Dodge has answered back after receiving probably what they expected, some backlash for portraying men as wusses who can't make their own decisions and treating the Dodge Challenge as a "Man's Last Stand" car. The female gender answer is a commercial that's on Dodge's YouTube channel called "We Make Getaway Cars."
The ad features a woman having her belongings thrown from a second story window by her boyfriend/husband/brother/dad??? It's not really clear what is going on, but the flannel shirt wearing woman gets into her Challenger SRT8 and roars away with onscreen copy reading "We make getaway cars."
I love the attitude of this ad, but it's not clear what it is getting away from not that it really matters. Making a fast U-Turn looks cool and the idea of getting away also a positive.
Social media is all about extending one's network and I am fortunate enough to have met Melanie Batenchuk (@BeCarChic) who has her own blog and also writes for AskPatty.com. The two of us decided a couple weeks ago to work together on a Super Bowl article covering the automotive ads. Here is the result.
Volkswagen “PunchDub”
SHE SAID: Having a brother six years my senior, my upper arm could never forget the pain it endured from the “Punch Bug” game of my childhood. There was a “Punch Bug” graveyard on the way to our Aunt and Uncle’s lake house that housed hundreds of broken down and beat up VW Bugs. My brother and I played the game every time we went to their place, both of us anxiously awaiting that lot. Whoever spotted it first not only won the game but also had the pleasure of endlessly punching his opponent in the arm.
The VW “Punch Dub” ad appealed to anyone old enough to remember the original VW Bug. It successfully spanned demographics both through the characters in the commercial and in its appeal. While memorable, I don’t think this commercial ignited a new game of “Punch Dub” in America. I doubt kids riding in their mom’s Routan today are looking for other VW’s so they can punch each other and shout a color.
HE SAID: This ad was an early favorite at the party I attended. People really enjoyed the end with Stevie Wonder and Tracy Morgan. In the beginning, it was a bit confusing to those who may not be familiar with the ‘punch bug’ game the concept is developed from, but it is effectively communicated in the 60 seconds.
Most surprising about the campaign is how VW extended the idea online with a video called “How did he play PunchDub?” where Stevie Wonder educates the viewer about a device that helps the blind “see” colors. It is a nice extension of the Super Bowl ad.
It was also nice to see VW not bring in the online personality of “Sluggy Patterson” who is currently leading the campaign through social media (see my blog post for more information.) VW realized the difference between online and TV and showcased PunchDub in a way that was more accessible to the large audience of the Super Bowl while maintaining the integrity of the campaign. This was by far my favorite ad from the industry Sunday night. It was simple, memorable and effective in communicating a passion for the brand. Plus I believe VW will build on the success of the ad as it continues to evolve the campaign.
Audi “Green Police”
SHE SAID: Audi’s commercial was much better than the PSA previews the company aired ahead of Super Bowl XLIV. I liked the rock n’ roll tune and the way Audi brought all of it together to highlight the product. Personally, I love the Audi A3 TDI – and it won Green Car Journal’s 2010 Green Car of the Year Award – so it wasn’t a tough sell from that perspective.
The German automaker was targeted greenies and car enthusiasts alike by wittily excusing the A3 TDI from a “Green Police” Eco Check Point. Car enthusiasts like me also enjoyed hearing the TDI’s exhaust and power as it navigated its way out of the checkpoint, dodging green traffic cones and speeding off into an enviro-conscious sunset.
HE SAID: In a world of Eco-Guilt, Audi decides to mock the ridiculousness of it all with a crew of police patrolmen busting yuppies and teens for all kinds of environmental mistakes. Eco-Guilt is a developing trend where people feel they are not doing enough for the environment. Even Oprah Winfrey’s “O” magazine covered the topic demonstrating there is a cultural awareness about the behavior.
Audi received some early criticism around using “Green Police” which was a phrase used to describe Nazi Germany’s police force. Very few know about the history and it became a minor issue for the brand online, but soon dissipated after most acknowledged the “Green Police” name was about environmental “policing” for those not in environmental compliance and was simply a poor naming choice by the marketing team.
Cheap Trick did the soundtrack for the ad and the situations busting people for wrong light bulbs, using plastic bottles, and choosing plastic bags at the supermarket. The ad ends on a couple high notes with the “Eco Check” police checkpoint that lets the Audi A3 TDI go ahead and with cops stopping cops for using Styrofoam coffee cups. The ad received predominantly positive buzz online, which tells me it did get its message across effectively. Overall it’s another win for the Volkswagen Group.
