With help from many, we make it to the starting grid

We would need transporters and a motorhome for our F1 tyre supply operation, but fortunately we were able to leave that to Peter Grzelinski, who had both the ideas and the technology required.
Internet communications were now taking off, and F1 was becoming computerised in a big way. Back in the 1980s, in our European F2 period, it often took half a day to set up a telephone call with Japan, and we relied on telexes a lot. The world had moved on to faxes and email, and we needed staff who were competent at using computers if we were to take advantage of the efficiencies that digital technology now offered. With only six months between the time we started preparing and the opening race of the season, we were under immense pressure. However, thanks to the cooperation of a great many people, when the cars lined up on the starting grid for 1997's first F1 race, the Australia Grand Prix, all our teams were equipped with Bridgestone tyres.

Becoming an F1 tyre supplier wasn't enough.
We had to ensure our name was on display to the public.

Supplying tyres to F1 teams, even minor ones, would be enough to get plenty of media attention for Bridgestone. That was the original plan, but Yasukawa soon realised that small teams got very little screen time on TV, so the Bridgestone name wouldn't appear in the public eye with any frequency. Even though we were tyre supplier for the greatest auto race on earth, by itself this would not be effective in reaching the mass of consumers who were not deeply involved in motorsports.
Bridgestone's founder Shojiro Ishibashi had been so convinced of the importance of publicising the company's name that he used TV commercials to promote his plan of putting a Bridgestone service shop every two kilometres.
Yasukawa went to Kaizaki and said he wanted to have hoardings advertising Bridgestone at every F1 circuit. And he refused to back down, even when told of there were no funds for such a plan.
"We are spending huge sums on the F1 project, but it won't mean anything without this advertising" was his argument. In the face of this reasoning, Kaizaki was forced to agree.
Yasukawa then went with Julian Lew, an international lawyer who assisted us in the F2 years, and Hideyuki Mikuzu a Bridgestone Motorsport member who spoke fluent English, to begin negotiations for the trackside hoardings.

Personal connections ease the trackside hoarding negotiations

Yasukawa had been involved in the racing world since his college years, and his broad network of acquaintances now proved invaluable in finding out who to go to and the right approach to take. Personal introductions opened many doors as he sought the elusive right to advertise on the trackside hoardings.
However, it certainly wasn't simple. He needed to keep the cost of the contract low for Bridgestone's sake, but the other side held out for more. Fists were even slammed onto desks to protest his offers. But Yasukawa and Lew, with Mikuzu as interpreter, kept on searching for common ground and eventually found agreement. Jackie Stewart was brought into many of these discussions, and at one urgent moment the negotiators had to shuttle between Japan and Detroit, four days on the move with only one night's rest.
Although they succeeded in the end, it required a tremendous effort and the whole process could very easily have broken down at any point.
It was a clear illustration of the tremendous importance of staying constantly in touch with everyone involved in the small world of F1, where mutual trust is vital and has to be maintained and nurtured on a regular basis. To accomplish this, naturally one has to be living nearby. This is what Honda's Yamamoto had told Yasukawa in 1981: "If you're serious about the race business, you can't do it by commuting from Japan. You'll have to move over here." Yasukawa had often reflected on the truth of this advice as he built up an ever wider network of trusted acquaintances during his years in Europe.

How to ensure maximum TV exposure for our hoardings?

"It's not the number of hoardings that count, it's their location. That's what determines how much screen time we get."
Bridgestone's man on the front lines, Horio, personally checked every F1 circuit to find out where the TV cameras were sited so we could negotiate for hoardings sited to ensure maximum broadcast time. In the world of F1, people with a long history in the sport were greatly valued, and this also applied in the business of placing trackside hoardings. To get the best advice regarding location, we had to get on good terms with the veteran contractors who made these decisions. This is where Horio's skill with people proved invaluable. Despite being very busy in many other areas, he made time to cultivate good relationships with everyone involved, greatly smoothing the way.
We employed a research agency to monitor the degree of exposure our hoardings were getting. Whenever they reported that exposure rates had fallen, we would discuss it with the hoarding contractors and relocate the hoardings at the next race. Eventually, every time the TV cameras switched views, the Bridgestone logo would be prominently seen on screen. Our strategy had proven remarkably effective.

Showing the Bridgestone name in countries where we had no brand recognition

F1 is broadcast in over 180 countries, reaching a vast audience. In countries like Japan and the US we have our own PR organisations to handle advertising, but in places like China, Russia, India and Africa our local sales companies are often too small to afford advertising. It would cost Bridgestone a truly enormous amount to advertise everywhere on the same scale as we do in the US and Japan.
However, when our trackside hoardings are on screen throughout F1 broadcasts, viewers see the Bridgestone name alongside the racing cars for long periods at a time. Closely associating our name like this with the world's premier auto racing series has an impact far greater than any regular commercial. One of the most dramatic results from our F1 involvement was the very rapid rise in Bridgestone brand recognition in many parts of the world where we had previously been almost unknown. Bridgestone Motorsport and Bridgestone sales companies around the world received an outpouring of thanks from dealers grateful for this boost to their sales.
For us in Japan, it's hard to imagine. Here, we are used to seeing the Bridgestone name everywhere in streets and shops, in TV commercials and on baseball programmes. At that time however, in most parts of the world there were virtually no Bridgestone signs to be seen. That's why F1 had such a positive impact for our brand.

