A Brand Revival & Growth Proposal · Prepared by Ernie Manansala · EMA & Associates
The lights that raised a generation deserve a generation that knows their name.
PIAA built its legend on rally stages, race podiums, and the fog lamps every enthusiast of the 90s and 2000s dreamed about. That legend is intact. The audience just moved — from magazines to YouTube. This is the plan to meet them there and take the category back.
"I've been a PIAA fan since I was a kid. The Super White bulbs, the yellow ion fogs, the rally cars carrying PIAA pods through the night — that was the brand. Today I'm a stage rally driver, road racer, and drifter, finally putting my own success on track. And I've spent 20+ years building revenue for the exact companies that compete in, supply, and distribute this category. I know PIAA's legacy. I know the market's gaps. And I know precisely how to bring this brand back to where it belongs."
Section 2 — Background & Course of Performance
Why Ernie: Two decades inside the aftermarket
20+ yrs aftermarket
Revenue ops, marketing leadership, BizDev across automotive, motorsports, and consumer.
SEMA veteran
Show activations, booth strategy, MPMC relationships, deep manufacturer/WD/media network.
NOS Energy Drink
Brand + campaign at the intersection of energy drinks and car culture.
Baja Designs
Worked with the brand pre-transformation, through Bestop era + acquisition. Personal friendship with CEO. Watched a lighting brand become the category's premium leader — that playbook is transferable.
TYPE S Lighting (~3 yrs)
Drove the consumer lighting program including Project X — retail lighting to enthusiast credibility.
Vision X · Rigid
Direct relationships with both. Deep familiarity with industrial/fleet and race-sponsorship motion from the inside.
Live case — verified July 10, 2026
CORSA Performance on Meta — the receipts
Not a deck slide. A running purchase-optimized system in the performance-parts category, pulled from Ads Manager the day of writing.
Trailing 12 months · headline window
Meta-attributed · in-platformTrailing 12 months
The headline
- Spend
- $253,081
- Revenue
- $3.44M
- Purchases
- 2,710
Last 90 days
Proves it's current
- Spend
- $70,977
- Revenue
- $899K
- Purchases
- 728
Lifetime (since Jun 2023)
Proves it's durable
- Spend
- $733,710
- Revenue
- —
- Purchases
- —
- Impressions
- 107.7M
- Clicks
- 2.05M
[Insert] Ads Manager screenshot — 12-mo view (spend / ROAS / purchases)
Source: CORSA Performance Meta Ads Manager, pulled July 10, 2026. Revenue and ROAS are Meta-attributed (in-platform). Meta does not report ROAS beyond the attribution window at lifetime range. Account-level figures shown with client permission; where permission is pending they'll be presented as "12–13x sustained ROAS in performance parts."
Kolab Agency · Performance marketing portfolio
The system, on a roster of aftermarket brands
Same discipline, different logos. Featured cases below; full roster underneath.
Exhaust · T3
CORSA Performance
Live purchase-optimized Meta system, 12-month trailing window
Brake · Enthusiast
Hawk Performance
Prospecting → retargeting stack across Meta + Google Shopping
Performance · Heritage
KOOKS Headers
Legacy-brand modernization playbook — parallel to PIAA's lane
Full roster
[Insert] Brand logo wall — Kolab roster (PNG/SVG marks)
The driver's seat, not just the boardroom
Stage rally driver. Road racer. Drifter. I don't market lighting from a desk — I run it at speed, at night, in the dust. Exactly the authenticity this category demands, and exactly what PIAA's rally heritage deserves in a partner.
[Insert] Photo strip — rally car, road race, drift car, SEMA booth
Section 3 — Industry Audit
The market is growing. PIAA's share of voice is not.
- Automotive LED lighting market: $15.1B (2025) → $20.1B (2031), with the aftermarket channel growing fastest (5.5–8.9% CAGR depending on source — Mordor Intelligence / Grand View Research).
- Off-road auxiliary lighting segment: directional estimates of ~$3.4B by 2030 (~8.4% CAGR).
- Powersports is the growth engine: SEMA is adding a dedicated Powersports/SxS Pavilion in 2026, and lighting (bars + pods) ranks among the top UTV accessory categories per SEMA research.
- SEMA 2024 Market Report: ~50% of accessorizers are under 40; 47% research parts via social media or online video. The buyer moved. The magazines died. YouTube is the new Petersen's.
The market moved
The category grows near double digits — growth is going to whoever owns the audience.
Share of voice: Instagram followers
PIAA is 15–38x smaller in social audience than every premium competitor — and 5x smaller than the Amazon budget tier. This is not a demand problem. It's a presence problem.