Dodge “Man’s Last Stand”
SHE SAID: My first thought was, “Is this the man version of ‘I am woman, hear me roar?’” From a woman’s perspective, there wasn’t much positive to say about Dodge’s commercial. Sure the music was cool and they had some great camera shots at the end, but Dodge seemed to go a little overboard with its man-centric, “women force us to suppress our true feelings and deny us the ability to have our own thoughts” theme. Unlike the man-bashing FloTV ads, the humor injected was not funny to both male and female viewers.
In fact, I was surprised that so many Super Bowl ads were focused only on the male buyer when women continue to be the bigger spenders. This is what I want to know from Dodge. I’m a woman; I like fast cars with horsepower and a sleek design. Why does he deserve to drive a Dodge Charger R/T with the 5.7L V8 and I don’t?
HE SAID: I feel like almost disqualifying myself for providing any commentary on a Dodge ad. I just feel so subjective whenever I review the latest from Auburn Hills, Michigan, but I’ll give it a try.
Of all the automotive ads on this list, this was by far the most polarizing from what I can gather across YouTube comments and Twitter conversations. People either loved some of the swipes at the elimination of manliness like the “I will carry your lip balm. I will watch your vampire TV shows with you.” Or they hated it for the ad’s attempt to insult all requests from a wife or girlfriend as if it was being anti-female.
Personally, I felt the ad followed a common theme of Super Bowl marketing: It’s okay to make fun of boring middle-aged men. It’s the last segment of the population that is fair game to mock. Can you imagine the uproar if this concept were reversed?
Women staring blankly at the camera with voiceover by Weed’s star Mary-Louise Parker saying, “I will get the kids ready for school, kiss you goodbye and rush to get ready for my job. I will pretend to understand why you care if a team wins a game. I will fake an orgasm this weekend.” Oh wait, maybe this concept does work. Now what car would go roaring down the highway in the female gender version? BMW Z4 sDrive 35i with a manual transmission to beat the pants off that automatic only offered Dodge Charger.
Honda “Crosstour Squirrel”
SHE SAID: I had to watch this ad a second time to get the gist. Sadly, the featured squirrel was a hoarder. Thankfully the Honda Crosstour’s space helped him store and organize items like an acorn, a pineapple, and a bowling trophy. I think kids and their parents probably enjoyed the commercial, but the general population may not have found this ad memorable.
The most clever aspect of this commercial was how the camera panned through the interior of the car before they showed you the exterior. So many automakers focus on the exterior design elements and expect customers to visit the dealership to see what’s inside. Honda was smart to take this approach because the Crosstour’s exterior is specific to certain tastes, but the interior’s style likely will make up for it.
HE SAID: For what it had to market, the RPA Agency did an excellent job with this ad concept. I can just imagine the creative brief: It’s an inside story. Communicate the versatility and beauty of the vehicle using its interior amenities.
The squirrel filling what appears to be a tree and ends up being the inside of a Honda Crosstour with all kinds of items is an interesting way to showcase the CUV’s space. I also really like the art direction with the sharp edges and strong use of shadows throughout the commercial.
My only negative is that it didn’t really standout for a Super Bowl ad and was forgettable when people tried to recall what they watched. I probably would’ve saved the media buy dollars and went more niche targeted since the vehicle is desirable to a very distinct customer segment.
Hyundai “10 Years Strong Featuring Brett Favre”
SHE SAID: The Hyundai Brett Favre commercial was a fantastic play on his situation and with impeccable timing. It was clear that Hyundai was comparing the certainty of their 10 year/100,000 mile warranty to Favre’s NFL retirement uncertainty. I believe their audience, although it could be perceived as just for men and football fans, was actually larger. Anyone who’s watched mainstream news on a regular basis could have picked up on the joke. The commercial was funny in a relevant, rated G, way – unlike random men walking through a field in their undies.
HE SAID: You can rarely knock relevant, ‘rarely’ because you can screw it up. Here Hyundai delivers with a play on their 10-year warranty and the longevity of football’s aging quarterback Brett Favre. The message highlights the term of the warranty in an interesting, compelling way that is also appealing to the football faithful and who doesn’t know who Brett Favre is, especially after “There’s Something About Mary.”
