Driving Results

11Restoring an Iconic Brand with the Six Lessons

THE FIRESTONE BRAND was significantly damaged by the Ford–Firestone tire recall in 2000. The company recalled millions of Firestone tires amidst the claim that they caused hundreds of deaths. Ford then removed millions more Firestone tires from its vehicles as part of its battle with us over who was to blame.

As a result of the recall and the damage to the Firestone name, another car company insisted that the Firestone brand tires we sold to them be replaced with Bridgestone brand tires. Consumers were leery of Firestone tires as well. Sales of the once popular tire brand plummeted. And while the company never jettisoned the Firestone brand, it understandably focused on building the highly regarded, yet at the time the lesser known, Bridgestone brand. Thus, much of our advertising budget and sales efforts went to promote Bridgestone tires.

It worked. Bridgestone brand recognition improved significantly and became stronger than ever in North America. Our tire dealers still wanted Firestone tires, however, as they very much saw a place for the brand in their offerings. Many consumers, over time, also wanted the iconic tires. Moreover, some dealers were essentially inseparable from Firestone. It was in their business name, like Bob's Firestone. The Firestone name also was inseparable from our Firestone Complete Auto Care nationwide network of stores.

For this and other reasons, some 10 years after the recall, I was strongly of the ...