Yokohama Tires is looking add a bit of personalization to its brand while maintaining its high-tech, precise, positioning.

Yokohama’s latest work focuses on how rigorously its tires are tested, in a darkly cinematic spot in which a stunt driver shrouded in darkness, speeds around a track to the dramatic strains of the Puccini opera, “Nessum Dorma.” It ends with the tagline “Made Precisely for you,” spelled out in swirling tire font.

The concept of precision has become a key attribute for Yokohama following a recent, total brand overhaul. According to Diana Colosimo, national brand manager at Yokohama Tires, the campaign reinforces the importance of Yokohama’s mission, “keeping us safe on the road, and why it matters to make tires precisely for the conditions all Canadians confront.”

“We wanted to stick with the main messaging that’s all about precision,” adds Julien Thiry, ECD at Dentsu Creative. The agency began working with the Japanese legacy tire brand last October, with this campaign being its first with the new client.

Thiry tells strategy that using a stunt driver laying down tread marks, in addition to being exciting, focused the spot on tire treads and precision movements. Shooting the stunt inside also allows the spot to be used across any season, though launching it now is timed with a time of year when roads are still treacherous and precision is an attribute that resonates widely.

In addition to expressing precision in its mass ads, the brand is also making it a key part of personalized and one-to-one customer messaging. A font using the Yokohama tire tread has been developed for ads that will directly target dealers and repeat customers by name, reinforcing the ‘”precisely for you” messaging. This concept will also be a key part of marketing Yokohama’s annual rebate offers, with other ads in radio and digital telling specific road stories that many Canadians can relate too, such as driving kids to hockey practice early in the morning.

Media buy was done internally by Yokohama’s team. The Yokohama brand is ratcheting up its presence in Canada, along with its ad spend, Thiry says.