Goodyear hopes animated 'Wingfoot' can convey forward motion in new promotional campaign

AKRON — Goodyear's "Wingfoot" — the company's corporate symbol for the past 120 years — is taking on a new role as the central "character" in a new advertising/promotional campaign that debuts this weekend.

The new campaign, which portrays the Wingfoot coming to life as a symbol for forward motion, seeks to highlight the relationship between physical movement and unlocking human potential, Goodyear said.

In the first commercial, dubbed "Breakout," the Wingfoot on a tire of car passing a graffiti character bestows the character with power to grow, evolve and transform.

Moving to the driving rhythm of Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride," the graffiti character — adorned with winged footwear — comes to life and runs, surfs, ice skates, rock climbs, dunks a basketball and morphs into an astronaut on a space walk.

The 30-second spot will debut during FOX-TV's broadcast of the Daytona 500 race on Feb. 16.

"Goodyear is more than a tire company, as we enable movement so people can meet challenges, realize opportunities and unleash new possibilities," Mike Dwyer, Goodyear's chief customer officer, North America Consumer, said.

Mr. Dwyer called this the "logical evolution" of its More Driven campaign, which debuted in 2011, saying it communicates Goodyear's "constant pursuit of forward motion, so people have the confidence to discover and get more out of life."

In the commercial, Goodyear said each transformation the graffiti character makes represents different attributes of Goodyear's tires and opens doors to new experiences and adventures.

Austin, Texas-based GSD&M Idea City L.L.C. is the creative agency responsible for "Breakout." Goodyear plans another Wingfoot-themed TV commercial later this year.

Goodyear has used the Wingfoot symbol — based on the winged foot of the Roman god Mercury — since 1900, when it was proposed by company Founder Frank Seiberling, who had a statue of Mercury in his home.

In ancient times, Mercury was known as a swift messenger for all the gods of mythology.