Campaign Imminent: Bridgestone taps new creative & digital AOR (Score 60)

Sales Lead: Bridgestone recently established an annual contract with PP+K.

• The agency will now provide consumer channel marketing, digital, and execution support.
• Its first work for Bridgestone will roll out in May 2023 in-store and online wherever Firestone and Bridgestone tires are sold.
• The company will likely:
  • Launch new work soon
  • Keep increasing digital spend
  • Conduct additional agency partners
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​Gen-Z and millennials with a strong male skew

​​​​​​​Recent leadership shifts:

• ​​​​​​​This hire comes not long after Bridgestone appointed partnership marketing director Kristian Vazquez-Diaz in January 2023.
• She was previously the sponsorship marketing and branding advisor at Cigna.

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: Bridgestone has allocated roughly $50.6k toward national TV commercials YTD, a huge decrease from the roughly $1.8m allocated by this point last year.
  • Last year: The tire company allocated around $5.1m toward this channel in 2022 after having allocated almost double this, around $9.6m, in 2021.
  • 2023 ad programming: Bridgestone's 2023 commercials have targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as NHL Hockey, Beach Volleyball, Athletes Unlimited Basketball, Women's College Basketball, and College Basketball.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, the company has spent approximately $5.3m on digital ads, more than double the approximately $2m spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: Bridgestone has earned ~495.5m digital impressions YTD via YouTube (59%), Facebook (32%), Instagram (7%), desktop video (1%), and desktop display (1%) ads.
  • Last year: The company's estimated full-year 2022 spend, $7m, decreased by 19% from that of $8.6m in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The company utilizes local broadcast, digital, OOH, Google Ads, and online video (primarily via Youtube.com, Youtube IOS, and Youtube Android) ads.
  • Bridgestone invests in short-form DRTV.
    • ​​​​​​​It has very highly concentrated network TV networks and will not likely launch a new campaign soon.
    • The company's top TV networks include NBCS and USA.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Additional agency reviews could easily follow this one, so get in touch soon to offer media, PR, experiential, multicultural, and/or influencer services.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​PP+K: Creative and digital AOR (April 2023)
  • Baldwin&: Creative and social AOR
  • Leo Burnett Worldwide: Creative AOR
  • Periscope: Media AOR
  • GS&F : Media AOR
  • iCrossing: Digital agency partner
  • Levelwing Media: Social agency partner

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; DRTV insights by Media Analytics.