Tokyo - The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced today that it has established a new official Company page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/YokohamaRubber) as part of its efforts to strengthen information sharing via social networking services (SNS). The new YOKOHAMA Facebook page began operating on June 2. As part of Yokohama Rubber’s growing SNS strategy, back in April the Company also established an official YOKOHAMA channel (http://ch.nicovideo.jp/yokohamarubber) on the “niconico channel” operated by Japan’s leading video hosting service, “niconico”.

The YOKOHAMA Facebook page features a wide variety of informative content that cannot be transmitted via the usual news releases, including new product information, pre-launch notifications, video contents, motor sports news, and event/campaign information. Information of potential interest to overseas readers is available in English on this webpage.

The official YOKOHAMA channel was launched back in April in tandem with the Company’s participation in the “niconico chokaigi 3,” the annual convention-type event. The first video program posted to the official YOKOHAMA channel was a “chokaigi 3 Yokohama Rubber Special” providing a detailed look inside the GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU Z4 race car that won the first two GT300 Class races in the SUPER GT 2014 series while running on YOKOHAMA’s “ADVAN” racing tires. The video provides the viewers with a rare behind-the-scenes look at the circumstances that led to the creation of the race car based on the BMW Z4. The second video program posted to the channel introduced the Yokohama Rubber booth at “niconico chokaigi 3.” The Yokohama Rubber booth at “niconico chokaigi 3” attracted a large number of visitors and enabled them to get a hands-on experience with YOKOHAMA tires through a variety of events, such as a racing tire change demonstration and a game using tires. The two programs were broadcast live on the “niconico live channel,” with the first program attracting 24,000 viewers in one hour and the second program watched by about 125,000 viewers over the two days of “niconico hokaigi 3.” Encouraged by the overwhelming popular reaction, Yokohama Rubber plans to step up its offerings of live broadcasts and video distribution on the official YOKOHAMA channel.

With young people moving away from newspapers and television as their key sources of information, Yokohama Rubber has increasingly turned to SNS as a means of distributing information to the many young car aficionados using SNS. In 2011, the Company established official sites on Twitter (http://twitter.com/YRC_Global) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/TheYokohamaRubber). By expanding its SNS strategy to include Facebook, the world’s largest SNS, and “niconico channel,” Yokohama Rubber plans to accelerate its transmission of information via SNS. Leveraging the wide reach of SNS to transmit content of interest to fans should raise awareness of Yokohama Rubber and enhance its brand image.