Goodyear Introduces Gemini Automotive Care, the Next Generation in Auto Care
15 September 1999
Goodyear Introduces Gemini Automotive Care, the Next Generation in Auto Care
Gemini Program Reinvents Consumers' Auto Service Experience
AKRON, Ohio, Sept. 14 -- As part of an automotive retail
initiative to enhance the consumers' auto service experience, Goodyear today
launches Gemini Automotive Care: The next generation in auto care. The
successor to Goodyear's Certified Auto Service (CAS) program, Gemini becomes
the nation's leading network of tire and automotive care centers with more
than 1,700 retail stores.
"Gemini is all about delivering an overall experience that exceeds
customers' expectations. We're committed to demonstrating -- through our
special programs and our associates -- that Gemini is an automotive care name
consumers can trust," said Marco Molinari, Goodyear's vice president of sales
and marketing for the North American business. "By bolstering customer
confidence, the Gemini experience will help us sell more tires and perform
more quality service work."
The new Gemini brand name and its distinctive blue-and-gold elliptical
logo will become a familiar sight all over the nation as in-store signage
begins to appear at participating outlets. Large exterior signs along with a
national advertising and marketing communications campaign will help to
announce the stores' transformation and the arrival of Gemini Automotive Care.
More than a name change, the Gemini retail marketing system includes new
standards of customer education and service, ongoing associate training, new
merchandising systems, associate uniforms, program standards and a third-party
auditing system to ensure program integrity. Supporting marketing
communication elements include database marketing, advertising, public
relations and a new, exclusive Gemini web site.
"Gemini evolved because of CAS dealers' concerns about the long-term
viability of their format and out of Goodyear's desire to provide the
retailers with the necessary tools to achieve a competitive advantage in the
marketplace," according to Goodyear's manager of trade marketing, Steve
Schroeder.
"We have a great opportunity with Gemini," said Molinari. "No other
network of tire and auto care retailers can match its power potential. Under
this new system, Gemini retailers will be charged with delivering trust,
quality and comfort to their customers."
A recent Gemini survey(1) confirms that trust is the single most important
factor in a consumer's choice of automotive repair facilities. Nearly nine in
10 (89%) respondents say it is "very important" for them to be able to trust
the people who work there.
Three-quarters (76%) feel it is "very important" that a service center
explain things to them without making them feel foolish. And seven out of 10
(71%) want the employees at their service center to have undergone extensive
training.
Responding aggressively to restore consumer trust in automotive care,
Goodyear's Gemini stores will operate according to the guidelines of The
Motorist Assurance Program (MAP) -- an industry-wide coalition created to
build consistency and consumer confidence in the automotive repair industry.
In addition, Gemini Automotive Care Centers will feature customer-oriented
programs and amenities such as:
-- Highly trained and knowledgeable staff, committed to putting the
customer first by clearly and honestly presenting customers with the
information they need to make informed purchase decisions
-- Menu board display, prominently listing prices and services for
customers' comfort and convenience
-- Extended 12-month, 12,000 mile nationwide warranty
-- Service education displays, demonstrating the basics of car care
-- Tire wall display, detailing consumer benefits of specific Goodyear
tires
-- Customer-friendly waiting rooms
Gemini Automotive Care will launch an interactive Web site in September
1999. The site focuses on demystifying auto service while providing
maintenance and repair information and family entertainment. The Gemini Web
site can be accessed at http://www.gemini.goodyear.com . To find a Gemini Automotive
Care Center nearest you, log onto the Gemini web site or call toll-free at 1-
877-9GEMINI.
Gemini Automotive Care is The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's and its
automotive care groups' recognition of the need for the next generation in
auto care. With more than 1,700 independent dealer -- and Goodyear -- owned
locations, Gemini is the leading chain of automotive care centers in America.
(1) Bruskin Goldring Research surveyed 2,000 randomly selected U.S. households
the weekends of June 11-13 and 25-27, 1999. The survey was conducted on
behalf of Gemini Automotive Care Centers, from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company.