Who loves working on automotive accounts...

Things keep getting worse for the general and keep getting worse for the big D.

Scary time to work on an American automotive account.

On Automotive Spy Photos

Recently, I had my year anniversary at Campbell-Ewald. And for the last year, the majority of my work has been on the Chevrolet account.

Now, many people either see the Chevy account as the kiss of death, or see it as the way to make your career. I'm probably somewhere in the middle. On the plus side you get to work on an automotive account, which for a car geek like me is absolute heaven. And, on the negative side, you get to work on an automotive account, which is stressful, difficult and puts you under constant scrutiny. I enjoy the stress of working on Chevy. I believe it forced me to be a decent marketer as fast as humanly possible. And it strengthened my journalistic, research and web skills ten fold.

I now scour RSS feeds more often than I did when I was an investigative reporter, and am constantly tapping industry sources for other info. I now go directly to the consumer to figure out my audience and think we're producing stronger stories and advertising as a result.

But what I haven't figured out yet is to cater to the spy crowd. How do I leverage the Jalopniks and the AutoBlogs of the world? I know I get excited about spy photos... how do I capture that sort of enthusiasm for Chevy vehicles. That would be the theoretical golden ticket.

The audience is a powerful one... and they can be harnessed, but the big question is, how do I get around the legal ramifications of showing pre-production vehicles masked off without upsetting the balance.

Design is everywhere

On iTunes - "Swell" - Thomas Cunningham and the Locofocos

I'm in the midst of creating a car design for the Indy Racing League. The league has opened up a design competition for their opening race this season at the Miami Homestead race. I've been very much enjoying it.

If you have any interest in marketing and branding issues via race marketing, check out the templates. I'll post mine when I'm done.

ripping off elvis costello since jan. 2007

On iTunes "The Ringing in My Ears" - Her Space Holiday

I received new glasses today. Last week was the first time in almost two years that I had even been to the eye doctor. My brother says that I look like Buddy Holly in the 50s or Elvis Costello in the 90s. I tend to lean more towards Costello. You be the judge.



I've also been working through some serving issues with Saxotech. They recently tried to move Work over to Savis servers and there have been a few issues. It has been frustrating to say the least, especially with the North American International Auto Show in town.

I've been credentialed this year and have more than enjoyed my opportunity to wander Cobo Hall taking in some of the best in automotive design. So far, I've been impressed with the Chevy Volt concept. The nice thing about this little beauty is that it will run on biofuel and electricity. The electric component would run from lithium ion batteries. Rumor has it that this one will see the production line if automotive suppliers can actually figure out how to keep the litium ion batteries cool. You can see it pictured below.




More from the show and life later this week.