Bridgestone UK’s extends its global Olympic partnership ‘Chase Your Dream, No Matter What’ campaign with an event initiative fronted by Chris Mears that sees the Team GB gold medallist aim to inspire everyday ‘battlers’ to leap from the 10 metre diving platform.
The idea behind ‘Take The Plunge’, the first in a series of branded immersive grass roots events, is to bring to life Bridgestone’s Olympic big idea of ‘chasing your dream’ beginning with finding the right mental approach’ to overcome obstacles.
The tire brand’s athlete ambassador teamed-up with a performance psychologist to encourage eight everyday participants to overcome their fears of diving from the 10 metre board.
Chris tasked the group to make the daunting jump off the top of the diving tower at the John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds and helped inspire and encourage them by sharing his own personal experiences of fighting to achieve his dream against the odds to encourage participants to do the same.
Mears, the Olympic synchronised springboard diving champion at Rio 2016, ruptured his spleen in 2009 and was only given a 5% chance of survival by his doctors. But his team of medical professionals and his own fighting spirit saw him recover and get back to the board to win Olympic gold.
Joining the Team GB star was English Institute of Sports performance psychologist Laura Cosgrove, who helped the group with techniques and mental approaches to overcome their fears.
While former athlete and trainer Professor Greg Whyte also gave instruction and insight on the benefits of positive thinking in achieving personal goals in everyday life.
The late August experience was filmed and amplified via a PR push and across Bridgestone UK’s digital and social channels such as YouTube,
and Facebook.
The idea behind this ‘what are you afraid of’ event is that the collective group embody the spirit of Bridgestone’s ‘Chase Your Dream, No Matter What’ campaign and positions then brand as an enabler that encourages, empowers and supports people to acquire the skills they need to complete their own challenges and chase their own dreams.
“I had the best day,” commented Mears.
“I never expected to get something from the exercise myself. I came away feeling on top of the world that I was able to help people!
“Despite all that Chris has encountered in his life he has kept focused and fighting to chase his dream of becoming champion. He exemplifies the spirit of our Chase Your Dream, No Matter What campaign perfectly,” added Bridgestone North Europe Managing Director Robin Shaw.
“We hope that his inspiring story helped everyday battlers overcome the obstacles they face in pursuit of their own dreams.”
The Olympic activation was developed in harness with Bridgestone’s European content and creative agency for the worldwide Olympic partnership WeAreFearless.
This grassroots event was the first of a series this year to be hosted as part of Bridgestone UK’s Chase Your Dream, No Matter What activation.
Comment:
This latest piece of work follows on from the integrated launch campaign phase of the ‘Chase Your Dream’ Olympic activation back in March 2017 which was fronted by Mears, golder Charely Hull and decathlon legend Daley Thompson (see case study).
Bridgestone’s official Olympic partnership joins it other major sports deals within a sponsorship portfolio that includes ice hockey tie-ups and an the NFL.
Indeed, the UK Olympic event rolls out at the same time as Bridgestone USA leverages its NFL partnership ahead of the new 2017/18 season with a campaign built around rookie players which includes two series of spots: one called ‘Elite Performance’ and based on rookie player interviews,
and another, lighter-hearted set of comic ‘challenge’ commercials testing rookies and tire knowledge.
Links:
Bridgestone
https://www.facebook.com/BridgestoneUK
https://twitter.com/Bridgestonetyre
https://www.youtube.com/user/BridgestoneTyresUK
We Are Fearless
IOC
