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July 21, 2021 09:30 AM

Tire marketing programs expand across all fronts

Bruce Davis
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    A look at drivers Josh Berry’s Tire Pros No. 8 car for the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

    AKRON — Throughout the pandemic-dominated past dozen months, marketing and franchising groups continued to expand, both in terms of members and services offered.

    The designation early on in the pandemic of automotive service establishments as essential services was a boon to both the individual businesses and to the marketing/franchising groups supporting them, according to representatives of those groups in their responses to Tire Business' survey.

    In this special look at the marketing groups/franchising scene, Tire Business presents details on 57 programs in North America — 41 in the U.S. and 16 in Canada — run by 49 domestic tire makers, tire importers, tire wholesalers, franchisors and business collectives/buying groups.

    Of these, a dozen are true franchising programs with their own consumer-facing market identity while most are considered associate or affiliate programs designed to help dealer members with collective buying and related business issues.

    Some highlights of the sector's business developments over the past year include:

    Tire Discounters, the Cincinnati-based dealership with 140-plus locations throughout a six-state territory, is branching into franchising to help it broaden its footprint beyond the states in which it operates now.

    American Tire Distributors' Tire Pros marketing group added more than 60 points of sale to its U.S. network in 2020 and jumped into the motorsports arena this year with a deal to sponsor JR Motorsports for six races in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series.

    Tire Pros has been the primary sponsor on JR Motorsports' No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro, driven by up-and-coming drivers Josh Berry and Sam Mayer, at four races so far this year.

    JR Motorsports is owned by NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    Tire Pros President Greg Bell called the partnership with JR Motorsports an "incredible opportunity to reach new customers and elevate the Tire Pros brand and presence … across the country."

    While running the Tire Pros livery on his No. 8 Chevy Camaro, Mr. Berry has led races and scored a pair of Top 5 finishes, delivering a boatload of publicity for Tire Pros in the process. Mr. Berry has followed up with a series of personal appearances at Tire Pros locations.

    Tire Pros' growth in 2020 was spread out over 24 states, including 10 new points of sale in California, six in Ohio and five each in Georgia and Utah.

    The openings boosted the Tire Pros network to 613 locations in 45 states.

    Tire Pros President Greg Bell said "dynamic shifts in the preferred form of travel and new pressures for the trucking industry" helped create opportunities for Tire Pros franchisees to prosper as well as opportunities to expand the Tire Pros network.

    Express Oil Change/Tire Engineers a Mavis Tire Supply company — expanded its network to 300 branded outlets.

    OK Tire Stores Inc. secured exclusive rights throughout Canada for 10 years to the Blackhawk tire brand — owned and produced by China's Sailun Tire Group.

    OK Tires said Blackhawk's "versatile" line-up provides options for Canadian drivers, from high-performance tires for sport coupes and sedans to the ideal tire for the everyday driver. The brand also includes a range of commercial truck tires for long-haul, regional or mixed-service applications.

    Echoing the hallmarks of the common black hawk bird of prey, Blackhawk tires "are ready to take flight and take on anything Canadian drivers and weather can throw at us," he added.

    There over 325 franchised OK Tire outlets across Canada.

    GoMobile Tires USA has begun franchising its mobile tire-installation business to complement the business it started in 2019 and has expanded to 15 servicing locations in a dozen metro markets in the interim.

    GoMobile expanded into the Florida market last year with the opening of a 20,000-sq.-ft. facility in Jacksonville, which complements existing servicing locations in Southern California (three sites); Indianapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; Las Vegas; Portland, Ore.; Pittsburgh; Greenville, S.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Austin and Dallas, Texas; and Vancouver, Wash.

    The new facility was designed to support the deployment of up to 50 mobile tire-service vans.

    Tire Alliance Group (TAG) reported it is working on a retail e-commerce site that it expects to have operational in the second half of the year as an additional tool for its members.

    Related Article
    Tire Discounters to offer franchising; hires Crawford to lead effort
    Tire Pros to back Earnhardt team in NASCAR Xfinity series
    Express Oil/Tire Engineers hits 300-store mark
    OK Tire secures exclusivity for Blackhawk tire brand
    Letter
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    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Tire Business would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor Don Detore at [email protected].

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