The Campaign

People don’t usually take notice of tires. Our challenge was to come up with a tool that would present tires in a way that would draw people’s attention while also functioning as a branding device for Toyo Tires. Our idea was to use kimono design to express the artistic craftsmanship that goes into the creation of a Toyo tire. To draw a parallel between Toyo’s tread patterns and traditional Japanese kimono design was a fitting one as Toyo’s process of developing tread patterns involves not just high-level technology, but well-honed craftsmanship that shares its aesthetics with traditional Japanese craft, such as kimono design. The kimono analogy was doubly fitting as Toyo Tires traces its roots to a textile company. Our aim with this creative was to generate interest among people that would otherwise not take interest in tires and get them to naturally spread word through social media. The campaign generated 4,000 tweets in just one day of exposure, with 43% percent of the tweets coming from women between the ages of 20 and 30. It was also picked up by a number of online media, many of which were fashion or culture news websites and blogs. As a result, the campaign succeeded in getting a wide range of people to talk about tires, including those that are usually not target consumers for tires.

The Brief

The developing of Toyo’s tread patterns involves not just high-level technology, but well-honed craftsmanship. Choosing kimono design to highlight this fact was a fitting one, as the artistic craftsmanship that goes into the development of a Toyo tire is akin to the aesthetics involved in the developing of traditional kimono design. The parallel that was drawn was doubly fitting as Toyo Tires traces its roots to a textile company.

Results

The campaign generated 4,000 tweets in just one day of exposure, with 43% percent of the tweets coming from women between the ages of 20 and 30. It was also picked up by a number of online media, many of which were fashion or culture news websites and blogs. As a result, the campaign succeeded in getting a wide range of people to talk about tires, including those that are usually not target consumers for tires.

Execution

Our idea was to use kimono design to express the artistic craftsmanship that goes into the creation of a Toyo tire. To draw a parallel between Toyo’s tread patterns and traditional Japanese kimono design was a fitting one as Toyo’s process of developing tread patterns involves not just high-level technology, but well-honed craftsmanship that shares its aesthetics with traditional Japanese craft, such as kimono design. The kimono analogy was doubly fitting as Toyo Tires traces its roots to a textile company. Our aim with this creative was to generate interest among people that would otherwise not take interest in tires and get them to naturally spread word through social media.

The Situation

People don’t usually take notice of tires. Our challenge was to come up with a tool that would present tires in a way that would draw people’s attention while also functioning as a branding device for Toyo Tires.

The Strategy

The tread patterns of Toyo’s tires are a result of not just their high-level technology, but also well-honed craftsmanship that shares its aesthetics with traditional Japanese craft, such as kimono design. Thus we saw it fitting to draw a parallel between the tread patterns and traditional kimono design to highlight the artistic craftsmanship that goes into the creation of a Toyo tire. The analogy is a doubly fitting one as Toyo Tires traces its roots to a textile company.