I will freely admit that I'm not the bull riding kind of guy. So when Cooper invited me to join them in Chicago this past weekend for the Cooper Tire Invitational, a stop on the 30-plus city Professional Bull Riders series, I contemplated my options. Like mowing the lawn, painting our barn, maybe painting my neighbor's barn, getting my teenager to do his homework. Off the the still-wintery Wndy City I went.
I will also freely admit when I am wrong. No, I am still not a mega-fan of bull riding (though I take my hat off to those guys, many of whom I met during the event, and none I would want to be when they hit age 65), but I discovered a few things that perhaps you might think about.
More than one person was left scratching their heads when Cooper announced in January that it was becoming a sponsor partner of PBR. Watching guys get tossed around like rags while trying to stay on top of 2,000-pounds of muscle and four ounces of brain does not appeal to a broad base. You might think.
Over two nights, PBR attracted more than 20,000 Chicagoans to the Rosemont Horizon – 20,000 people who wanted to be there and braved rather unspring-like weather to do so. Inside the arena was a full evening of family-oriented entertainment (including outdoor country concerts supported by Cooper), fan-friendly (and very polite) competitors, family-friendly booths by the tour's key sponsors (like Cooper) and a captivating, lively sponsor-friendly "show." No one could walk out of that building and say they had a bad time. Not even me.
Cooper has been taking dealers out to these PBR events in advance of their arrival in those dealers' markets, giving them a first-hand look at how they can leverage this sponsorship to attract customers and build awareness. It's a low pressure "Hey, we just want you to see" approach. Cooper knows its PBR sponsorship is not for everyone, but dealers should take a good hard look before pushing it off.
Like anything in marketing, you get out what you put in. What do you do when your tire suppliers bring you well-supported tie-in opportunities? Especially for something as consumer-friendly and engaging as pro bull riding? Top, successful dealers jump on these opportunities to make some hay (sorry for the pun).