[Don Keefe]

The Cruisin’ Tigers GTO Club Announce a New Name and a New Marketing Partnership With Keefe Media International


In a move intended to help bring the entire Pontiac enthusiast community together, The Cruisin’ Tigers GTO Club announced that it has changed its name to The Cruisin’ Tigers Pontiac Club, an independent national organization that has opened membership for enthusiasts of all Pontiac cars built from 1926-2010.

“The objective is to bring in the next generation Pontiac enthusiast and to that end, its time for a rebranding of the club,” said Randall Ray, Cruisin’ Tigers Pontiac Club President. “It's also time to share the strong roots and structure we already have with the rest of the Pontiac hobby. The strength we already have will now come full circle so all Pontiac enthusiasts can join and participate in all of our activities.”

The Cruisin’ Tigers have also teamed up with Keefe Media International, which will bring a new and revamped version of their popular Poncho Perfection magazine to the Cruisin’ Tigers Pontiac Club. The updated magazine will become a bi-monthly publication with expanded pages and a classified ad section. On alternating months, KMI will publish the Cruisin’ Tigers Pontiac Club’s Tiger News, which will be formatted in a similar fashion to Poncho Perfection but more focused on the club and activities and the same classified ad format.

“We have been looking for a way to further extend our reach into the entire Pontiac enthusiast market and at the same time find a partner whose vision of bridging the younger generations was in lockstep with ours,” said Don Keefe, Founding Editor-in-Chief of Poncho Perfection magazine and President of Keefe Media International. “We have covered their events in our magazine since the beginning and found them to be positive influences in the Pontiac hobby.” He added, “We were thrilled to take on this new opportunity, which we believe will help move the Pontiac hobby into the next generation of enthusiasts.”

One aspect of the club that won’t change is its charitable activities focusing on children's charities both throughout the year and during the holidays. Most of the profits from the Indian Uprising go directly to the charities.

“We are a well-organized group with term-limited officers, directors and many staff members adhering to a well-structured document of by-laws,” Ray explained. “Our focus is on family in two regards-our activities are always family orientated and our membership acts as if it were one big family.”

“The club will celebrate their 30th Anniversary in 2019 and we are proud to partner up with such a forward-thinking and growth-oriented organization,” Keefe added. “Those who already subscribe to Poncho Perfection will not only get their 12 issues (now extended over two years) but they will also receive Tiger News for the same time period, as they now all automatically become Cruisin’ Tigers Pontiac Club members. We couldn’t be happier because this is the beginning of a new era for the Pontiac enthusiast of any type.”

[Old Blue 66]

Join The Cruisin' Tigers Pontiac Club today with special Test Drive membership. Only $10.00

[Old Blue 66]

I just realized I never added the link to this press release and membership.

https://cruisintigers.com/cruisin-ti...ouncement.html

[GT182]

Congrats Don on teaming up with The Cruisin’ Tigers GTO Club. :thumbup"

[gtohurstjudge]

Let me get this straight Don...........Both GTOAA and POCI are struggling with declining membership numbers due to the aging of the Pontiac enthusiasts
and the fact that Pontiacs aren't manufactured anymore, and your solution to fix this problem is to further dilute the available membership pool of Pontiac Club enthusiasts by adding a third national club. This sure sounds like sour grapes
for being relieved of your duties as Editor of Smoke Signals............From me you get a gigantic thumbs way way way way way down.

[unruhjonny]

I will not lie, this more or less nails what I was thinking:

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

Let me get this straight ...........Both GTOAA and POCI are struggling with declining membership numbers due to the aging of the Pontiac enthusiasts and the fact that Pontiacs aren't manufactured anymore, and your solution to fix this problem is to further dilute the available membership pool of Pontiac Club enthusiasts by adding a third national club...

Don't get me wrong, I wish you well, and I wish the 'cruising Tigers club' well, but I am still scratching my head here...

Good luck!

[Don Keefe]

No sour grapes, Winston. I was actually interviewing with other magazines before my contract ended because I knew that I had gone as far with them as I was going to. After nine years, I was ready for a change, though I did put in a proposal that was completely on my terms. I figured that if it wasn't accepted, it was just as well.

The truth is that the declining membership of many clubs is even more about not welcoming younger members in. The GTOAA is aware of this and I applaud their efforts to turn it around. Tom Oxler was a very good president and Vic Schreck is continuing on in the same positive direction. The Trans Am Nationals organizers get it too. The problem was that both of these organizations do not cover the entire Pontiac hobby. I have never gone on record with any negative comments about my former client and I am not going to start now. The fact remains that the Cruisin' Tigers have a positive, open and welcoming attitude towards ALL Pontiacs and their owners. It's one thing to say you do but another to actually do it. I wish my former client well but the hobby is moving on.

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

I will not lie, this more or less nails what I was thinking:

Don't get me wrong, I wish you well, and I wish the 'cruising Tigers club' well, but I am still scratching my head here...

Good luck!

Ill see if I can help here.

The Indian Uprising All Pontiac Weekend is super successful for us. Cars come from all over the country (including Canada) and we're planning on 700 Pontiacs for 2019. It's just this simple - we host an all Pontiac event, why not open our club to all Pontiacs. We already have 30 years of club structure behind us. Let's use it.

As a GTO club, we really hadn't seen any significant growth in years. The GTO as a single focus model for a regional car club hosting such a big event just wasn't effective. And a change had to be made. At least now we can count on moving forward with new members from all generations.

There isn't a secret plan here. Many of our long-time current members belong to other clubs and we will encourage them to remain as such.

As the press release says, The Cruisin' Tigers have a bit of a different focus than other clubs. One of them is charity. Most of the proceeds from the Indian Uprising go to children's charities. Our event has no formal judging. Its a level playing field with just two classes. Its more of a celebration of the hobby than anything else. If you ask anyone that comes to our show, its a well organized event with a family like feel.

The feedback from the hobby about this change from hobbyist to our long-time sponsors has been very positive which enhances our excitement about the future.

If there's anyone that would like to chat about this, PM and we'll set some time aside to talk.

[ponchjoe]

Guys, I have a different perspective so take it as you will. I believe as a society it is not a thing to be in a club any longer. The Elks, Kiwanis, Lions, or whatever club you can think of is suffering from the same stigma. In our society’s current state and the fact that our youth won’t even commit to buy a car or house, you cannot expect them to commit to a club. I believe this will continue to decline as us older guys head off to our final big car show.
Again, just my .02 but I wish you the best of luck.