Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, an American multinational tyre manufacturing company, has unveiled life-size sculptures of the team mascots of the University of Wisconsin (UW) and the Western Michigan University(WMU) in the US.
The sculptures, made from over 500 Goodyear tyres, were created to honour the hard work, determination and grit that the universities exhibited to reach the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. The Cotton Bowl Classic is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually since January 1, 1937 and has been sponsored by the Akron, Ohio-based tyre company since 2014.
Standing over six ft tall and weighing up to 400 lbs each, the sculptures were unveiled in Dallas, Texas with special guest and Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame member, Keyshawn Johnson.
The mascot artwork will be gifted to the schools after the 2017 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic kick-off game on January 2 at AT&T Stadium.
“The hard-fought drive and effort of the Wisconsin and Western Michigan players, coaches and fans to make it to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic is something we are proud to recognise through this artwork,” said Seth Klugherz, Goodyear’s director of North America marketing.
“Creating these unique sculptures – made entirely of tyres – is an authentic extension of Goodyear’s pride for our role in college football, and the perfect way to congratulate these great teams and build excitement for the game,”Klugherz added.
Goodyear worked with tyre artist Blake McFarland to handcraft the one-of-a-kind sculptures in the likeness of Wisconsin’s mascot, Bucky Badger, and the Western Michigan Bronco, which required 925 ft of tyre rubber to build.
“It’s an honor to bring together my two passions, tyre art and athletics, to create these sculptures on behalf of an iconic brand like Goodyear for an equally iconic bowl game like the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic,” said McFarland, whose team spent 300 hours building the sculptures in San Jose, California.
“Goodyear is deeply invested in college football and in enhancing the bowl game experience for fans, as evidenced by the brand’s out-of-the-box thinking on how to honour the University of Wisconsin and Western Michigan University with tyre art that will be a highlight of this week’s celebratory events,” said Michael Konradi, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic chief marketing officer.
The event was part of Goodyear’s college football marketing program celebrating Blimp worthy attributes that embody what it takes to win and succeed – hard work, determination and grit.