Tire Rack Street Survival

Teaching Northeastern Alabama teens how to drive to survive

By Ryan Rupprecht

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Who is ?• 1979- Tire Rack opened its first store in

Indianapolis, IN• 1982- Tire Rack goes nationwide with the

use of magazine advertisements.• 1996- Tire Rack goes international with the

launch of www.tirerack.com.• 2003- Tire Rack Street Survival is introduced

as a tool for young drivers to hone new skills• 2008- TRSS totals 60 classes being held

from New Hampshire to California and Florida to Washington.

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Problems and Solutions

The Bad• 40% of all deaths ages 15-21 result from

traffic accidents.

• Birmingham ranks 5th highest city in nation for teen traffic fatalities.

• Alabama ranks 2nd in the nation for teen deaths traffic fatalities including rural areas.

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Problems and Solutions

The Good• Tire Rack has launched a non-profit,

hands-on workshop for new drivers.

• TRSS is an affordable program focused in a real time, and real safe environment

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Program Objectives The idea behind TRSS is to have teens

use their own cars to learn about: • How to inspect vehicle systems• vehicle specific handling limits • how to properly regain temporary loss of

control• learn how their cars feel and sound just

before, and as they exceed the limits of tire adhesion

All while maintaining a safe and controlled environment

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Program Objectives

• The public relations campaign for Tire Racks Street Survival program will utilize local media outlets to help create an interest among northeastern Alabama parents of new drivers.

• The message is to help unite concerned parents of young drivers with TRSS, a program designed to save their teenagers lives.

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Target Audience

• Target demography is the parents of newly licensed or permitted drivers.

“At first when my dad mentioned Street Survival I was kind of iffy…seeing what actually went on those thoughts disappeared…I will be recommending these events to probably just about anyone I come across now.” (tirerack.com)

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Tactics: Create AwarenessMany local media outlets can easily be used to

broadcast awareness of the program and invite parents and their young drivers to the TRSS course.

is a classic country radio station located in Calhoun County.

• offers tangible results for advertising and a listening audience of 40 counties across north Alabama and into Georgia.

• estimates a total of 3.2 million possible listeners within their 50,000 watt range.

• Station formant is classic country music with a target audience of 25 and older.

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Tactics: Create Awareness

is a local television station located in the city of Anniston in Calhoun County.

• main focus of the station is to provide viewers with news. The station also airs popular syndicated television shows in the ABC line up.

• The station does not publically offer any information as to its target demographics, or prices for advertisement.

• The station dose however publically offer that advertising space begins with 30 second time slots, and moves up from that point.

• The station also informs clients that prices and availability vary based on time of day and popularity of programs.

in Anniston • 8.5 x 14 color copies @ $.79 each. • Leaflets can be used in high-traffic areas like; shopping centers,

educational centers, DMV offices, automobile insurance offices, places designated for drivers training class registration or training.

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Tactics: Create Awareness

is a local newspaper serving subscribers throughout Calhoun County, concentrating in Anniston, Oxford, Lenlock, Jacksonville, and Piedmont.

• Hardcopy readers are traditionally older, but online editions reach a much more diverse demography.

• 160x400 p Tower ads are located in the papers highest visibility areas and run for $ 300 dollars per month.

• 300x250 p Big Block appears on the index and story pages just below the main content. $250 per month.

• 180x150 p Rectangle appears above the fold in the right column of the newspaper. $175 per month.

• The125x125 p Square Tile appears in the far right sidebar of the newspaper, $150 per month.

• offers a three month ad space for $60, or a year for $240.

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Tactics: Locationlocations are typically coordinated though high-

schools or other large facility parking lots, and are often times offered at no cost to the program

• In the county of Talladega, the Talladega Super Speedway

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Tactics: Location

• Calhoun County could utilize a parking lot at Jacksonville State University, as many of the buildings would be emptied on weekends

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Tactics: Location

• Etowah County also has several facilities, one being the Alabama International Drag way.