Competitor audit
| Brand | Niche | Ownership | IG | Marketing Motion | Distribution | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baja Designs | Desert race / ADV / UTV premium ("Scientists of Lighting") | PE — Kinderhook (via Bestop) | 415K | Race contingency, Team BD ambassadors, Dakar/KOH/SCORE wins | DTC + dealers + WD | PE-owned; race-first, thinner street story |
| KC HiLiTES | Heritage offroad + overland lifestyle | Family-owned | 327K | Best-in-class: exclusive Donut partnership (9M+ subs), tiered "KC Family" ambassador program, Toyota/Ford SEMA builds, pop-culture equity | DTC + dealers + Amazon/RealTruck | Locked into offroad/overland lane; street/rally/moto open |
| Morimoto | Street/OEM-plus headlights, retrofits | Hoonigan (post-Ch.11 2024) | 326K | Product/design-led, dealer/installer channel | Hoonigan WD + DTC | Parent-company turbulence; no race program |
| Rigid Industries | Offroad race + utility; invented modern light bar | Clarience Technologies | 312K | Mint 400 + UNLTD series sponsor, athlete racers | Corporate WD muscle + DTC | Small line inside a commercial-vehicle conglomerate |
| Diode Dynamics | Street/truck engineering-led, USA-made | Independent founder-led | 222K | Photometric proof content, forum-native, open 5% ambassador/affiliate program | DTC + Meyer | Engineering voice > lifestyle voice; limited motorsport heritage |
| Oracle Lighting | Show/RGB/halo street | Independent | 163K | SEMA awards + PR cadence, 9× Inc. 5000 | WD + Amazon + DTC | Show niche, not performance credibility |
| Vision X | Industrial/mining/fleet | Amotiv (AUS) | ~minimal | B2B spec-sheet | Fleet/OEM/WD | Nearly invisible to enthusiasts |
| Hella | OE-heritage Euro aux (Rallye 4000) | Forvia | low | Legacy catalog only | Traditional WD | No US enthusiast motion |
| Lazer Star | Powersports/moto niche USA-made | Family-owned | small | Minimal | Powersports WD | Sub-scale |
| Heretic Studio | UTV/SxS premium billet | Independent | 35K | UTV-scene organic | UTV specialty e-tail | Single-segment |
| Auxbeam / Amazon tier | Budget bars/pods | Chinese mfr | 53–61K | Price + Amazon reviews | Amazon | No trust, no photometrics |
| PIAA | Street/rally/moto aux + bulbs, wipers, horns | Ichikoh → Valeo | 11K | Dormant: racing page still lists programs defunct since 2016–17; WRC/Dakar supply relationships unactivated in US | Legacy WD (AAM Group), Amazon/CARiD, moto e-tail; weak DTC | The sleeping giant — everything below fixes this |
Revenue estimates for private competitors range $10–50M each (ZoomInfo/Owler-class estimates — order of magnitude only, flagged as estimates).
Positioning map
PIAA is the only brand with elite heritage and zero digital activation — alone in the top-left quadrant. The arrow of this entire proposal points right.
The whitespace nobody owns
Street / rally / JDM-nostalgia creator lane
KC owns offroad-lifestyle. Baja owns desert race. Diode owns engineering proof. Nobody owns the 90s–2000s rally + sport-compact nostalgia wave (Radwood-era builds, retro rally, overland 80-Series Cruisers) — and PIAA is the only brand with authentic period equity there. Yellow ion fogs are a cultural artifact.
Powersports / UTV
The fastest-growing segment (SEMA 2026 pavilion), contested only by Baja, Rigid, and tiny Heretic. PIAA has UTV/ATV SKUs and zero scene presence. Watching what KC has done proves lifestyle presence converts — the same play is open in powersports.
Motorcycle / ADV
PIAA's Suzuka 8 Hours history and existing moto dealer distribution (Dennis Kirk et al.) is a defensible flank the truck-first big three ignore.
Unactivated global motorsport assets
PIAA already supplies Toyota Gazoo WRC and HRC Dakar. World-class sponsorship equity — invisible in US channels. Cheapest win in this entire document.
Rally is unclaimed
ARA livestreams all 8 national rounds; DirtFish is growing the sport; night stages are literally a lighting showcase. No lighting brand has planted a flag.
Section 4 — The Strategy
Legacy forward
"PIAA — Proven Since 1963. Back on Every Stage."
Remind
Reactivate the legacy. Heritage content, the WRC/Dakar supply story, the bulbs everyone grew up on. Nostalgia is the hook that earns attention cheaply.
Reintroduce
Innovation + new use cases. Powersports/UTV, ADV moto, overland, rally night stages, modern LED line. Show the legend competing in today's categories.
Rebuild
Own the audience. YouTube-first influencer engine + purchase-optimized paid social + WD/dealer enablement = compounding demand machine.
