I’ve seen a lot of people try a lot of different things to become“memorable.” For as long as there has been advertising, there have beenpeople trying to bust through the clutter. Some worked, most fell flatand sometimes took the company and brand down with them.
And then I got an e-mail from a friend, with a link to a YouTube videoof a TV commercial for a tire dealer in West Virginia – The Tire Lady’sRainbow Tire. Yes, that’s the name of the business.
And there is a real Tire Lady. She’s in the commercial, which waswritten, directed and performed by local rapper 6-6 240 (his height andweight, I assume), and literally goes by “The Tire Lady.” She wouldonly tell me her real first name, which I will keep to myself, andbecause she’s been known as The Tire Lady for three decades, I thinkshe even had to pull out her driver’s license to check.
She has two successful locations, one just off I-79 north of Morgantown(home of the University of West Virginia) and the homebase location inMasontown.
The Tire Lady started out as The Gas Lady, owning a service station inMasontown. The story, as it goes, is a regular gas customer hauledscrap tires for a living, and kept bugging her to start selling usedtires. One day he gave her a brokedown tire machine, so dilapidatedthat if you weren’t careful it would fling the tire and wheel acrossthe bay.
Selling used tires proved to be a winner, so she scrimped and saved andbought a brand new Coats 2020. “I didn’t know changing tires could beso easy and safe,” she said.
The business has treated her well over the years, she told me. And no doubt, based on this commercial, she’s having a blast.
As for the name? She’s trademarked it. “The Rainbow Tire name came froma bar that was next to my old gas station. But EVERYONE remembers “TheTire Lady.”
And once you watch this commercial, you’ll know her too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qKWMeWZtc4&feature=player_embedded
My, how this industry has changed over the years. Today, we’re luckyenough to have people like The Tire Lady who love owning and operatingtheir own tire shop.
Forty years ago things were a lot different. And a woman’s role wasviewed much differently. Check out this golden oldie, first broadcaston ABC-TV during the very first Monday Night Football game (Browns vs.Jets, which I believe is the last time the Browns won a game). Notpoking fun at Goodyear; the commercial was part and parcel of the times.
