July 30, 2001
Bridgestone Bows Web Sponsorship

Bridgestone/Firestone and its Web unit TireSafety.com have signed an exclusive three-month title-sponsorship deal with Driving Today, a soon-to-launch special-interest multimedia e-zine. Edited by former Motor Trend editor Jack Nerad, the program will be syndicated across more than 15 auto Web sites.

Executives at Bridgestone/Firestone and Studio One Networks, the online content syndicator that produces the e-zine, declined to specify financial terms. An industry source, however, said online program sponsorships like this can range from $250,000-500,000 for a six-month participation. According to CMR, total media spending in 2000=97including Web initiatives=97for Bridgestone Corp., the parent of Nashville-based Bridgestone/Firestone, was about $50 million.

According to Phil Pacsi, Bridgestone/Firestone's director of consumer tires brand and retail marketing, the company plans to devote most of its online ad efforts to supporting the Bridgestone brand instead of Firestone, which has dealt with product recalls.

Driving Today reaches nearly 14 million users monthly via Web sites such as RaceWire, Autobytel and AOL.com Autos, said Andrew Susman, SON CEO. He added that it offers sponsors "great impact and much greater reach over a larger number of sites than a single site buy."