Tsunami Express Car Wash
Case Study
Market Strategy
Experience Design
Fueling growth for a rapidly expanding car wash business.
NEWaukee has partnered with Tsunami Express Car Wash for multiple years as its lead creative, customer experience, and growth marketing partner. What began as support for a seven-location regional operator has evolved into a strategic partnership powering brand, customer experience, and marketing execution across a 75+ location platform following a major acquisition in 2025.
Today, NEWaukee serves as the central creative and customer experience engine for Tsunami Express—supporting everything from always-on advertising and lifecycle marketing to brand transitions, product launches, training materials, and cross-channel campaign execution at scale.
Background
Tsunami Express Car Wash is a platform business focused on building and acquiring express car wash brands across the Midwest. The company leverages modern technology, data-driven decision-making, and a membership-first model to compete in a rapidly consolidating retail category.
When Tsunami Express first engaged NEWaukee, the brand operated seven locations across Wisconsin and Indiana, with aggressive plans to expand through both new builds and acquisitions. Growth required more than marketing—it demanded a scalable, consistent customer experience and a partner capable of growing alongside the organization.
In 2025, Tsunami Express completed a major strategic acquisition, accelerating its footprint to more than 75 locations. NEWaukee played a key role in supporting this transition, ensuring brand consistency, customer clarity, and marketing momentum throughout a period of rapid change.
“As a rapidly scaling start-up we needed to find nimble, self-starters for marketing partners. NEWaukee continues to exceed expectations. Going beyond just events and creative (which they’re also great at), the team at NEWaukee has become thought-leaders on our business. Delivering business results with data-driven paid marketing, consumer engagement, and lifecycle marketing solutions, while taking care to optimize our investments. We look forward to having NEWaukee as a part of our business for a long time to come.”
Engagement Challenge
Tsunami Express needed a marketing and customer experience partner that could:
Scale with a fast-growing organization
Maintain brand and experience consistency across dozens of locations
Educate consumers on the value of express washes and unlimited memberships
Manage increasing media complexity across markets, platforms, and vendors
Support frequent product launches, promotions, and operational changes
Act as a centralized creative and strategic resource across teams
As internal teams expanded, including the addition of a dedicated field marketing group, Tsunami Express required a partner that could seamlessly integrate, coordinate, and keep marketing execution moving forward without friction.
Engagement Solution
Over time, NEWaukee has become an extension of the Tsunami Express organization, owning end-to-end creative and customer experience strategy while coordinating execution across channels, vendors, and internal teams. Our work includes:
Customer Experience & Brand Leadership
Auditing and reimagining the onsite and digital customer experience across locations
Serving as the strategic partner for all things customer experience as the brand scales
Developing and maintaining brand standards, messaging frameworks, and creative systems
Supporting acquisition-related brand transitions with new creative, communications, and training materials
Creative Production at Scale
Producing all core brand creative across digital, onsite, OOH, radio, CTV, OLV, and social
Managing a high volume of creative output, including multiple always-on digital campaigns refreshed quarterly, monthly social media content calendars, plus limited-time offers and promotions
Capturing and producing photo, video, and motion assets used across paid, owned, and in-store channels
Media Strategy, Planning & Oversight
Leading media strategy and planning across a rapidly expanding footprint
Managing and coordinating relationships with performance agencies and media vendors across channels including digital, radio, TV, and CTV
Ensuring consistency, efficiency, and accountability as media scale increases alongside location growth
Lifecycle Marketing & Product Launches
Strategizing and deploying SMS and lifecycle campaigns to drive visits, upgrades, and retention
Supporting major product rollouts, including the T2 with Graphene wash and the launch of the Tsunami Express mobile app
Aligning lifecycle messaging with promotions, seasonal needs, and operational realities
Program & Account Management
Managing a complex, always-on brand calendar spanning promotions, launches, creative refreshes, and media deadlines
Acting as a central hub for project management across stakeholders, vendors, and internal teams
Providing strategic recommendations on new offers, sales, and campaigns, then ensuring execution stays on track across the organization
