RUPES Announces Winner of 2018 Art of BigFoot Charity Contest
Swag Custom Rides of Connecticut wins the second annual custom tool painting contest
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- With tens-of-thousands of votes cast across various platforms and visibility to tens-of-millions of fans worldwide the 2018 Art of BigFoot Custom Painting Contest was another huge success for the Italian based manufacturer, RUPES. The premise of this now annual tradition is a collection of highly talented and well-known automotive painters are provided one of RUPES category leading BigFoot orbital polishers to customize as they please in a manner that best showcases their style and talents. The tools are then displayed at the USA's largest automotive aftermarket trade show, SEMA, where fans are encouraged to vote for their favorite using a variety of platforms including social media. In the end the entry with the most votes is crowned the winner, the artist is given a generous credit to outfit their shop with RUPES equipment plus a $3,000 cash donation to the charity of their choice.
In only its second year the RUPES Art of BigFoot competition was able to record nearly 30 million impressions online reaching an audience far beyond just the SEMA show where the tools are first shown. Through a variety of social media shares, local and national media coverage, and active campaigning by the artists themselves for votes the contest has taken on a life of its own.
"I never dreamed it would get as big as it has" says Dylan von Kleist, Marketing Manager for RUPES USA. "When I came up with the concept, I was surprised we could convince artists of this caliber to participate. Now I'm completely amazed at how far reaching it has become!" The contest includes such well known artists as Craig Fraser, Scott MacKay, and Steve Gibson all of whom have a reputation as some of the best airbrush artists and painters in the country.
Ultimately the team from Swag Custom Rides, a first-time participant in the contest, was able to campaign and leverage their followers to take home the top prize. Their entry, painted in a wild graffiti-like style, was done to match their 1977 Celica drift car project. It may not have only been the wild paint scheme that won over fans but the fact that the charity Swag Custom Rides was competing for was themselves.
Swag is a unique shop in that they are not only building custom cars, they are transforming lives by teaching young at-risk men and women a trade in the hopes that it can provide them a positive path for the future. The president and founder of Swag Custom Ride, John Muratori, was himself a runaway teen at one point and credits the car hobby with keeping him out of trouble. "At a volatile age when my future was in jeopardy – it was learning the art of customizing cars, painting and pin striping that provided my first salvation" says Muratori "This trade provided me a means of survival! Today, Swag provides the canvas of a vehicle in need of restoration as the opportunity of personal. We were honored to be invited by RUPES to participate in the contest as their equipment plays a vital role in the work we do here."
With their win in the 2018 Art of BigFoot competition the team from Swag Custom Rides will receive both the equipment credit and charity cash donation from RUPES to continue their mission of transforming lives.
The full gallery of tools will now find its way back to Colorado where it will be put on permanent display in the state-of-the-art RUPES training facility known as the BigFoot Detailing Academy. Photos of the tools from both the 2018 and 2017 competitions can be viewed online at rupesusa.com/artofbigfoot
You can find out more about Swag Custom Rides online at SwagRides.com or their social media channels. RUPES SpA and their US subsidiary, RUPES USA, can be found online at rupes.com and rupesusa.com respectively.
SOURCE RUPES
Share this article