Marketing
Issue No. 34 - April/May 2007
Time for a change at Bridgestone
During the recent Clipsal 500 it was hard to miss — tyre manufacturer Bridgestone has one of the most visible brands in the country.
In that case, why engage marketing wizard Thomas de Masi of brand development consultancy de Masi Jones to do some rejigging? What was the problem?
“There was no problem as such, the Bridgestone brand is as strong in Australia as ever,” Tom says.
“The challenge for the recent evolution of the Bridgestone Tyre Centres into B-Select was to consider the future of tyre retailing in Australia and this is what Bridgestone wanted to achieve.
“So, in fact, our task was to work with them to create a standout tyre retailing brand that would resonate differently among Australians to the traditional offer of years gone by.”
Having done some forecasting and brainstorming Bridgestone had an idea where it was placed and where it wanted to go - but things weren’t quite that simple. Tom gives some insight as to how professional advisors to big firms work.
“We didn’t have to agree with Bridgestone’s self assessment, we worked as a team with them to address the marketing data and in-depth research that had been undertaken by the company over a long period of time,” Tom says.
“To support this we also undertook our own research.
“Every idea put forward to the Bridgestone team was considered and discussed and nothing was off limits.
“de Masi Jones was given enough facts and figures by senior members of the Bridgestone team to allow all of us make informed decisions and develop smart strategies and ideas to put forward.
“Those ideas would then be workshopped and the recommendations put forward, some in a visual context, some merely verbal.”
Distilling the essential messages from research through this process, de Masi Jones concluded it was time for some milestone changes.
“The overall market research provided by Bridgestone indicated t...