Hyundai “Sonata Built-by-Hand”
SHE SAID: In its crowd-surfing ad, Hyundai stressed quality and American craftsmanship by highlighting the 3,300 employees who work at its Montgomery, Ala. manufacturing facility. The ad persuaded potential buyers to consider the care and attention to detail Hyundai’s employees give to each car that comes down the assembly line, and it showed that this Korean-based automaker employees Americans to build their cars right here on our home turf.
HE SAID: Hyundai used the Super Bowl to help launch its all-new Sonata. This is one of two ads promoting the new car. Unlike the Brett Favre ad, the two Sonata ads showcase the car as part of Hyundai sponsorship of the NFL Pre-Game Show. The ad is fine as far as a vehicle launch commercial is concerned, but it is forgettable. Though that’s fine since the Sonata ads played heavily during the Pre-Game spots and were really about getting people familiar with the new sedan.
Hyundai “Painted Hyundai Sonata”
SHE SAID: This advertisement was elegant, classy, and it struck a chord with my pianist and violinist background. It was a refined way to appeal to upper class buyers by comparing the paint job process to that of the Mercedes-Benz CLS550, while indicating a much lower price tag. The audience in the room did mention that it may have been more effective had the Mercedes comparison line run on the screen for longer.
HE SAID: Of the two Sonata spots this one has a bit more appeal than the one with office workers carrying an empty body frame of the all-new car. The ad communicates a technical process in a way that is more interesting and elegant than what might have been expected when talking about paint. So it’s a well-executed product feature commercial to compliment the launch of the Sonata.
Kia “Sorento”
SHE SAID: Kia’s ad also struck a childhood note with me. The commercial reminded me of when I was a kid and believed that my stuffed animals came to life at night. Kia used the reverse logic – the stuffed creatures daydreaming of a more exciting nightlife – to appeal to its audience of busy parents and their kids.
The music was catchy and fresh; I watched the commercial again just to hear it. While Kia alluded to these children’s characters coming alive and having a good time in its teaser ads, they left you totally clueless as to how the company would incorporate them into a worthwhile Super Bowl commercial. This ad was a definite win because Kia connected its teasers with its Super Bowl debut as seamlessly as a sock monkey.
HE SAID: As a father of twin 3-year-old boys, I actually know all the characters in the whimsical, odd Kia Sorento ad. The ad played late in the game after many football fans were probably a few beers into the festivities which I’m sure made the more inebriated wonder out loud, “is that a sock monkey riding an electric bull and a robot toying doing the robot dance? Or is it time for me to put the beer down?”
The ad’s campaign line of “A Departure from the Unexpected” works well with the commercial’s concept while the music “How You Like Me Now” by The Heavy added an extra oomph in energy. It was definitely my second favorite ad from the automotive industry and the best music score for the night. It also marked the first time in over a year that I didn’t think about the Kia Hamster, which further added to the success of the ad. The Kia Soul hamsters are cute, but the brand needed to not be defined by them and this Super Bowl spot helped with that issue.
Cars.com “Timothy Richman”
SHE SAID: The “Timothy Richman” ad aired by Cars.com incorporated a more sublte vibe into the mix. The storyline was slightly far-fetched, and the ad didn’t believably link the character’s Doogie Howser intelligence to his inability to make a decision on a car. Cars.com wanted to assure everyone that, regardless of their IQ, they could feel comfortable buying a car simply by visiting their website and consulting a professional. In that sense, the commercial was a hit. I personally missed the “Timothy Richman is a life-long genius but can’t figure out how to buy a car” theme. Perhaps that is merely a reflection of my own aptitude.
HE SAID: A calming, storytelling advertisement that isn’t about being outrageous or insulting male behaviors should be a refreshing departure from most of what was shown Sunday evening. For the most part, it was a nicely executed exception to the silliness.
The ad follows all of the intelligent decisions and deep knowledge of a growing young man who finally is baffled by the process of buying a car for the first time. Fortunately, he is bright enough to turn to Cars.com for expert advice. It is a well-written commercial. The issue is that it just falls flat in the circus that is Super Bowl advertising; though, I do have to give kudos to the buy because the ad would probably be ignored on any other given day so at least it does drum up some buzz for a rather sedate brand.
I like it for its charm, but also fault it for its charm. Charm is simply lost when everyone else is going with absurd.