Three pillars, in order of operations.
Section 5 — Growth Engine 1
Digital advertising: the case study system
The exact system running on CORSA Performance and the aftermarket roster, applied to PIAA — Meta first, then Google/YouTube.
Meta / Instagram
60% of paid budget- Campaign 1 — Prospecting | Purchase-optimized | Advantage+ | broad + enthusiast stacks (offroad, overland, rally, powersports, moto)
- Campaign 2 — Retargeting | site visitors, engagers, video viewers 25%+ | dynamic product ads on the catalog
- Campaign 3 — Creator Whitelisting | run ads through influencer handles (the highest-CTR unit in this category)
- Creative cadence: 6–10 new assets/month, product-led + heritage-led + creator UGC; kill/scale on CTR + CPR trends (the CORSA discipline)
- All creative delivered in 1080x1080 feed + 1080x1920 Stories/Reels with safe-zone compliance for maximum placement inventory
Google / YouTube
30%- Brand + high-intent search ("fog lights [vehicle]", "PIAA LP530", competitor conquesting)
- Shopping/PMax on catalog
- YouTube in-stream cut-downs of creator content against enthusiast channels
Amazon presence defense
10%- Sponsored Products on own listings to stop budget-tier bleed while DTC ramps
Budget scenarios (monthly media)
Prove
$15K/mo
90-day view: Validate CPR/ROAS by segment; build retargeting pools; 2–3 winning creative concepts
Grow
$35K/mo
90-day view: Scale winners, launch creator whitelisting, conquest campaigns
Dominate
$75K+/mo
90-day view: Category share-of-voice leadership + powersports expansion
KPI targets set after a 2-week baseline: blended ROAS floor 2.5–3.5x DTC (category-typical for premium parts at these AOVs), CPL targets for dealer-locator markets. Targets finalized against PIAA's actual AOV/margin data in Phase 1 — stated as method, not promise.
The acquisition flywheel
PIAA Demand Engine
Section 6 — Growth Engine 2
The influencer program (YouTube-first)
The demographic went from magazines to YouTube — the top ~20 automotive channels hold 80M+ combined subscriptions, more than the entire enthusiast print category at its peak. KC proved the model works in lighting. We run a sharper version in the lanes KC can't touch.
→ Every layer feeds paid media with whitelisted creative
Layer 1 — Marquee (1–2 exclusive deals, $100–500K/yr)
Anchor partnerships with top-tier channels. Donut is exclusive to KC in offroad lighting — the street/rally/performance lighting lane remains open, and our existing relationships in the YouTube space (Donut network and beyond) let us negotiate the right marquee seat. Candidates by fit:
| Channel | Subs | Niche | PIAA Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donut | 9.3M | Car culture | Street/rally lane (offroad locked to KC) |
| CBoysTV | 5.3M | Powersports | UTV/snow/ATV line launch |
| Cleetus McFarland | 4.8M | Racing culture | Night racing, event lighting |
| Hoonigan | 5.9M | Motorsport/rally culture | Rally heritage audience (negotiate carefully post-Ch.11) |
| ChrisFix | 11.1M | DIY install | Headlight/fog upgrade how-tos |
Layer 2 — Ambassador tier (8–12 creators + racers, product + fee + event access)
| Channel | Subs | Niche | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| TrailRecon | 674K | Jeep/overland install reviews | Best pound-for-pound fit; high-trust install content |
| Matt's Off Road Recovery | 2.1M | Night recoveries | Organic lighting use case, wholesome trust |
| Fab Rats | 647K | Fabrication/recovery | Pairs with MORR network |
| Expedition Overland | 462K | Cinematic overland | Premium flagship storytelling |
| Team O'Neil Rally | ~400K | Rally instruction | Cheap, evergreen, dead-center heritage |
| Braydon Price | ~2.1M | ATV/moto powersports | Young powersports audience |
| Casey Currie | ~1M IG | Dakar winner (SxS) | Race validation ambassador |
| Independent street/JDM builders | — | Retro/rally builds | The nostalgia lane nobody owns |
Layer 3 — Open affiliate / UGC (unlimited, 5–10% commission)
Diode Dynamics-style open application: unique codes, forum-native recruiting (Tacoma World, Bronco6G, moto and UTV forums), beta-tester pipeline, annual "PIAA Family" event at SEMA. Community members drive direct sales through their audiences AND feed the paid system with whitelisted UGC.
