment. He joined OK Tire in March 2006 as president and CEO. Mr. Downs was named president earlier this year.

OK Tire has also launched the Sticker family ad campaigns, a family of animated characters used across different marketing streams including TV, radio, social media, etc.

"The strategy is to communicate how OK Tire takes the time to listen to our customers then recommend what's best for both them and their vehicle," Mr. Twanow said.

Both the mother and father characters are used in the ad campaign, he said, to "talk about what they like best about OK Tire in a testimonial style."

The campaign concept was created by Brandspank, OK Tire's Vancouver-based advertising agency, and was developed through a collaboration of the internal OK Tire Advertising Team and Brandspank.

"We measured an increase in awareness for the brand as a whole due to the uniquely recognizable look and feel of the campaign," Mr. Twanow said.

He said the dealership has received positive feedback for the campaign both from its stores and customers.