Bridgestone Brand Reaches Out to Hispanic Audience
with Expanded Marketing Efforts
Miami, Fla. - (April 3, 2002) Bridgestone/Firestone
North American Tire, LLC (BFNT) (www.bridgestonetire.com)
today announced another step in its diversity marketing outreach efforts
by launching a Hispanic marketing campaign. The announcement was made
today from a regional "Drive & Learn" event the company
was hosting in the Miami area.
"We are extremely excited to extend our marketing efforts to reach
the growing Hispanic population within the United States. It seems especially
appropriate that we make our announcement from Miami where there is
such a vibrant Hispanic presence," said Shu Ishibashi, president
of Bridgestone/Firestone North American Consumer Tire Sales Group.
"We view marketing as an evolution and look
at the diversity markets as a way to continue to expand our audience
reach. As a company, we understand there are strengths from having a
diverse workforce and from serving a diverse customer base," Ishibashi
continued.
Bridgestone/Firestone launched
a Web site, www.neumaticosseguros.com,
last September to help consumers understand the importance of tire maintenance
and tire safety. Visitors to the site, which is the Spanish version
of the company's previously launched educational site, tiresafety.com,
can sign up for free email reminders on tire inflation. Prior to launching
tiresafety.com and neumaticosseguros.com, Bridgestone/Firestone also
published an informational brochure titled "Inflate, Rotate, Evaluate."
Those brochures, in English and Spanish, are available through Bridgestone/Firestone
retail locations nationwide.
"Whether our customers
are seeking new tires or tips on tire safety and maintenance, we want
to provide the information our customers request in a manner which reaches
them most effectively," said Ishibashi.
According to Internet and
Diversity Marketing Manager, Michael Fluck, "The majority of our
advertising directed toward the Hispanic population begins in April
and will continue throughout 2002. Marketing efforts will include online,
television and print advertising. Spanish language advertisements will
appear in magazines, regional newspapers and on television. Magazine
advertising will appear in Newsweek en Español, People en Español
, Men's Fitness en Español, as well as Automundo and MotorTrend
en Español. Television advertising will consist of an extensive
schedule including cable television stations Telemundo, Telefutura,
and Univision."
Bridgestone/Firestone also announced a history of donations by the Bridgestone/Firestone
Trust Fund to charities that focus on issues important to the Hispanic
population as well as the public at large. The interests of these charities
are paralleled with those of the Bridgestone Firestone Trust Fund, which
focuses on education, children, the environment and conservation. Contributions
and pledges have been made to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (San Francisco,
Calif.), Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (Baltimore,
Md.), and the National Council of LaRaza (Washington, DC), the National
Minority Aids Council, and the Amigos de las Americas (Houston, Texas).
BFNT is making a concerted
effort to expand its marketing efforts to better reach a broad audience.
The company's diversity marketing program is one of the ways BFNT will
work to actively reach a larger portion of the U.S. population. Proactive
corporate policies at BFNT are in place to increase the number of minority-owned
businesses utilized by the company.
Nashville-based Bridgestone/Firestone
North American Tire, LLC is a subsidiary of Bridgestone/Firestone Americas
Holding, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the
world's largest tire and rubber company. BFNT develops, manufactures
and markets Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton and associate and private
brand tires. The company is focused on wholesale and original equipment
markets, supplying passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off-road,
agriculture and other tires to its customers in the Americas.
NOTE: The Hispanic ads can
be downloaded in high-resolution format at:
http://www.bridgestonetire.com/press/ads.htm
