From one email to WrestleMania: How Meineke entered the ring with WWE
Bradley Edwards shares how one cold email to WWE became a fan-fueled campaign that boosted engagement and gave one lucky franchisee a WrestleMania experience to remember.
When Bradley Edwards, a lifelong wrestling fan and Meineke’s Marketing Operations Lead, fired off a cold email to WWE, he didn’t have any expectations.
“I only wanted to see what was possible, but I wasn’t sure anything was going to come from it,” Bradley said.
In the end, that one email sparked a partnership that turned into one of Meineke’s most successful marketing campaigns to date.
After months of back-and-forth and strategic planning, Meineke launched a giveaway with a prize that packed a punch: eight tickets to WrestleMania (four for each night), awarded to one lucky fan, plus two additional tickets gifted to a Meineke franchisee.
“WWE’s demographic is almost identical to ours,” Bradley explained. “It was a chance to reach current and potential customers on a completely different medium and show that we’re willing to get creative.”
The initiative launched in January 2025 and culminated in April, just before WrestleMania. The submissions for the giveaway nearly doubled Meineke’s previous record for entries, with more than 72,000 entries.
The successful partnership was the result of a well-executed campaign, with Meineke leveraging existing marketing channels to maximize impact.
“We shipped promotional posters with our regular window kits to make it easy for us and the shops to receive materials,” said Bradley. “Plus, our texting partner, Chatter, hosted the giveaway link and added it to our customer follow-up messages to make it easy and accessible for customers.”
With a ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ philosophy, Bradley said they made sure to promote the giveaway across multiple channels instead of going all-in on one: “This WWE collab gave us a chance to touch every customer.”
A win for a franchise family
For Kristen Koloff, who works at her parents’ Meineke franchise location in Ham Lake, Minnesota, entering the WWE giveaway felt like just-for-fun wishful thinking. But then came the unexpected call from her dad, a longtime Meineke franchisee.
“He asked what I was doing next week and said, ‘Wanna go to Vegas for WrestleMania?’ I thought he was joking at first,” Kristen recalled.
This was their first time traveling to a WWE event, and from the moment they stepped off the plane, the experience did not disappoint.
“The seats were amazing. We were right by the floor with no one in front of us,” Kristen said. “And everything was planned so well. There was even a guy waiting for us at baggage claim with our name on a sign, like something out of a movie.”
Although the club-level seats were a highlight, for Kristen, the true highlight of the trip was sharing the experience with her father.
“We’ve always loved watching wrestling together, so to get to do this, especially something we’ve talked about for years, made it extra special,” she said. “Meineke really took care of us. I felt like they thought of everything,” she added. “It made me proud to be part of this company.”
Bringing the hype to the Meineke convention
While Bradley loved giving one lucky customer and franchisee the experience of a lifetime, he was even more excited about the final element of the partnership: bringing WrestleMania to the 2025 Meineke Convention.
WWE Superstar Sheamus made an appearance at the company’s annual convention in June. Attendees had the chance to participate in a photo-op and meet-and-greet with the wrestler.
“It’s our way of saying thanks to our franchisees,” Bradley said. “This campaign was about more than reaching customers. It was about bringing some fanfare to the people behind the brand, too.”
What’s next
Looking ahead, Bradley hopes this giveaway is only the beginning.
“Nothing’s locked in yet, but I’d love to do another collaboration with WWE in the future,” Bradley explained. “It also opens the door to other unconventional partnerships that appeal to our fanbase that we maybe haven’t tried before.”
No matter what lies ahead for Meineke, the WWE giveaway proved that bold moves and a little fandom can go a long way in the world of marketing.