AdMiration feature: Goodyear's "STILL"

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to Goodyear’s “STILL” ad, which celebrates the role of Goodyear tires in American culture through the years. 

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens with a scene from Back to the Future. Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” begins to play and the DeLorean is shown to have Goodyear tires. 

A montage begins while the song continues and we see quick shots of old and new footage of the Goodyear brand. Racecars whizzing by, pit crews quickly replacing Goodyear tires, monster trucks, planes, the Goodyear blimp — they all fly across the screen as audiences are reminded of the history of the brand. At one point in the montage, an older sounding narration comes in to say: “The best tires in the world have Goodyear written all over them.” 

The ad concludes with the words “STILL. ALWAYS. FOREVER.” and a montage of different Goodyear logos flash across the screen.

3 facts

• “STILL” lands among the top 30% of US ads for its ability to drive immediate sales impact (Sales Impact: 73) and long-term brand equity (Brand Impact: 76). It resonates more strongly with adults over 45 (Sales Impact: 84, Brand Impact: 80). 

• The ad was clearly for Goodyear with a high brand recall score of 75% (vs. 68% norm), and even higher among adults over 45 (88%). The ad helps set Goodyear apart from other tire brands (Brand Distinctiveness: 3.9 vs. 3.7 norm) and helps communicate that Goodyear delivers on what audiences need from a tire brand (Brand Meets Needs: 4.3 vs. 4.0 norm). 

• The ad does a good job conveying the brand’s relevance to both the past and present making it come to mind powerfully and positively. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents say the ad communicates that Goodyear is a “trusted brand” — supported by showing the key role Goodyear tire performance has played in many important events over the years. Bringing it into the present day, half say the ad communicates Goodyear’s use of “innovative technology” (significantly above the norm of 28%), 45% say it communicates that the brand is “modern” and 36% say the brand is “stylish.”  

2 learnings

• It’s possible to extend the relevance of an idea to make an ad connect with more people. While just including scenes with fast cars may have been relevant to certain demographics, showing the tires in various culturally relevant scenarios (films, sports, space, etc.) allowed the brand to feel relevant to more people, because there was something for everyone. Plus, it allowed Goodyear to show the relevance of the brand and its performance and quality across multiple different challenging scenarios.

• Long ads can often be edited to work in shorter forms, both for subsequent drips on TV and for use in other media. This ad is a great example of that. The idea of bringing to life the history, relevance and quality of Goodyear over the years with a great variety of scenes and appealing music works well — and it's clear that a cut down version using a subset of the scenes would be highly impactful and extend the campaign affordably and effectively.

1 reflection

Brands that have been around for a long time can still benefit from making a splash every once in a while to stay relevant. And older brands are well served to lean on their brand’s long history to do that. 

If your brand has been around for a long time, can you find a way to bring its history to life in a way that shows relevance to yesterday, today and tomorrow — making it clear the brand is trusted, modern and innovative?

By reminding us of all the ways Goodyear tires have been a part of our society and culture for 125 years, Goodyear taps into the years of goodwill it has built through the years. And by using a mix of footage from the past and present, Goodyear reminds us it is still here to lead in the tire market today. 

This ad from BBH USA is the first ad campaign from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s CEO Mark Stewart and CMO Will Roland. “STILL” celebrates over 125 years of the brand’s achievements. 

Goodyear's CMO Will Roland said of the campaign, “We’ve kept our heads down—working, innovating, and producing the best tires in the world—but we may have gotten too quiet about that work. ‘STILL’ turns up the volume again.”

The ad premiered during the NFL draft at the end of April and will span TV, streaming, digital, and social media for the next six months.

“STILL” landed well with audiences, sitting in the top 30% of US ads with a sales impact score of 73 and a brand impact score of 76. The ad did even better with adults over 45 (SI 84, BI 80) and with men (SI 83, BI 80).

“STILL” is distinctive (distinctiveness: 4.0 vs. a 3.8 norm) and attention grabbing, allowing it to be noticed. Plus, the Goodyear brand shines through in the ad, resulting in an unaided brand recall of 77%. Brand recall is even higher for adults over 45 at 88%. 

Unsurprisingly, the ubiquitous presence of Goodyear tires was a big factor in helping audiences remember the brand — with a third of respondents noting the tires are how they spotted the brand. And 7% mentioned the Goodyear blimp!

But the ad didn’t just do a good job helping audiences remember the brand, it influenced the way they feel about the brand. After viewing the ad, audiences felt that Goodyear delivers what they expect from a tire brand (Brand Meets Needs: 4.3 vs. 4.0 norm) and that Goodyear is different from other tire brands (Brand Distinctiveness: 3.9 vs. 3.7 norm). It also makes them feel good about the Goodyear brand (Brand Appeal: 4.1 vs. 3.9 norm). 

It does all this by conveying meaningful ideas about the brand by saying very little. It uses largely just imagery and music, yet two-thirds (67%) of respondents say the ad communicates that Goodyear is a “trusted brand” (vs. a 39% norm) while half say the ad communicates Goodyear’s use of “innovative technology,” 45% say the ad communicates that the brand is “modern” (vs. a 26% norm) and 36% say the brand is “stylish” (vs. a 25% norm)  

Turning to the music, Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” was an interesting and polarizing choice for this ad. It helps set the tone for the ad and land the “Still” message for the ad, but the rap genre isn’t universally loved. 

While the ad overall landed slightly better with older audiences, it’s the younger audience that appreciates the music most. Adults under 45 gave the ad a musical appeal score of 4.2 (vs. a 4.0 norm), compared to those 45+ who gave it a 3.8 (vs. a 3.6 norm). The unexpected music choice helped broaden the appeal of an ad and capture the attention of a different demographic. 

And while many viewers praised the music in the verbatims (21%), 10% of the dislikes were focused around the music.

Looking now at emotions, “Like” is the dominant emotion from this ad, scoring 57% in “Like” compared to a 48% norm. 

There are spikes of love when the ad begins with the scene from Back to the Future and when the music begins. Then through the rest of the ad there’s a mix of love and like while the scenes whizz by — often with uplifts in emotion as the music cuts out and starts up again, punctuating the ad. 

Here’s what some people had to say about the ad:

• "The song playing gave me old memories along with the blimp. Nothing says Goodyear like the blimp. Goodyear is by far the first tire that comes to mind when thinking about tires."

• "Hugh variety, good music, catchy tune. It showed all the versatility and longevity of the Goodyear tire. It also showed its history with the good year blimp."

• "I liked the music a lot. I liked seeing all the different vehicles that use Goodyear tires. It was fun and exciting. I was surprised by some of the images."

• "I like references to history. The retro Goodyear blimp and moon landing made it stand out. This is fast paced and creative."

• "Ads don’t usually grab my attention at all however this one did. The constant changing of scenes, i.e. Race track then fast switch to jet, colorful, it grabbed my attention and would definitely make me feel confident in purchasing Goodyear."

• "I loved the soundtrack. It's one of my favorite songs and is inspiring. I loved all the clips from the past being spliced with current clips of Goodyear being used. It was an uplifting commercial."

• “I loved the music, the use of Back to the Future, and the clips morphing from past to present."

• "All of it was great - the historical photos and clips were a home run."

We thought this ad was a fun and engaging way to remind us of the role Goodyear has played in American society for the last 127 years. What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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