2. A Flat Tire
Too many young
adults and
female drivers
think of Walmart
or Discount Tire
when they need
auto care.
3. Wishing For a Working Tire
Belle Tire needs to tap
into the young adult
and female markets in
order gain a larger
market share and
harness long-lasting
relationships.
4. The Tire Pump of Fresh Air
Connect with them in
their familiar online
environment and
introduce them to
two characters that
represent the battle
between male and
female and the two
types of customers
that Belle Tire needs
to appeal to
6. BT and Belle Battle of the Tweets
BT and Belle
will each
have their
own Twitter
and
Facebook
pages
The “sex”
with the
most fans at
the end will
receive a
prize pack
8. Full Tire Pressure
•Increase fan base on Facebook,
Twitter, and YouTube
•Increase hits on Web site
•Increase revenue within the
first year of campaign
10. Name the Time and Place
Gear up for winter driving season
in the late summer months and
continue reminding them
throughout changing conditions of
fall and winter roads
Editor's Notes
Belle Tire is very well tapped into the Detroit sports market and does have a decent online presence through their Web site, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channel. However these elements still have room to improve and increase revenue. This is the online strategy I am pitching to Belle Tire.
After participating in a focus group and spending some time with Belle Tire executives, it is clear that young adults and female drivers are either not very familiar with Belle Tire and/or do not feel comfortable making the decision as to which auto care specialist they should bring their car to. This is a big market that is not being tapped into to its full extent.
This campaign aims to increase awareness and revenue generated from 18 - 25 year olds as well as female drivers. By targeting this group, there is a great potential to build long lasting relationships that will bring repeat business for years to come.
The most efficient way to connect with this market is on the Internet. This market spends a lot of time online and is very familiar with the Web. They respond to humorous tones and competition. This campaign incorporates both of these elements. Female drivers feel that auto care is reserved for their dads, boyfriends, brothers, and male friends, but we want to show them that Belle Tire can empower them to take care of their own car. Young male drivers feel that they are looked up to for advice as it relates to cars, but they do not always know the right answer. Belle Tire will show them that they are the ones to turn to in any situation, while still impressing their girlfriend.
To play off of these personalities, we will re-create the Belle Tire mascot and make it more personalized. We currently have "Tire Man," however he can be easily confused with Tireman Automotive Centers, a direct competitor of Belle Tire. To avoid this confusion, we will rename him as "BT." Then we will add a second mascot, a female mascot that will relate to our female customers. She will be named "Belle.“
The way we will use YouTube in the campaign will be a mixture of trivial humorous videos and how-to videos all starring BT and/or Belle. For example, we will produce a short how-to video showing how to change a tire by yourself if you are stranded on the road. This video will target our female market and will star Belle. Another video will show how to get a girl by showing off your car knowledge. This how-to video will star BT and will be targeted at our younger male audience. The other humorous videos will feature both BT and Belle interacting. These videos will be produced with viral marketing tactics in mind. Viewers will also be encouraged to send in their own BT and Belle videos that could be featured in store and online.
We will use Facebook and Twitter by setting up separate accounts for both BT and Belle. While Facebook and Twitter will feature the videos produced for YouTube, they will also be the location of the "Battle of the Sexes" contest. Female fans will be fans and followers of Belle, while male fans will be fans and followers of BT. Each group will have to encourage and grow the fan base of their respective mascot by a certain date. The mascot with the most fans by a set date, will be the winner. Every fan of the winning mascot will receive a promotional prize pack as a reward. This contest will not only generate excitement among our customers, but will also require current customers to work as unpaid "brand reps" for Belle Tire, thus increasing WOM.
So we are establishing Belle Tire on the social media landscape, but we must also make it easy for new viewers and customers to find out about Belle Tire via search engines. When you search auto care, or tire repair, or anything of the like, the majority of the results come up with Wal-Mart and Discount Tire. These are direct competitors of Belle Tire and you cannot afford to be left out of this venue. This will be accomplished through strategic SEO. Keywords will be optimized throughout the current Web site and will be integrated into our social media posts. Content will also be regularly refreshed, appropriate tags will be added to everything online, and titles will be optimized.
The way we will measure the success of this strategy is through an increased online network of supporters, an increase in Web site hits, and of course, an increase in overall revenue. We will also track the promotion redemption rate that winners from the Battle of the Sexes contest will receive.
The cost of this campaign will be relatively small. Since all promotion will happen online, the space taken to run the campaign will be free. Cost comes in when you factor in the time and resources it takes to produce videos and maintain the online sites. The prize packages will also pose a small cost.
We will time this campaign to begin near the end of the summer. This is a great time to start talking to the audience about gearing up for the winter driving season. Belle Tire is a Michigan-based company, so their audience is familiar with the treacherous winter driving conditions. The contest will be introduced early fall and end before the first of the year. This is a rather short campaign, however the concept could have a long life-time.
This campaign focuses on building a loyal customer base at a young age age. By getting them excited about Belle Tire when they are first starting to make decisions on the care of their cars, you will get them for life. Also, by appealing to, and welcoming women into the discussion and action, the female market will choose Belle Tire over other competitors that focus solely on the male psyche.