Bridgestone extends Olympic partnership

Bridgestone Corporation’s support of the Olympic Movement has now gone global. On 1 January 2017, the company expanded its partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Bridgestone will now serve as a partner globally through to 2024 and be associated with the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the Olympic Games 2024, which will take place in either Budapest, Los Angeles or Paris.

The expansion of Bridgestone’s marketing rights follows its activation of initial rights granted in Brazil, Japan, South Korea and the United States in association with the Olympic Games Rio 2016. Bridgestone comments that its efforts in those four countries “propelled brand awareness and engagement among hundreds of millions of people.”

“While we’re proud of our initial successes, in reality we have only just begun to leverage this universal platform to engage our worldwide teammates and expand Bridgestone brand awareness in key markets around the globe,” said Masaaki Tsuya, chief executive officer of Bridgestone Corporation. “As a global company with founding roots and headquarters in Japan, there is an enormous opportunity with the next three Olympic Games being hosted in Asia. We look forward to reaching new winter sports fans worldwide, as well as continuing to explore new ways in which we can support the staging of the Games and its athletes – which is paramount to our partnership.”

Bridgestone first announced its Worldwide Olympic Partnership on 13 June 2014. The agreement includes product marketing rights for the full range of tyres manufactured by the company, as well as self-propelled bicycles and a variety of diversified products such as seismic isolators.

“As a Worldwide Olympic Partner, Bridgestone already has demonstrated its support for the Olympic Movement and the Olympic values,” commented IOC president Thomas Bach. “We are excited to be partnering with Bridgestone on a global basis, and look forward to continue working closely with them to bring the Olympic spirit to life for athletes, fans and communities around the world through to 2024.”

In addition to the company’s support of the Olympic Movement as a Worldwide TOP Partner, Bridgestone Corporation is a Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Gold Partner and will support the Japanese Paralympic Team through to 2020; Bridgestone Americas is partnering with U.S. Paralympics through to 2024. Bridgestone Corporation also became the first founding partner of the Olympic Channel in August 2016, signing a four-year agreement to support the digital platform in its mission to celebrate the Olympic Movement and the world’s greatest athletes every day of the year.