Performance Trials
View the case- Brand
- Bridgestone
- Year
- 2016
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Automotive
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- Razorfish
- With
- UNIT9
- With
- Le Polish Bureau
Objective
Bridgestone used its Rio 2016 Olympic sponsorship to build the Performance Institute hub around the idea of elite performance, pairing its tire technology with athlete achievements and interviews with Team USA Olympians. The mobile game was the hub's hands-on piece: instead of just reading about high performance, fans could test their own against friends and a global leaderboard.
Solution
Download the free app and you land on a roster of 28 quick Olympic events — everything from the 100m sprint and tennis to javelin, boxing, and beach volleyball — each playable with nothing but a finger on the screen. A short tutorial screen sets up the controls before every event, then you tap, swipe, or drag your way through a few seconds of action to post a time or score. Clear the bar and you're awarded bronze, silver, or gold plus Performance Points, which unlock new events, achievements, and avatar characters and add to a growing trophy case. A practice mode lets you replay any event with unlimited restarts, while global leaderboards and a Facebook challenge feature turn the same ten-event circuit into a finger-tapping duel with friends.
- 1
Players download the free "Bridgestone Performance Trials" app from the App Store or Google Play and install it on a smartphone.
- 2
The app frames itself as a run through sporting events for gold, setting the goal of clearing events, posting high scores, and collecting medals.
- 3
A menu presents 28 Olympic-style events, from the 100m sprint, tennis, and swimming to archery, judo, dressage, and cycling, with some events locked until earlier ones are cleared.
- 4
Each event opens with a short tutorial showing the finger gesture it uses, then a brief challenge, lasting only seconds, in which the player's finger on the touchscreen is the sole input: swiping to sprint, tapping to jump, stroking to swim, or flicking to return a tennis shot.
- 5
Finishing an event awards a bronze, silver, or gold medal along with Performance Points, both logged to the player's profile.
- 6
Medals and points feed rankings and a trophy collection, letting players see how their results compare to other players.
- 7
Accumulated progress unlocks new playable avatar characters, escalating from a Bridgestone Engineer to a Superhero and finally an Ancient Athlete.
- 8
Specific in-game feats unlock shareable achievements, such as winning the 100m after starting in last place or winning a boxing match without taking a hit.
- 9
Players can link a Facebook account to challenge friends, with both sides playing the same set of ten events and their results compared head to head.
- 10
Any event can be replayed without limit in a training mode, letting players retry a discipline to improve their score and beat their personal best.