*This are not intended to serve as a final list of choices for course locations.

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Calendar of Events• Advertising for the event should begin

approximately three months out from the event date. – allows adequate time for both teenagers and

parents to become aware of the event • The campaign will start gradually, increasing

the use of more expensive media outlets as the event date comes closer.

• The weekend of October 24-25, 2009 has tentatively been chosen for two reasons. – One being that the weekend won’t interfere with

dates already scheduled for the Tire Rack Street Survival schools.

– The second reason being that the end of October would allow 2009 drivers education graduates to attend

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Calendar of Events

Month Date Action(s) Taken Price/ Duration of Ad

July 26 -Place Advertisement with getcalhoun.com

$60.00/ 3 months

August 16 -Place Ad on Alabama 810AM Radio (30 Sec) –Place Ad in Anniston

Star

$ 120.00 / 3 months

$900.00-475.00/ 3 months

September 1 -Begin Ads on ABC 33/40 (30 Sec) -Print and Post Flyers

$ 2000.00/ 1 month

$0.79 per copy/ NA

October 17

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-Registration deadline

-Day of Event

NA/ NA

NA/ NA

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Estimated BudgetItem Cost per unit ($) x (#

of units) Total ($)

Internet Advertisement (getcalhoun.com)

$60.00 (3 month package) x 1

$60.00

Radio Advertisement (Alabama 810)

$120 per month x 3 $360.00

Newspaper Advertisement (Anniston Star)

$300 per month x 3 months

$900.00

Television Advertisement (ABC 33/40)

$2,000 x 30 Sec of AM air time for 1 month

$2,000.00

Promotional Materials (Flyers from OfficeMax)

$.79 per copy x 300 copies

$258.33

Contingencies Total ($3578.33) x 10%

$357.83

Grand Total $3936.16

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Evaluation of Campaign

• The first step will be to gather campaign and attendance records from other Tire Rack Street Survival programs– within the same geographical location with a

similar population make-up. – Knoxville and Chattanooga Tennessee,

Trenton Georgia, North Charleston South Carolina, and in Scottsboro Alabama should all be examined and compared to the northeastern Alabama program.

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Evaluation of Campaign• The next step is discovering how the parents

and students found out about the program.

– achieved by adding an additional information block to the application regarding how the applicant was notified about the event.

– Create a check box for each of the types of advertisement utilized and include an additional block area for awareness provided by sources other than the campaign.

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Thank You!

The real success of this campaign is measured the same way Tire Rack measures the success of their street survival program, the amount of lives saved.

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Reference Page• ABC 33/40 News - Alabama's News Leader. (n.d.). Retrieved April 08, 2009, from

http://www.abc3340.com/?refresh=1• Advertising Information. (n.d.). In The Anniston Star. Retrieved April 08, 2009,

from http://www.annistonstar.com/advertise/advertise2.htm• Alabama 810 Classic Country Radio 50,000 Watts! Home! (n.d.). Retrieved April

08, 2009, from http://alabama810.com/• Brunet, M. (n.d.). Press Kits - "Allstate America's Teen Driving Hotspots" Study.

In Allstate Newsroom. Retrieved April 08, 2009, from http://media.allstate.com/categories/6/releases/4403

• Cutlip, Scott M., Allen H. Center, & Glen M. Broom. (2006). Effective Public Relations. (9th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc

• GetCalhoun.com Web Design of Calhoun County, AL...All about why you should Advertise with GetCalhoun.com! Calhoun County Alabama Advertising! Websites too! (n.d.). In GetCalhoun.com, the official website of Calhoun County, Alabama! Home owned and operated! Retrieved April 08, 2009, from http://www.getcalhoun.com/aboutgc.htm

• Street Survival Teen Driving School. (n.d.). In Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels. Retrieved April 08, 2009, from http://www.tirerack.com/features/motorsports/street_survival.jsp