Big O Tires was recently honored for its help in promoting the Missouri State Park’s centennial anniversary this year. Rusty and Melanie Coats were presented with an award for Big O Tires’ support and voluntary efforts during the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) annual business meeting.
In March, Big O Tires partnered with the department in an effort to help promote the 100-year anniversary of the Missouri State Parks system. The DNR created centennial passport books, which could be purchased at any state park gift shop or Missouri Big O Tires location, to encourage tourists to visit the 88 state parks and historic sites throughout Missouri.
Big O Tires incorporated its popular mascot, Bigfoot, into the celebration with the Finding Bigfoot contest. Participants were required to collect 10 passport stamps for a chance to win prizes ranging from camping gear, kayaks, vacation packages to Major League Baseball tickets.
“Bigfoot is a hit with kids and his appearances drew a lot of visitors to the parks we visited,” says Melanie Coats, Big O Tires marketing manager. “This campaign was a great opportunity to showcase many of the cool parks throughout the state while building awareness for our stores and brand.”
At first, Bigfoot and the Big O team embarked on a week-long, whirlwind tour of 63 of Missouri’s state parks. They then switched gears to focus on one event per week throughout the spring and summer months. This allowed for longer stops at each park where the Big O Tires staff provided burgers and hot dogs to visitors.
“We normally have customer appreciation events at our stores, but we decided to do the weekly Bigfoot appearances this year,” Coats says. “We were able to interact with a lot of people – we fed 1,200 at the grand opening for Echo Bluff State Park and hundreds more at each of our other stops.”
The Finding Bigfoot promotion not only increased visitors at the state parks, it boosted Big O’s Facebook following from 62,000 likes to nearly 103,000 in an eight-month span. And they’re not done yet. Big O plans to continue the Finding Bigfoot campaign as the Missouri State Park’s centennial celebrations are scheduled through October 2017.