ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE OF THE AOT BRAND REFRESH

AOT, short for American Omni Tires, is a tire design company. But also, AOT is a logistics and sourcing company. Oh and by the way, AOT is a marketing support company. Needless to say, AOT does a lot more than just sell tires to wholesalers — and they wanted to make that very clear to any potential customers coming to their website.

But where to begin? Some companies might take the slow and steady approach; build upon their current website piece by piece to hopefully shift the conversation in their favor over time. That might yield some results…or might go unnoticed for years as competitors pass you by. AOT decided to hit the ground running. They decided to go with Plan B. Good choice.

From there, Plan B started with a few questions:

First, Who is AOT?

Just like I described above, there is a lot to the AOT package. Our job was understanding them inside and out. Interviews, phone calls, value adds, company history, hell even christmas cards. Anything we could get our hands on, we used to our advantage to determine, ‘Who are we trying to capture?’ And we quickly learned that we are helping sell a company that works on your behalf to make the impossible possible. To make big things happen. 

Second, What should AOT look and sound like?

Here’s the fun part. After we learned who AOT is, we then got to decide how to define that ethos into a single brand identity. Over the course of two months, our entire creative team let the rubber hit the road (poor pun 100% intended) as we determined the next phase for AOT. We developed over 15 different brand directions, which then pared down to nine…then to three…and finally to one — Made for More.

These three words encapsulated both the scope of the company and the integrity of its employees. AOT was thrilled with the new direction; and alongside the accompanying Challenge Accepted campaign, we were ready to tackle the main initiative, bringing the website to life.

Finally, How does this new brand work as a website?

Translating an ad-lob into a website is like translating a joke into a different language. The words don’t have to be one-to-one for the meaning and tone to be the same. When translating our new branding, we broke AOT down into five pillars that defined the company: sourcing, logistics, design, marketing, and commitment. These five pillars form the backbone of AOT and cover their entire breadth of services.

From there, we flew down to Katy, Texas and interviewed AOT employees to learn the stories and challenges they have accepted over the years. Those stories became the foundation of the copy and wireframes we developed for each of the capabilities pages and product sections. 

The end result, well you can see it for yourself here. The new website is an emphatic exclamation of over 30 years of grit and determination. We aren’t sure what challenges AOT has in store in the coming year, but we are ready to accept any more they throw our way.

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