In the spirit of the groundbreaking marketing efforts that have become a Mohawk hallmark, particularly for new products, the company has partnered with the Tough Mudder challenge, which includes as many as 12 miles of obstacles over a muddy, rugged terrain at different locales held nationally throughout the year.
Mohawk had a strong presence at the recent World’s Toughest Mudder challenge, held in Las Vegas last month. This particular challenge culminates the yearlong Tough Mudder series with a 100-mile course completed over two days. Participants have 24 hours to complete as many laps on the course as possible. Toughest Mudder awards are given to one man, one woman and one team. Featured on the Las Vegas course were two pieces of SmartStrand Forever Clean—one where the participants camped for the night and the other at the end of Mud Mile, the muddiest portion of the challenge—with the Tough Mudder logo, proving the product’s durability and resistance to dirt and wear. The 12 x 20 piece on the Mud Mile was brought to Solutions with a steam-cleaned X celebrating SmartStrand’s 10th anniversary and serving as proof that Forever Clean is, in fact, the “toughest, easiest to clean carpet on the planet.”
To continue the branding message, Mohawk will participate in additional Tough Mudder events throughout the year. “It feels good to ‘come clean’ about carpet cleanability,” said David Duncan, Mohawk’s senior vice president of marketing and sales operations. “The easy connection with us and Tough Mudder is certainly the product and the challenge, but the other thing we love is the experiences of the people who participate. By partnering with Tough Mudder we have the opportunity to promote our brand and our product on the obstacle course. We will share the results in videos and social media posts that our Aligned retailers can use as well. In addition, we offer Aligned retailers event kits with everything they need to hold events in their local markets and at their stores.”
Will Dean, CEO of Tough Mudder, agreed that the partnership with Mohawk is valuable and helps in community efforts for both organizations. “I’ve been informed that despite our best efforts to destroy this material and get it covered in mud in a way that would make my mother’s hair turn gray, we’re going to be able to clean it,” Dean said. “The [Mohawk] team has been awesome to work with. We’re excited about it; we’re building community. It’s very important to me as we build this company that we have fun along the way, and we remember why we’re doing it. I’m thrilled to be working with these guys because they embody everything that we think of as being part of the spirit of Tough Mudder”