Rally flag-plant (owned, cheap, unclaimed)
- ARA national series presence: night-stage lighting sponsorship + livestream integration (all 8 rounds streamed)
- Ernie's own rally program as a rolling content platform — the driver-founder story no competitor can copy
- Team O'Neil partnership: "driving at night" education content
Benchmarks
Auto YouTube CPMs run $15–30 (integrations) with automotive commanding a premium; price against median views, not subs (e.g., TrailRecon ≈ $5–15K/integration). Layer 1+2 combined program: $400–800K/yr at full scale, phased in from month 3.
Section 7 — Growth Engine 3
WD & dealer network enablement
Demand creation means nothing if the channel can't convert it. PIAA already sits in the AAM Group and legacy WD relationships — we make the channel sell.
WD audit & referrals
Map current coverage (AAM, Turn 14, Meyer, Keystone, powersports WDs like Tucker). Where gaps exist, I can make direct introductions to proven brokers — or we build the WD support program in-house.
Content armory for the channel
Every creator asset, product video, photometric comparison, and campaign cut delivered to WDs and jobbers in ready-to-use formats (their #1 unmet need — most manufacturers starve the channel of content).
Dealer co-op 2.0
Whitelisted geo-targeted ads run for top dealers; MAP-safe promo calendar; dealer-locator campaigns measured on CPL.
Motovicity-class relationships
I've run paid media for a WD — I know exactly what content moves product off their shelves.
Section 8 — The 120-Day Plan
Four phases. One flag planted.
Phase 1 — Foundation
Days 0–30
- Full audit: brand assets, catalog/AOV/margins, site conversion, Amazon presence, WD map, existing social
- Fix the store windows: refresh piaa.com racing/heritage pages (currently ~8 years stale), IG/YouTube channel setup, pixel/CAPI + GA4 + attribution stack
- Activate existing assets: Toyota Gazoo WRC / HRC Dakar supply story → first heritage content drop
- Meta account build (CORSA architecture), 2-week baseline spend live by day 21
- Open Layer-3 affiliate program (soft launch)
- KPI baseline locked
Phase 2 — Ignition
Days 31–60
- Paid scaling begins: kill/scale creative cadence running, retargeting pools building
- Sign first 4–6 Layer-2 ambassadors (TrailRecon-class + 1 rally + 1 powersports)
- First creator integrations live; whitelisting begins
- Heritage campaign #1: "Proven Since 1963" — retro fog-lamp nostalgia + modern LED line
- WD content armory v1 shipped to AAM Group partners
Phase 3 — Acceleration
Days 61–90
- Marquee negotiation closed (street/rally or powersports lane)
- Rally flag-plant: ARA night-stage activation + Ernie rally program content platform live
- Powersports line push: UTV creator seeding (CBoysTV-class), SEMA 2026 Powersports Pavilion booth committed
- Budget steps to Grow tier on validated ROAS
- Dealer co-op pilot in 3 markets
Phase 4 — Proof & Scale
Days 91–120
- Full-funnel review vs. KPI baseline: ROAS, CPR, social growth, share-of-voice movement
- Marquee content drops + paid amplification at scale
- SEMA plan locked: booth, PIAA Family event, press
- 12-month roadmap + budget presented to leadership with 120 days of data behind it
Day 21
First spend live
Day 45
First creator content
Day 75
Marquee signed
Day 120
Leadership review
KPI scoreboard
2.5–3.5x
Blended ROAS floor
0
IG followers — 120-day target
0
IG followers — today
Tracked vs. baseline
CPR / CPL
Tracked monthly
YouTube mentions / reach
Open pipeline
Affiliate signups
CPL-measured
Dealer-locator leads
vs. competitor set
Share-of-voice index
Plus WD sell-through (partner-reported) and share-of-voice movement against the Chart #2 competitor set.
Section 9 — Closing Argument
Why this wins
The market is moving
Growing 5–9%/yr and the buyer is under 40, on YouTube. PIAA's competitors already proved the playbook works — KC turned heritage + creators into category leadership.
The asset is untapped
PIAA is the only brand with elite heritage and zero digital activation. That's not a weakness — it's the single largest untapped asset in the category. Reviving a legend is a better story than building a startup, and stories are what creators amplify.
The operator matters
I've built purchase-optimized acquisition systems for CORSA, Hawk, KOOKS, ACT, BC Forged, BorgWarner and a WD (Motovicity). I've lived the lighting category through Baja Designs, TYPE S/Project X, Vision X, and Rigid relationships. I've walked SEMA for years, and I race — rally, road, drift — the exact disciplines PIAA's legacy was built on.
The lanes are open
Street/rally nostalgia, powersports, moto/ADV, and rally sponsorship are all unclaimed. KC can't leave its lane. Baja won't leave the desert. PIAA can own everything in between.
The Ask
A working session with PIAA leadership to walk this plan, align on tier and timeline, and start Phase 1.
emanansalajr@gmail.comErnie Manansala — Growth Architect & Fractional CMO