How Goodyear’s Comms Team Marked 100 Years of the Blimp

Which icon has served as an aerial PR vehicle for 100 years, helped raise tens of millions of dollars for nonprofits and causes, and still inspires a sense of wonder and nostalgia in all who see it?

It’s the Goodyear Blimp. 

Stemming from the creation of its Aeronautics Department in 1910, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has been building and flying lighter-than-air, dirigible-shaped craft for more than 110 years. In June 1925, its blimp Pilgrim first took flight. Filled with helium, it was far safer than the hydrogen gas, which the Hindenburg and its sister ships from Germany used. 

Soon, it made appearances at sports events, beginning with the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. You’re at a major sporting event whenever the Goodyear Blimp is flying overhead. By the 1950s, blimps were equipped with television cameras, providing aerial videography of locales they frequented, such as the Rose Bowl Parade and the Rose Bowl game on New Year’s Day.

Goodyear is a Fortune 250 company with nearly $19 billion in revenues last year, but it was just a small staff of a half-dozen public relations and other professionals who began planning for the Blimp’s centennial early last year. Just coming off a much bigger campaign — Goodyear’s 125^th anniversary — the team centered on a few goals. 

• Leverage the anniversary to engage all target audiences in celebrating Goodyear blimps — past, present and future — with activities which would drive the most value for the Goodyear brand.
• Tap into the public’s interest in the Goodyear Blimp by bringing the blimp fleet closer to fans in 2025 through expanded aerial tours and passenger flight giveaways.
• Build awareness of the Goodyear Blimp to younger audiences through social media, and to connect the icon with Goodyear’s core product, tires.

“Goodyear underwent a leadership change in 2024, and from our new CEO on down, leaders continued to see the blimp as a valuable icon,” says Julianne Roberts, senior director, global content and channels. “It appeals to every generation. If you’re a one-year-old or if you’re 99, seeing the blimp puts a smile on your face.” 

Using an unparalleled asset

One main objective of the centennial was to better use already-existing content and opportunities. Goodyear has three U.S.-based blimps in Ohio, Florida and California, making 100-plus visits to major events in a typical year.

“We’ve had social media channels (for the blimp) as standalones, but we didn’t have dedicated resources focused on them,” explains Leah Eaton, manager, airships communications and influencer relations. “For example, we’d post photos that blimp pilots took on social media, but no one was coordinating this, culling and curating dedicated content for specific purposes. We saw doing this as a huge opportunity.”

From New Year’s Day on, that changed, as Goodyear’s PR/comms teams dedicated themselves to building awareness of and interest in the blimp itself. Blimps expanded visits to nontraditional sports like Wrestlemania, and also to cultural events such as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 

Tires fall into the unsought goods classification of consumer products. Customers buy them every three to five years, based on driving habits and treadwear. Understanding that, Goodyear developed a simple yet memorable five-word connection — Blimps are cool. Buy tires — for the centennial.

“I’d get messages from social media fans asking the Goodyear Blimp to follow them,” Eaton says. “I reply by saying, ‘I’ll follow you if you send me a photo of your receipt for Goodyear tires.’ And they do.”

Goodyear ran a national consumer sweepstakes in the spring, offering customers a chance to fly on the blimp if they purchased tires. Roberts points out that only 0.00006% of the public has ever flown on a blimp. A flight in one is highly coveted.

“The contest brought us an uptick in sales and huge interest on the internet,” Roberts says. “We knew from tracking that more than 13,000 sales came directly from the sweepstakes.”

Generational and geographical goals 

Eaton wanted the Goodyear Blimp centennial to connect with younger audiences who devote hours of time each day to TikTok, Instagram and other social media channels.

“We weren’t just after sports fans or racing fanatics, but after all parts of younger demographics,” she says. “We have really evolved our messaging for younger ages with our brand and voice. This isn’t easy to do, but we felt that was an important untapped demographic for us.”

Over and above the social media emphasis, Goodyear employed more traditional methods such as promotional merchandise to connect the blimp’s centennial to younger demographics. The “Blimps are cool. Buy tires” messaging adorns T-shirts, Koozies and bumper stickers. 

Appearances of the blimp fleet have also been scheduled to reach important audiences. Two of the blimps went to Oshkosh, Wisc., for the Experimental Aircraft Association in late July. Another blimp appeared in Chicago in early August for the Lollapalooza Festival.

Additionally, Goodyear wanted to reach global audiences. “We rented a blimp in China, wrapped it to look like the Enterprise from decades ago, and flew it over Shanghai during the summer celebration there,” Roberts says. “It received significant media attention and a lot of social media interest too.”

