PIONEERING AUTO CARE
Right before the holiday break in 2023, we were invited to get involved on a secret strategic and naming/branding exercise for a new Bridgestone retail service offering. Codename: Pinnacle.
There were many zigs, zags, and ‘what thes?!’ that occured over the subsequent year, the biggest of which is that they dropped the new name idea and kept it Firestone Complete Auto Care. But our thinking and concept design came through, and the store opened in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 10th. (Happy birthday, mom.)
And this was a first. During our initial presentation, the concept write-up elicited a ‘F#@k yeah!’ from the most senior Bridgestone marketing person in the room.
All built around the Harvey Firestone spirit, and Pioneering Auto Care. It’s still a work in progress with the store being in its soft opening phase. But more materials will be rolled out over the next few months.
IN-STORE MATERIALS
The first pieces that we worked on were the revolutionary in-store fixtures, featuring all of the different products and services the store will be offering. These things are huge. And each end sports an 85” display with rotating messages.
We wrote and presented more than 200 lines for these materials and their ever evolving/growing needs. It was incredibly fun.
These are the designs. More visibility on the lines.
BOLTING CEREMONY
As we were working on the launch of the store, we conceptualized a ribbon cutting ceremony that fit the business a little more than slicing a sash. So we’re going to have a ‘Bolting Ceremony,’ where the attending VIPs will put a lugnut on a ceremonial plaque. With each of them going home with a custom made socket in a commemorative tool box.
The original idea was to have the sockets forged of ‘Firestonium’ – a special alloy created from a melted down artifact or two from the Harvey Firestone archive and steel, but the archivists put the kibosh on that idea.