Bridgestone taps Creative Juice\G1 for MY-01

"The account was handed to us without a pitch. At present, we are only handling MY-01, but we expect our Bridgestone portfolio to increase soon," said Witawat Jayapani, CEO of Creative Juice\G1.

Three years ago, Bridgestone unveiled a wacky TVC developed by Creative Juice ECD Thirasak Thanapatanakulat, then with BBDO. The new spot sees a similarly humorous treatment, again under Thirasak's leadership.

Developed for compact and sub-compact cars, Bridgestone's latest launch targets university students and first jobbers "who enjoy dressing up their car," said Pongsuree Asanasen, Creative Juice\ G1's managing director.

"For MY-01's audience, looks come first and then performance."

An integrated campaign, developed with a US$1 million budget, revolves around the creative concept, 'Anyone can tell…. it's a sporty tyre'.

"The 45-second TVC takes a slice out of the everyday lives of our target prospects; this one being the exciting moment of a boyfriend meeting his girlfriend's parents," said Pongsuree. "At times such as these, youngsters will do anything to impress, even if it means a little pretending."

The commercial opens with a young boy with a sporty car asking for permission to take his girlfriend out, ostensibly to go to church. The dad takes one look at the car's tyres and goes inside the house to call his daughter. Once together and away from the house, the boy shows his true punk self, not knowing that the person seated next to him is the dad himself, who, due to the funky and sporty look of MY-01 tyres, had not been fooled by the boy's demure appearance.

Creative Juice joins Dentsu and BBDO on Bridgestone's Thailand roster. The latter two agencies handle the Turanza and Potenza brands, respectively.

Bridgestone claims to have a 79 per cent market share in the OEM market and 52 per cent in the replacement market in Thailand.