“I’ve received social media inquiries from people who live in Latin American, Turkey, and other nations, some asking whether the Goodyear Blimp is even real,” Eaton muses. “One of the great things about social media is that it breaks down barriers all over the globe, and it’s introduced new audiences to the Blimp and maybe to Goodyear too.”

A 13-million-impression birthday party

So how does a company convey a “cool” message to a younger audience? Through a unique birthday party where the only invitees are mascots.

“Every kid has wondered how to get the cool kids to come to their birthday party,” Eaton says. “It hit me — why not have a birthday party for the Goodyear Blimp, where the only invitees are mascots?”

Goodyear’s PR team established parameters. The mascots would have to pay their own way to get to Akron for the party, which would culminate in an airborne ride on a blimp. The mascots (through their social media assistants) could do all the posts and photos they wanted of the event.

And they showed up in droves. Scrub Daddy, Duo the Owl, Wendy, the Kool-Aid Man, the Teletubbies, and Oreo were among the attendees. 

“The weather didn’t cooperate, and we couldn’t fly that day, so we settled for a dance party, tug-of-war contest, photo booth, a birthday cake, and, of course, a Kool-Aid toast,” Eaton says in describing her Plan B for the event. 

“The Goodyear team rewrote the book for celebrating corporate milestones with its Blimp Birthday Celebration,” says Kevin Saghy, APR, founder and principal of Earned Impression, a full-service communication and marketing consultancy.

“Seeing the Kool-Aid Man dance with Teletubbies in a blimp hangar is enough to stop anyone’s scroll,” Saghy says. “Not only did millions of people watch and engage with the content, but dozens of other iconic brands and mascots commented with envy. What a phenomenal way to tap into those large consumer audiences.”

Eaton says that the Blimp Birthday Celebration alone had 13-million media impressions. This is over and above media coverage about the centennial itself, which appeared in most news network channels and in The New York Times, USA Today, and dozens of other newspapers. Goodyear estimated that it has had more than 250 million media impressions about the blimp thus far.

Community, employee relations ties

When the Pilgrim first took flight in 1925, Akron was one of America’s fastest-growing cities due to the burgeoning rubber industry. Four major tire manufacturers — Firestone, General Tire, Goodrich and Goodyear — had their headquarters and major manufacturing operations there. 

“Companies sent recruiters to West Virginia, Kentucky and other states to bring men to Akron to work in the rubber factories,” says David Liebarth, president of the Akron History Center. “Other companies later fled the area, but Goodyear kept its headquarters here, and its racing tires are still made in Akron.”

Liebarth points out that Akron, innovation and aviation, especially the lighter-than-air variety, became inexplicitly intertwined. “Goodyear made the wings for most airplanes in Akron in the 1910s and 1920, and it created the infrastructure for blimps in the U.S.,” he adds. 

Children’s athletic teams in Akron have the blimp adorning uniforms. Some signage into the city contains images of the blimp. “No other city in the US has an identity tied so closely to an American icon as Akron is to the Goodyear Blimp,” Liebarth adds.

So, it was most appropriate when Goodyear brought its airships from California and Florida to Akron for a three-day centennial celebration this past June 3-5. The Akron-based blimp, named Wingfoot One, was wrapped early in 2025 with the color (gray) and company logo from 1925 to resemble Pilgrim. All three blimps flew over downtown Akron during Mayor Shammas Malik’s “state of the city” address.

On its way back to California in early August, Goodyear’s Wingfoot Three blimp engaged in employee relations activities. It made stops at Goodyear manufacturing plants in North Carolina, Kansas and Oklahoma. Employees saw the blimp up close, and some even received flights.  

What’s next

In December, Goodyear and its long-standing partner, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, will collaborate on a “Toys for Tots” collection. People who donate new toys and games for Toys for Tots can do so in person and see a blimp at their bases in California, Florida and Ohio.

Goodyear also continues to give Blimp Certificates to nonprofit and charitable causes. Featured as a charity auction ride for two, each Certificate usually brings in at least $3,500 and sometimes $30,000 or more, depending on the cause and event. The certificates themselves resulted in over $1.5 million donated to charitable causes over the past five years. 

Roberts points out that the heightened awareness about and social media interest over the Goodyear Blimp has created a “new normal” for its PR/comms team.

“This is the way we’re operating now, and how we will be promoting our blimps from now on,” Roberts says. ϖ