Firestone Ads Seek to Win Back Customers
With its massive tire recall behind it, Bridgestone/Firestone said Thursday that it hopes to pull its battered tire business out of a slump with its most expensive ad campaign ever, which debuts today.
The print and broadcast ads will carry the slogan “Making it Right” and focus on restoring consumer confidence in Firestone tires. Some 6.5 million of its tires were recalled because of tread separation problems blamed for more than 170 deaths, mostly involving Ford Motor Co.’s Explorer sport-utility vehicles.
“With the recall and inquiry into the root cause complete, our goal is now to regain customers’ trust,” Bridgestone/Firestone Executive Vice President Shu Ishibashi told The Times in a telephone interview. “This is our top commitment and we want to make it clear to American consumers.”
Ford, meanwhile, claimed a major legal victory in a case that could help it close the book on last year’s crisis over accidents involving the Explorer, the country’s best-selling SUV. In a verdict handed down late Wednesday, a Texas jury found no inherent faults in the Explorer’s design, despite allegations that design defects may have contributed to rollover accidents.
Firestone’s Ishibashi would not say how much the ad campaign will cost, but he said it is the biggest ever by the tire maker. Advertising Age magazine estimated the ad campaign to cost about $30 million.
Starting in May, ads will feature legendary race-car drivers Mario and Michael Andretti expressing confidence in the Firestone brand and stressing proper tire maintenance.
In an encouraging sign, first-quarter sales of original equipment and replacement Bridgestone/Firestone tires outpaced those of the fourth quarter, Ishibashi said.
The company has been surveying 2,000 consumers monthly since the recall, Ishibashi said. “Yes, our brand has suffered damage, but every month it’s getting better,” he said. He would not give market share figures and did not have data from the surveys, but he said the number of respondents saying they would consider buying Firestone tires increased every month in the first quarter.
Ten-thousand Firestone dealers and company-owned stores also will take part in a tire awareness program, distributing 2.5 million tire-pressure gauges free.
In the Texas case against Ford, the tires were not an issue. But tire-related rollovers raised questions about alleged design flaws in the Explorer, which Ford denied.
The trial in Hunt County, Texas, involved a 1997 crash in which two men died when their Explorer rolled over after swerving to avoid another vehicle, according to Ford spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes. She said the trial set an important legal precedent for Ford because it was the first time a jury had been asked to rule on the Explorer’s design.
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Reuters was used in compiling this report.
