Over 500 hear 2011 TAFF Award winners named

Over 500 guests filled the King’s suite at the Birmingham Metropole hotel last night (20 October 2011) as members and guests alike celebrated recorded attendance at the 82nd National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) annual dinner and Tyre and Fast Fit Awards (TAFF). After announcing the winners NTDA chairman David White used his speech to announce the news that the association has decided to make its REACT licence to fit qualification mandatory for members. According to the chairman, this decision was agreed in the association board meeting that preceded the evening dinner. David White continued his chairman’s speech by highlighting the newly launched “proMOTe” pro-MOT campaign, which sees the industry galvanise its energies against government plans to move the ministry of transport testing system to 4-2-2 frequency and away from annual tests. There was also talk of the winter tyre market growing to the point that it is now a significant fixture in the UK market. And finally the NTDA chairman announced that Westlake and Infinity have become the first two tyre manufacturers to commit to next year’s Brityrex 2012 exhibition.

But without wishing to denigrate the important of any of these things, for many in the tyre industry the TAFF awards have become something of the main event with businesses up and down the country doing their utmost to put their best feet forward when it comes to voting time. So without any further ado, here’s a summary of this year’s winners.

And the winner is…

First off, the Environment Award was given to Vellco Tyre Control and collected on behalf of the company by John Campbell. The award was won in a field that this  year included a high proportion of new tyre manufacturers (Continental Tyre Group, Michelin Tyre and Yokohama HPT) as well as well-known independent retreader Bandvulc Tyres Ltd.

In the Tyre Manufacturer of the Year category Pirelli Tyres UK won out with the popular vote, beating last years champion in a category that included previous winners Bridgestone, Michelin Tyre and Continental Tyre Group as well as newly nominated Hankook Tyre UK.

Despite losing in the manufacturing category, Hankook will no doubt take pleasure in the fact that its cross media marketing activities (including a significant investment in television advertising) was enough in the eyes of industry voters to secure the Tyre Advertising Award. Continental Tyre Group, Infinity Tyres Europe, Michelin Tyres and Pirelli Tyre UK were all nominated for this award too.

The 2011 Tyre and Aftermarket Supplier of the Year went to Autogem Motor Concepts, a company that has made great efforts to improve awareness and supply of TPMS components and servicing. Autogem, which was also nominated for this reason in the Innovation Award, had to score more votes than Apaseal Ltd, Euro Car Parts, Harvie Tyres Ld and Rema Tip Top Automotive Ltd to win.

Arguably the most competitive category in the TAFF Awards, this year’s Tyre Wholesaler of the Year battle was once again hard fought. However, Stapleton’s clinched it in the end for the second year in the row. However, you can expect remaining finalists B.I.T.S., Bond International, Grouptyre, Micheldever Tyre Services and Viking International to compete all the more for next year’s title.

In addition to the categories that were decided by popular vote, the winners of two awards were decided by an expert panel from across the tyre business. This year’s Innovation Award went to Ram-Rod for its uniquely patented tyre inflation safety cage, which is distributed by Rema TipTop. In order to attain this prize, Ram-Rod’s innovation had to fend off competing cleverness from Autogem (for its supply, training and service concept); Apaseal (for its Master Code tyre changer); Toyota (for its pro-active stance on communicating tyre safety and performance characteristics in a new POS campaign); and Goodyear and Conti (for a total of three of the two tyre manufacturers latest designs).

Finally the Tyre Retailer of the Year award went to Pilgrim Tyres Ltd (a HiQ member from Plymouth). In order to win the award supported by Encircle Marketing, Pilgrim Tyres had to beat off nationwide competition on a 30-point mystery telephone call, followed by a clandestine branch visit including a service scenario designed to observe how the branch worked in real-life conditions. Strong showing in all these counts ensured that Pilgrim went away victorious in the inaugural year of this new award.

Related news:

• TAFF Award nominations announced

• Stapleton’s celebrates winning tyre sector ‘Oscar’ for second year running

• HiQ calls TAFF Retailer win its “biggest success” of 2011

• Hankook wins TAFF ‘Industry Advertising’ Award