Tire Discounters Makes Significant Marketing Team Enhancements to Fuel Rapid Growth

This entry was posted on Aug 2, 2021 by Tire Discounters.

Cincinnati, Ohio (July TBD, 2021) — Tire Discounters, the country’s largest 100% family-owned and operated tire and service provider, today announced major enhancements to their marketing team. Former Amazon and P&G executive Chris Yapp has joined the company as its new Chief Marketing Officer.

Yapp will oversee brand strategy and all marketing efforts for the company, including the launch of Protect Your Legacy, Tire Discounters’ new franchise and aquisiton program which aims to help independent tire dealers form a succession plan and partner with the company.

He joins Tire Discounters from Amazon, where he served as head of marketing for Brilliance Publishing, the company’s division devoted to the exploding audio segment. In that role, Yapp established the marketing strategy from a blank canvas and built out an industry-leading digital marketing framework for the business. Before Amazon, Yapp held multiple brand management roles at The Kellogg Company, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, and Procter & Gamble in both the U.S. and international markets.

Yapp’s appointment will allow Abbey Dryden to focus on leading the company’s high-priority digital marketing and customer support functions as they accelerate expansion.  Dryden is an award-winning Tire Discounters veteran, having touched and strengthened all facets of the company’s marketing and innovation program over her seven years with the company.  Dryden will now be focused on raising the bar across Tire Discounters digital marketing plans, along with overseeing the company’s entire customer service organization.   

“Adding Chris to our marketing team is the fuel we need for our aggressive growth plans. He brings exceptional marketing experience and skills that are the right combination for us at this stage of our growth, especially as we grow into new territories and leverage our national brand recognition,” said Crissy Niese, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer at Tire Discounters.  “Abbey’s deep knowledge and expertise will help expand our legacy of outstanding customer service across all communication mediums, including digital, which is so critical to our aggressive growth plans.”

“The changes to the marketing team are savvy choices to further accelerate Tire Discounters’ ambitious growth plans,” Niese explained. Both Yapp and Dryden are excited about Tire Discounters’ new and organic growth opportunities, reaching new customers in new ways, and bolstering the brand---especially as the company is having early success with acquisition and franchising.

“The company is on fire; the team is incredibly passionate and we’re having a lot of fun along the way,” Yapp said, “What I’m here to do now is to expand our story and help strengthen our marketing execution across the stores and communities we operate in today.  This is a brand with significant potential that is ready to be unleashed.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of working at Tire Discounters for seven years, so an obsession with customer satisfaction is deeply ingrained in me,” Dryden said. “Our customer service team is exceptional and through our continued growth, I look forward to introducing countless new customers to our wonderful brand.  I’m also excited about the notion of building out a world-class digital marketing program that sets the pace for the category.”

The newly configured marketing team also has the unique and fun challenge of continuing founder Chip Wood’s legacy of quirky marketing tactics. Tire Discounters is renowned for its tongue-in-cheek changeable copy signs and clever, quirky approach to advertising—including the phantom tire buyer, “the home of free alignment,” or highlighting their stupid good service. “On social media, our team listens intently, responds quickly and sometimes does something a little unexpected, like answer customer questions in the form of a changeable copy sign or funny GIF,” Niese said.

The news of Yapp’s hiring and Dryden’s new role comes on the heels of other major developments at the company, including:

• Tire Discounters recently moved its combined office operations into a new, consolidated, state-of-the-art 32,000 sq. ft. headquarters in downtown Cincinnati that houses 85 Tire Discounters employees; it was built with the company’s growth in mind and has the capacity to house 140 team members.

• The company was recognized as “Tire Dealer of the Year,” a prestigious national industry award by Modern Tire Dealer Magazine.

• The rollout of Protect Your Legacy, a franchise and acquisition program that offers three options to tire and automotive business owners.

• The addition of a retail veteran, Dave Crawford, to spearhead the Protect Your Legacy program.