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 been people trying to bust through the clutter. Some worked, most fell flat and 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 video of a TV commercial for a tire dealer in West Virginia – The Tire Lady’s Rainbow Tire. Yes, that’s the name of the business.
And there is a real Tire Lady. She’s in the commercial, which was written, directed and performed by local rapper 6-6 240 (his height and weight, I assume), and literally goes by “The Tire Lady.” She would only tell me her real first name, which I will keep to myself, and because she’s been known as The Tire Lady for three decades, I think she 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 in Masontown.
The Tire Lady started out as The Gas Lady, owning a service station in Masontown. The story, as it goes, is a regular gas customer hauled scrap tires for a living, and kept bugging her to start selling used tires. One day he gave her a brokedown tire machine, so dilapidated that if you weren’t careful it would fling the tire and wheel across the bay.
Selling used tires proved to be a winner, so she scrimped and saved and bought a brand new Coats 2020. “I didn’t know changing tires could be so 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 from a bar that was next to my old gas station. But EVERYONE remembers “The Tire 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 lucky enough to have people like The Tire Lady who love owning and operating their own tire shop.
Forty years ago things were a lot different. And a woman’s role was viewed much differently. Check out this golden oldie, first broadcast on 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). Not poking fun at Goodyear; the commercial was part and parcel of the times.
