NEW YORK (May 24, 2011) – Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (Bridgestone Americas) was named “Sports Sponsor of the Year” Wednesday evening at the 2012 Sports Business Awards ceremony, an annual celebration of excellence in sports business held by Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, the industry’s leading trade publication.

The award, judged by a panel of industry executives and representatives from SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily, was accepted by Phil Pacsi, Vice President of Customer Marketing & Training for Bridgestone Americas.

“It’s an honor to accept this award on behalf of all the hard-working, talented and innovative people at Bridgestone Americas and our agencies,” Pacsi said. “Only through extraordinary collaboration could we have achieved this success. Bridgestone Americas is passionate about performance, and our sports marketing relationships present the perfect platform for us to convey our performance message to our target demographics.”

This is the third time in four years that Bridgestone Americas had been nominated in the category and its first win. The company’s Bridgestone brand is the Official Tire of the NFL, the NHL® and the PGA TOUR®; and its Firestone brand is the Official Tire of the IZOD IndyCar® Series and Major League Baseball. This past year saw the launch of an entirely new sports-based Bridgestone brand-building campaign built on six months of extensive consumer research. This campaign, titled “Time to Perform,” shows what would happen if Bridgestone’s advanced tire technologies were applied to the world of sports.

“Through our sports marketing relationships and activation programs, we have been able to connect with consumers and get them thinking about tires in a completely new way,” Pacsi remarked. “We have had great success utilizing sports to explain in specific terms how our products and technologies are engineered to deliver a better driving experience.”