JUNE 2, 2002

Bridgestone/Firestone does a deal with Indianapolis

IN these difficult times, the marketing men are looking for new ideas and it seems that the Bridgestone/Firestone tire company in the United States has come up with an interesting new idea with the signing of a multi-year licensing deal with Indianapolis Motor Speedway to put the logos of the Indianapolis 500 and IMS on its Firestone Firehawk range of tires - for sale to the general public.

Bridgestone/Firestone hopes to sell more tires because of the Indianapolis branding and IMS hopes to collect a royalty for ever tire sold. And that could be a decent sun of money as Bridgestone/Firestone are intending to sell half a million tires this year and 1.3m next year.

In addition to the royalty money, the Speedway will gain from a huge publicity campaign which is being planned for the tires by Bridgestone/Firestone with advertising on TV, radio, in newspapers and on billboards across the country.