The challenge: take a family-owned tire business and help it grow to a nationally recognized family of brands. Better establish its core identity, and help it develop new service lines, sub-brands, and go-to-market strategies, all while not cannibalizing one part of the business over another. Oh, and don't forget to continue to drive key retail sales benchmarks with timely campaigns. This wasn’t one campaign or one rebrand. It was a sustained collaboration across brand, retail, innovation, and experience. We didn’t just make Tire Discounters look good—we helped them build a system for growth.
For decades, Tire Discounters dominated the airwaves with cheeky radio spots, from the legendary “Lemonade Stand” to the mysterious Phantom Tire Buyer. But when they approached BLDG, they weren’t looking for another jingle. They were looking for a partner to help translate that audio equity into visual form and drive innovation across their entire business. The marquee solution was an extended "iiiiiiiii" graphic that mimicked their iconic jingle. The rest was all developed through a strategic positioning that highlighted TD as "Stupid-Good Car Service."
"Skip the Shop" was originally thought of as a "Service Valet," until we leaned into the key insight that most of what people wanted from an auto shop is to avoid an auto shop altogether. From that insight, Skip the Shop was born: a fully rebranded car pick-up and drop-off experience that turned a chore into a convenience. We handled the naming, positioning, visual identity, and rollout strategy, making it not just a service, but a competitive advantage.
Chip's Auto Glass is a Tire Discounters sub-brand focused on glass and advanced driver assist systems (ADAS). Put simply: the beeps, blinks, and backup cameras that keep modern cars safer on the road. It's highly technical work that the consumer may not be as well versed in (though their cars practically run on them now), so our task with naming and developing the brand for Chip's was about creating approachable expertise. We built the brand from the ground up, applying it to service vans, in-store experience, and digital touchpoints. The tone? Approachable expertise. The result? A growing sub-brand that feels like part of the family.
We also developed Tire Discounters' EV service retail concept. The task here was to extend the Tire Discounters equity into the growing need of EV servicing. Similar to challenges faced with glass and ADAS, a main strategy in our go-to-market strategy for TD / EV was education, done still with TD's unique cheekiness and smarts.
