How Yokohama’s Stunt Driving and Squealing Tyres Define Precision
Tyres can often be the unsung heroes of cars. They’re not traditionally glamourous - they’re black, and they’re the tool that gets you from point a to point b. They can’t be advertised like the car itself, where everything from the latest functions, features and colours is up for display. Rather, tyres are just there, slowly facing the wear and tear of time and friction.
So, how does a tyre company showcase its wares in an exciting way? For Yokohama, the answer was simple. Stunt driving, squealing tyres, and some dramatic opera music. Amalgamated to create the brand’s ‘Made Precisely for You' spot - in partnership with Dentsu Creative - the work puts the tyres front and centre, demonstrating the precision at close range and highlighting the fact that Yokohama offers high quality tyres made precisely for the everyday needs of all Canadians. It’s fast, fun, and literally leaves an impression - the word ‘you’, created in tyre marks on the concrete floor.
LBB’s Josh Neufeldt sat down with Dentsu Creative ECDs Julien Thiry and Michael Aronson, and Yokohama Canada national brand manager Diana Colosimo, to discuss how this work came to life.
LBB> What was the brief for this campaign, and what immediate ideas came to mind?
Diana> Going into this, we wanted to rediscover the brand, who we are and what we stand for in the market - both to ourselves and our customers. There was so much confusion during covid-19 with tyre companies being everything to everyone, and we wanted to ensure we went back to the basics. As such, creating a new, fresh message was the best course of action.
We interviewed two other agencies, and it was quickly discovered that Dentsu was the perfect fit for two reasons: Japanese roots, and the right team in the Canadian office. Canada is a unique market - we must speak to both English and French speaking customers - and Dentsu’s creative team really understood that.
Julien and Michael> The brief asked Dentsu to create advertising assets specific to Yokohama Canada and the realities of the Canadian market, where previously, assets were adapted from American campaigns. This became the foundation for the strategy: ‘precision, for safety, for life’. The strategy helped develop a series of concepts that had us thinking about specific media placements on dangerous highways, partnerships with corporate or government fleets, and AI-based messaging with the Weather Network, but ultimately, we landed on ‘Made Precisely for You’. [It’s] a campaign that acknowledges the duality between the specific safety needs and in-car lives of all types of Canadian drivers, matched with Yokohama as a world leader in tyre designs and technology.
LBB> Tell us more about crafting a campaign reflecting tyres made specifically for the needs of Canadians. How did this goal influence the creative process?
Julien and Michael> The reality is that Canadian roads are very different from most American roads, because we have to deal with winter (snow, ice, black ice, freezing rain) - for up to six months in some cases - each year. Those winter conditions are treacherous to drivers, but also, the freezing and thawing of Canadian roads creates fissures and potholes that also prove dangerous in summer months. When you combine these conditions with normal driving distractions: children, passengers, music, texting while driving, and unforeseen hazards like fog, hydroplaning or a 1,000 pound moose ambling onto the highway at night, it becomes easy to understand the importance of using a tyre that is made, tested, and proven reliable in these conditions. The concept came from the team discussing our own personal nightmarish driving incidents, and the respect we have for the technology that keeps us safe.
Diana> Many hours were spent with key members from Yokohama, and both the strategic and creative teams from Dentsu. When it came to covering all the inside-outs of the brand - the history, the positioning, the matrix, the mapping - along with keeping tabs on our competitors, they were incredible. Ultimately, it became a question of ‘what do we want to say that will articulate the message succinctly on who Yokohama is and what Yokohama tyres deliver to its dealer partners and Canadians looking for quality tyres?’.
LBB> And what research went into figuring out what the needs of Canadians were? Were there key insights guiding this process?
Diana> Many key factors went into this, including - but not limited to - a recent Léger study conducted by Yokohama Canada. We asked questions like ‘what do customers look for when buying tyres?’, ‘do they know us?’ (top of mind awareness and brand awareness), and ‘what do Canadians think of Yokohama?’. This proved a great baseline, and we looked at the results alongside past customer reviews, and TRAC information which reported sales in Canada amongst most major brands
LBB> The spot focuses on showcasing the precision of Yokohama tyres. Why was this the perfect accompaniment for a campaign focusing on the personal nature of tyres?
Julien and Michael> This is product-focused advertising, and as such, was entirely important to show the Yokohama tyres and their performance capability in precise driving situations: aggressive curves, tight turns, and emergency manoeuvres necessary when conditions turn bad. Effectively, we wanted to showcase the thoughtfulness, research, development, and testing that the company puts into each tyre before it even hits the road - underpinning the determination that Yokohama has in making tyres precisely for the safety of those who drive on them.
LBB> How did you decide which tyres you wanted to show off, and how many tyres did you have to supply for the shooting process?
