Goodyear laments struggling Dunlop brand

It's just another example of being careful what you wish for. Goodyear always wished that they could have a line of cool, sporty tires that would go beyond its traditional vanilla customer base. Their wish came true in 1999 when they picked up Dunlop, a brand known in Europe for its presence on the wheels of luxury, sports and race cars, for a cool $1 billion. But now under Goodyear's ownership Dunlop has been sucking a lot of wind, selling poorly compared to its competitors and suffering from a dearth of marketing support. The main problem, apparently, is that most Americans have never heard of Dunlop, and won't purchase an unknown quantity despite an excellent reputation and economical price. Goodyear has finally developed a plan to market Dunlops to a specific type of customer: a young, hip, import-driving whippersnapper they sum up as "Euro-cool." Again, the sticking point in this kind of campaign will be that most Americans are neither "Euro" nor "cool." Discuss.