Ensuring a comprehensive system of promotional activities

Bridgestone Motorsport is always keen to encourage circuit guest invitations for Bridgestone customers. In countries like Japan, our sales companies do this as a matter of course. But overseas, our sales companies were often too small to afford such promotional activities. We felt that this was unfair, so we contracted with the Paddock Club for an annual pass that allowed us to invite a certain number of guests (depending on the space at each circuit) to F1 races in every country.
We also arranged to have an event booth at each circuit to host promotions, and reserved a full page of advertising in every race programme. In these ways we maximised the value of the F1 as a global business tool.

1997 - Our first F1 race. The long held dream comes true at last.

After all these years, we had finally made it, and the Bridgestone name was on prominent display everywhere at the Melbourne F1 circuit. On the grid stood machines with tyres bearing the POTENZA logo. Bridgestone Motorsport staff were all smiles as they waited for the start of the race and a new chapter in our racing history.
At this time, we still had no motorhome and were working out of a rented Portacabin. We wouldn't get our own motorhome until the fourth race in Europe, but none of that mattered. Everyone was tremendously excited just to be taking part in F1 at long last.
We got off to a good start. In the season's opening race, Olivier Panis, starting from ninth position in the qualifying round, came in fifth to score points for Prost GP. And even more impressive, he finished just one second after the winning McLaren.
In the second race, in Brazil, Panis finished third. In Monaco, the fifth race of the season, Rubens Barrichello came second for Stewart GP. Another second place followed in the next race, for Panis in Spain. And in the most exciting race of all, the 11th Grand Prix in Hungary, Arrows' Damon Hill kept the lead right until the last lap, when engine trouble knocked him back to finish second.
With Hill still leading on the last lap, Horio ran from the motorhome to the parc ferme´ (where the cars go after crossing the finish line) carrying a cap marked "1st" in his hand. But when he arrived, the victorious driver waving his hands in the air turned out to be Jacques Villeneuve, in a Williams car running on Goodyear tyres. Machine problems had slowed Hill in the last run up to the chequered flag, allowing Villeneuve to win by a hair. Stunned, Horio quickly put away his winner's cap and handed Hill a regular podium cap. Nonetheless, Damon Hill was all smiles as he stood on the podium, happy in the knowledge that he had set the race's fastest time.
It was clear to everyone that our tyres were playing a major role in determining the rankings this season. In our first F1 year, Bridgestone's technical strength was firmly established in all eyes. McLaren chose Bridgestone tyres for the 1998 season, a decision that allowed Mika Hakkinen to take both the Constructors' and the Drivers' Championships.
Harada reflected on the various motorsports we had taken part in on our road to F1:
"If you race, you are either going to win or lose. I still remember the terrible defeats we suffered during the changeover from bias to radial tyres. But that experience made us stronger and finally brought us here. This is the great thing about racing."

The F1 dream - made a reality by a total corporate effort

Bridgestone tyres would carry Ferrari to retake the 1999 Constructors' Championship after a 16-year gap, and then in 2000, with Michael Schumacher at the wheel, to gain the Drivers' Championship they had last held 21 years earlier. In Bridgestone's 14 years of F1 involvement, we would help Ferrari to gain the Constructors' Championship eight times and the Drivers' Championship six times. In 2008, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took the Drivers' Championship, and in 2009 Brawn GP and Jenson Button took the double title. And then, 2010 made a suitably exciting final F1 year for Bridgestone, featuring the aggressive track battles waged by Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), the only Japanese driver to complete a full F1 season, and the debut of Sebastian Vettel, the youngest F1 world champion ever, who would also take the Constructors' Championship for Red Bull.
Bridgestone's F1 involvement was far more than just a corporate project; it became the fulfilment of a deeply held dream for all our staff. Thanks to those years of racing, millions of people around the world will never forget the Bridgestone name.
Bridgestone gained so many things in the lead up to our entry to F1. As we have noted earlier, the passion for racing of everyone involved and the close relationships they formed along the way, were essential factors in both Bridgestone's growth into a world-leading company and the development of our superior technological capacity. In more ways than one, these successes were due to the efforts of everyone on the Bridgestone workforce.
Having at last brought this dream to reality created an even greater sense of motivation throughout the company.
Bridgestone had now embarked upon the glorious years of our F1 involvement.