Speed demon Christine Taylor of JTMarCom
We’ve done a lot of “ride and drive” events where media are invited to drive cars to evaluate the tires, and ride in cars driven at adrenaline-pumping speeds by professional drivers.
Our agency, JTMarCom, worked on a ride-and-drive event recently at super-hot Firebird Raceway (track temperatures of 160 degrees) in Arizona for GITI Tire, China’s largest tire manufacturer; GITI introduced their new GT Radial Champiro HPY tire for sports cars in America.
As we put together our strategies and tactics, we got to thinking about how different things are today than just five years ago. Our overall goal was the same: Create positive publicity and third-party credibility for the new product. Likewise, we worked with the client to identify the key messages and angles that would cut through the clutter.
However, it was a whole new ball game in the vehicles we used to get the word out. There was no Facebook, Twitter or YouTube five years ago (or they were tiny, tiny). Back then, we were totally dependent on the media to deliver our story to consumers.
In developing the strategy for GITI, we certainly looked at the tire and automotive media . . . and looked . . . and looked. Some of the stalwarts like Car and Driver are still in business while many others have consolidated or gone under. While the journalists are fewer in number today, they do, however, have more avenues to tell your story – blogs, Facebook, Twitter.
The big difference, however, is how social media enabled us to take our story directly to the client’s key audiences – tire dealers, auto executives and car enthusiast consumers.
We established a Twitter account and began following key influencer Twitterers – automakers (Scion, 5,500 followers), tire dealers (Matthews Tire, 565 followers) and auto enthusiasts (motorsports driver Tina Stull, 33,738 followers). We Tweeted during the event and extended the reach of post-event coverage with Twitter.
We set up a YouTube channel and shot testimonials on-site. We shared post-event blogs and media stories with key LinkedIn groups such as Automotive Industry Professionals (18,379 members). We provided the media plenty of material for their Facebook pages. We spread the word through influential Facebook groups – who would have thought that the Honda Civic would have 85,000 Facebook fans!
Additionally, we were able to establish dialogue with some key influencers such as a Canadian auto blogger who had never heard of the GT Radial brand.
Yes, we had some key media there, but that was just part of it. Social media allowed us to deliver the client’s story directly to their target audiences and engage in dialogue about a brand that was almost completely unknown. Quite empowering!
