“Our Olympic and Paralympic Partnership activities are global in nature, but managed locally in regions to create deeper connections”

With the ongoing Paris 2024, iSportConnect’s Taruka Srivastav spoke with Caitlyn Ranson, Senior Manager, Partnership Marketing, Bridgestone Americas to know more about Bridgestone’s global partnership with the International Olympic Committee.

What is the current strategy, vision and mission for Bridgestone in sports?

Our strategy for marketing needs to follow the strategy of our business. Right now, our business is complex and continues to evolve. In the past we may have focused on large ad campaigns that would push broad awareness to anyone who might want a tire. We have evolved to be much more targeted. This includes more deeply identifying the specific audiences and key markets we are trying to reach, the messages they can relate to, and the channels we use to connect with them. Increasingly through digital and social, we focus across multiple channels on the balance between the reason to buy our product and the reason to care about Bridgestone as a company to buy from. That’s the foundation of our “What Really Matters” brand platform, which focuses on making positive impacts on mobility, environment, and people.

Sports offer very dynamic and engaging ways for us to deliver this. Sports have the power to unite people across borders and backgrounds through inspiring journeys and personalities. They also have a passion for performance that links smoothly to our products. Through sports and partnership activation, we are creating content, experiences and campaigns that highlight both performance and the positive impact we can make on our customers and communities. A primary example of this is racing where we have a rich history with both the Bridgestone and Firestone brands. Motorsports are the ultimate proving grounds for our products, and increasingly they are a platform for advancing and showcasing sustainable materials and technologies that can help us create a better world for future generations. Similarly in golf, we focus on showcasing performance through our products, and we also drive community impact through partnership efforts to make golf more diverse and inclusive.

What is your (commercial / digital / marketing / content) strategy with regards to Paris 2024?

We think about someone’s first interaction with our brand and how to carry a positive experience consistently all the way through a potential purchase and then additional purchases. A consistently personal and positive connection through that journey builds brand loyalty, and we believe it creates a greater return on marketing investment. That’s why it’s important for there to be consistency in message, tone and visual identity whether we are talking about the inspiring athletes of the Olympic and Paralympic Games or the aspiring engineers in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.

With that in mind, our activities around the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 have been focused on the journeys of our athlete ambassadors and as they prepare to perform on the world’s biggest stage. Our global Team Bridgestone roster includes 40 athlete ambassadors from nine countries who will compete in more than 20 different sports. While we have core global principles, the partnerships are activated locally in the different markets to best connect with target audiences. These efforts include social and digital media platforms, multimedia content, our owned websites and channels, sales and marketing collaboration, and a whole lot more. In Europe we are also broadcast partners with Eurosport for their coverage of Paris 2024.

On particular note, we are also excited about the authentic story we have built with several Team USA Paralympians using our rubber equipment to advance their performance. So many adaptive athletes still make their own equipment because what they need may not truly exist, and also because what exists may not be designed to fit their unique needs. That motivated us to explore how our materials expertise and product technology could help improve the equipment they use for training and competition. This journey has created a very meaningful “What Really Matters” story related to accessibility in sport, and we have built out content with each of our Team USA Paralympians connecting their performance to our core products and values.

Who are your delivery partners and what is the scope of the collaboration?

We collaborate with a wide range of partners across our different business units and geographies to deliver our product and brand marketing strategies. Our Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partnership activities are global in nature, but managed locally in regions to create deeper connections in each market. We work with a robust combination of digital, social media, public relations, sports marketing, paid media, and brand strategy agencies. They all have central connectivity through our core “What Really Matters” platform and brand identify while offering different ideas and expertise depending on the geography and business.

What are the expansion plans for you to support individual sports?

As our business strategy evolves, our general platforms of engagement will also shift to ensure we remain aligned with our objectives. Racing is our passion – always has been, and always will be. That’s why sustainable motorsports are an area we will continue to explore in many ways. This will include advancing our materials, products and processes to move toward our long-term sustainability targets. It will also include identifying more like-minded racing platforms that are focused on driving innovation that can help create a more sustainable future. Of note, we are very excited to start as the new tire supplier for FIA Formula E starting in the 2026-27 season. Through all of our partnership activations, we will continue to focus on our values, our business, and our vision – which all center around performance and making a positive impact on our customers and communities. Then we will keep collaborating with people and platforms that make the message authentic, personal, and relatable to our different audiences.