Firestone Music Tour has added Irish festival to its list of musical destinations, after a partnership with Vantastival 2016 was announced. It will become the first Irish festival to take part in the hugely successful Firestone Music Tour, which currently spans France, Germany, Italy, Poland, England and Spain.
Firestone has launched its sponsorship of a stage for up-and-coming musicians at selected Barclaycard Arena events. The Firestone Stage allows acts to play inside the Birmingham venue before headliners take to the stage, and was officially launched on 21 March at Ellie Goulding’s Birmingham show. The stage offers musical talent from across the UK to play in front of up to 15,800 people on the main concourse. The stage will also host Firestone’s annual Battle of the Bands competition, where musicians compete to win personalised Marshall amplifiers, music equipment and an opportunity to perform on the stage in future months.
Bridgestone Europe says it will present the latest addition to its Firestone passenger car tyre range at next month’s Geneva Motor Show. According to the tyre maker, the new Firestone Destination Winter SUV tyre offers “top snow control” and a “best-in-market EU label B rating for wet grip.”
The sales and marketing teams at Bridgestone and Firestone have been strengthened by the arrival of two dedicated brand managers. Peter Coleman and Stuart Attfield join the two respective teams and in doing so supplement a strengthened salesforce and pricing department. Both report to consumer marketing manager Wim Belckx and sales and marketing director Farrell Dolan.
A new line-up of Firestone tyres designed for both on- and off-road use aims to provide users with high levels of durability, long wear life and good grip over a wide range of tough terrain. Upon introducing its FS822 Steer, FD833 Drive and FT833 Trailer tyres, Bridgestone Europe says the trio “bring Firestone’s renowned no-nonsense, cost-effective approach to the on/off segment.”
Birmingham act Rituals was crowned the overall winners of Firestone’s recent Battle of the Bands. The competition saw four unsigned music acts play to a national audience, starring on the Barclaycard Arena stage in Birmingham.
The band can now look forward to a series of sets on the Barclaycard Arena Unsigned Stage along with personalised Marshall amplifiers and music equipment, in a huge breakthrough for musicians Jo Berry, Jake Peal, Corey Deards, Andy Lowe and Dan Lovatt.
Bridgestone has hosted customers and staff over three days at Mira, where the manufacturer presented its products through a series of driving experiences and displays. “Bridgestone World”, which also included Firestone brand products, comprised various wet handling and off-road driving experiences; a series of activities and displays, including Firestone’s music partnerships; Bridgestone’s sporting sponsorships in a specially created motocross area; and a Bridgestone Golf area.
Having reduced a field of 51 to 19, Auto Bild announced that three of the winter tyres tested had made it all the way to the top of the German magazine’s rankings, picking up “exemplary” ratings. Continental’s WinterContact TS 850, Pirelli’s Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3, and the Barum Polaris 3 were the best performers, according to Auto Bild’s testers, who ranked the tyres based on their performance on snowy, wet and dry roads and their cost. The tests were performed on a VW Polo, with the tyres sized 185/60R15 T.
In its annual winter tyre performance survey, German motoring publication AutoBild narrows a wide field of 49 winter tyres and two all-season tyres with wet and snow braking measurements before conducting a full test of a range of characteristics. 19 tyres made it through to the 2015/16 season test, conducted using the tyre size 185/60 R15.
Bridgestone is celebrating the centenary of the Firestone brand in Australia. Firestone tyres were first sold Down Under in August 1915, just 15 years after the Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company was first set up.
The Europe-wide Firestone Music Tour, part of the relaunched brand’s efforts to reach a vibrant, youthful audience through music, will make its UK stop at Reading this weekend. The Bridgestone second-line brand’s ‘Roll on the Summer’ consumer campaign has been taking place in participating garages across the UK, offering a series of prizes for every tyre sale made, including a top prize of VIP tickets to the Reading Festival itself.
As of this month a new Firestone web presence is covering 18 European markets and providing product and brand information in 14 languages. Bridgestone Europe has rolled out the new site to support its ‘revival’ of the Firestone brand within the region, a drive that has seen it introduce a new tyre line-up and a marketing campaign aimed at “young-at-heart drivers” who aspire to the “freedom to drive”.
It’s been about a year since Bridgestone began its relaunch of the Firestone consumer tyre brand in Europe with the introduction of the Destination HP SUV, and this has now been joined in the Firestone portfolio by two new ranges, the Multiseason and the Multihawk 2. The first of this pair is particularly significant as it marks Firestone’s entry into the growing all-season tyre market.
Firestone’s relaunch through a series of summer music festival sponsorships – the Firestone Music Tour announced at the Geneva Motor Show – will include events in Spain, Germany, France, Poland, Italy and at the Reading Festival in the UK. Firestone has committed to a high-profile presence in Reading, led by a team of Firestone roadies incorporating a large Firestone stand, signage, special attractions, parking and campsite activities. A new Firestone website will also be launched shortly, supplemented by a concerted social networking campaign on a variety of online channels.
The marketing department at Bridgestone Europe is putting in overtime to assert the Firestone brand’s cool credentials. The company says Firestone plans to reassert its presence on the European market as a “dynamic, energetic and above all cool brand for the young and young at heart,” and these efforts include the brand’s sponsorship of music festivals in Spain, Germany, France, Poland, Italy and the UK The ‘Firestone Music Tour’ will be present at major festivals in these six countries during the summer.
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