Diana> This wasn’t easy. Yokohama has great lines of tyres: ‘Advan’ (UHPT, HPT), ‘Avid’ (touring/passenger), ‘Geolandar’ (CUV/SUV/LT), and our winter lineup. In this case, because we wanted to show the performance as best as possible, it made sense to use Advan - our most popular lineup. Not only will anyone who appreciates a top-performing tyre know Advan, but we also launched two new Advan patterns this spring. And, because we used a performance car for the shooting, it was the perfect match.
LBB> The spot itself is super cool! Where did you shoot, and what was the experience like?
Julien and Michael> Watching a car do high-speed donuts for 12 hours in an airport warehouse, with some of the most technical filming equipment we’ve worked with to date made for an epic, educational and highly collaborative experience. We worked with director Kelsey Larkin from Skin & Bones Film in Toronto, Ontario, who we selected for her attention to detail, shot selection, and incredible talent for capturing exciting motion and action. The team also did a ton of research before the shoot, storyboarded every shot, and worked closely with the DOP, Kristofer Bonnell, online compositor, stunt coordinator, and technicians to achieve those shots.
LBB> How did you approach showcasing the tyres? Were there certain stunts you wanted to demonstrate?
Julien & Michael> Lighting and tyre placement was key to getting the right shot, as the Yokohama logo on the black tyre is also black. To create that contrast and readability, it was vital to position the lights accurately on the tyre, and to keep the tyre accurately in frame. Pre-production conversations with the director, DOP, stunt coordinator and stunt driver gave us the perfect idea of what we would be able to achieve on set, and how we would achieve it.
Some shots were trickier than others and took more time. We had a follow-me car with a U-Crane on it, in order to film some of the in-action moments, and special rigs to get close-ups of the tyres in-motion and the tracks getting laid down on the warehouse floor.
LBB> The music choice also fits the spot brilliantly. How did this selection come to pass?
Julien and Michael> Originally, we thought of using rock music - something with lots of thumping bass and dynamic rhythms. For this, AC/DC, The Hives, and Jack White all came to mind. But, after trying it, we felt any such selection would make it too stereotypical of a car spot.
Instead, juxtaposing the intensity, action and tyre screeches with the calming (yet dramatic) opera classic, ‘Nessun Dorma’, allowed us to showcase all the precision and performance of the tyre, while bringing the peace of mind that comes with listening to a beautiful, well-known aria. The combination brought us to something more original and much more artful. The spot is about precision, but underlying that is the craft. We wanted that craft to come through not just in the picture, but also in sound.
LBB> Who provides the voice over? What made them the best choice for the job?
Julien and Michael> Brady Moffatt is the Canadian voice actor who we cast as the narrator of the spot. We have been working with Brady for at least a decade, and that chemistry paid off fully in the Yokohama work where he brings a genuine friendliness, authority, and charm to the script. Brady hit all the right notes on this one, conveying the reliability of Yokohama’s tyres, along with the concern for the safety of our customers.
LBB> The final shot of the tyres leaving ‘you’ on the ground is super cool. How did you achieve this?
Julien & Michael> Movie magic! Jean-Marc Laurin was our compositor and VFX specialist on this project. He worked with the production team to ensure that he was able to translate the real life tyre marks that our stunt driver created on the floor of the warehouse into text once we got to the online phase of the project. In fact, a big part of the campaign was creating a font using the actual Yokohama tyre tread, which we captured and gave to our design team - who worked closely with Jean-Marc - to achieve in the video. This allowed us to create both the English ‘you’ and French ‘vous’.
Doing this also meant making sure that the car was filmed doing precise movements, in order to create the straight lines, curves, and angles needed to create the final lettering. In short, this was achieved using real in-cam stunt driving and composited design VFX in post-production.
LBB> Do you have any interesting anecdotes or lessons learned from your time on set?
Julien and Michael> We did not want to die making this piece of film! Filming a car driving for 12 hours in a closed location builds up a lot of carbon monoxide - something we hadn’t considered at the onset of the project. To avoid asphyxiation, we needed to film in a well-ventilated location, which is part of why we chose a warehouse with garage doors. Filming outdoors was not an option, seeing as Canada in February is covered with snow, and the video asset needed to live through four seasons.
We also realised that when two cars are chasing each other in a small space, it’s important to stay out of the way, which led to us huddling around monitors, despite our desire to be close to the action.
LBB> How does this campaign fit into Yokohama’s brand platform for 2023?
Diana> Our mission is to know the communities where we live and work, and to provide our customers with tyres made specifically for their lives and safety standards. Our promise is to deliver the best tyre for each and every vehicle, ensuring precise, quality driving, and our values are to cater to the needs of both our dealer partners and their customers in the Canadian market - while staying true to our Japanese roots. This was all captured and articulated in the short 30-second spot (15 seconds in French Canada).
LBB> Is there anything you’d like to add?
Diana> Any company would always love to do the most they can, while also respecting budgets. It would have been great if we could have performed the same driving on mud (for Geolandar), and on snow (Iceguard).
With that said, it’s clear that when great minds come together (Yokohama and Dentsu), and members from each brand/company respect the process, the research, and the history, only great things happen. This was so fun - exhausting at times - and so worth it!
