May 21 marks the official start of National Tire Safety Week, which runs through May 28. Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is marking the occasion by kicking off a new relationship between the company’s “Tread Wisely” tire safety program for young drivers and DoSomething.org. The collaboration begins this week with a social media outreach campaign to help inform and inspire DoSomething members to be aware of their vehicles’ tires and take action to check the condition of their tires monthly, especially now, at the start of the summer driving season.
The largest not-for-profit organization exclusively for young people and social change, DoSomething is a digital platform that annually activates 6 million young people to create positive offline impact in every U.S. area code and across 131 countries. Tread Wisely is a tire and vehicle safety campaign for teens and young adults sponsored by Cooper. The initiative includes two components — employee activation at Cooper facilities worldwide, which enlists volunteers to conduct tire safety events and demonstrations in their communities, and a public outreach campaign that brings tire safety information to young drivers through social media, in-person youth events and through a Tread Wisely app, available for download from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android).
“DoSomething has the power to reach millions of young people who often have no idea how important tire safety is and what they need to do to keep themselves and their friends safer on the road,” said Anne Roman, vice president of communications and public affairs for Cooper. “Not only can we reach young drivers through the incredible platform DoSomething offers, but they will take real action to make a difference in their lives and in the lives of their friends. Action is what drives real understanding and change.”
Later this summer, Cooper’s Tread Wisely initiative and DoSomething will team up to conduct a national youth activation effort, which will call on young drivers to take specific actions to support tire safety with an emphasis on sharing information with their friends and families.
“Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for young Americans, but such dire messages often don’t make an impact with young drivers,” said Carrie Bloxson, CMO of DoSomething.org. “That’s why DoSomething is thrilled to partner with Cooper Tire to help focus young people on living their best lives by getting safely to all the places they need and want to go. This campaign will activate thousands of young people to stay safe and help their friends stay safe on the road this summer and beyond.”
For more information, visit DoSomething.org and TreadWisely.org. National Tire Safety Week is an annual program of the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA), of which Cooper is a member. For more information, visit www.ustires.org.
