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.

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.