CarMax “Dramatic Chipmunk”
SHE SAID: The first “Dramatically Smart” ad run by CarMax was my favorite “funny” auto commercial. These ads made me want to watch the furry creatures, all with the same action line, perform again and again. My guests and I actually rewound the DVR so we could watch the prairie dog repeatedly nail his cue to glare intensely into the camera. Those beady eyes are ingrained in my memory. The commercial may not be the best representation of CarMax, but it was hilarious nonetheless.
HE SAID: When you have nothing smart to say attach your brand to a popular YouTube viral video that has over 18 million views. To me it is a dull ad that does nothing for the brand with its cheap desire to be interesting and funny of which it is neither. This was by far the worse ad from the automotive industry. Yawn.
I was having a conversation the other day with someone about how effective it is to have everyone in your company Tweeting or if it made more sense to have one branded Twitter account. The discussion immediately made me think about a presentation I saw last November at the Social Media Club of Detroit from General Motor’s Director of Global Social Media Chris Barger (Chris' presentation is available here in its entirety.)
What I heard was GM’s strategy of getting many people from across the company involved in social media. “I would much rather have 400 people from General Motors out there in the organization with 150 followers each than ever want me with 40,000” stated Mr. Barger.
The made me wonder: Does that approach make sense? Isn’t it a bit inefficient to have 400 people on social media platforms communicating for the company?
Mass Twitter
Is there a benefit to having a mass of employees on a social networking platform like Twitter?
I’m not talking about people on Twitter for their own personal benefit. I’m talking about a corporate strategy to get people engaged online for the company’s benefit. There are two primary benefits to GM’s approach:
1.) Reach: Reach is the idea of extending your audience of listeners and participants. Some believe having many brand representatives extends the network of communications.
2.) Relationships: Each person from the company is a contact and that contact will create personal relationships that extend beyond a corporate branded Twitter ID like a @GMBlogs or @Chevrolet. A person personalizes the company.
Reach
Do you really need 10s or 100s of people representing a brand? This is not so clear.
Let’s look at GM’s common relationships across its many Twitter accounts. The graph below shows several of the company representatives of GM on Twitter and the percentage of common Followers with the @GMBlogs corporate branded Twitter account. A high percentage shows the personal account has little additional reach over the brand and is unnecessary if the purpose is reach, since followers are already engaged with the company.
What is also apparent is when someone has a relatively low percentage of overlapping followers. There are a few people this applies to.
Chris Barger (@cbarger): As the lead social media person for the company, Chris does a lot of outreach with bloggers, media, and social experts at many events across the country and those relationships extend his reach beyond someone who just wants to know the latest from GM.
George Saratlic (@George_S): George is the Canadian version of Chris Barger (I know I’ll get corrected on that oversimplification.) With a different country in scope, he naturally appeals to a somewhat different audience and like Chris Barger, is involved in a lot of events that extend his Twitter network.
Patrick Reyes (@patrickreyes): Patrick is not part of the Public Relations team. He does marketing for the Buick and GMC brands. His reach is a bit more broad probably due to his interest in social media discussions and personal connections in his interests less than the Twitter account being all about work. His profile also doesn’t talk so much about what he does for GM or if he even works for the company (he does) so that may be a reason for less overlap with the brand account.
Adam Denison (@AdamDenison) & Lesley Hettinger (@lesleyhettinger): Adam is the product communications lead for the hit Chevrolet Camaro and Lesley does the same job but for the Chevrolet Cruze. With two big product launches demanding a lot of attention these two brand representatives will appeal to the product followings possibly more so than the primary brand’s following.
"Immerse and Disperse"
Personalizing relationships is a very important aspect of social media. Many debates on this topic have led to supporting the idea that names behind a brand betters the connection, since there is a real sole person behind the brand instead of just a logo. Knowing a real person also presents a personal touch with a real face and common voice. Keeping it personal helps a lot with brand image on a platform like Twitter.
A lot of companies build a team of experts and go to them for all social needs in an organization. The approach of isolating your social media people to a dedicated group does “lessen the likelihood of really dumb mistakes,” according to GM’s Chris Barger. The problem: It also makes any learnings come from the social media expert and not from another engineer or marketing person. So the social media expert becomes a conduit for third-party feedback that may not be heard by non-peers.
GM is giving people a one-year assignment to get them engaged in social media, go to events, conferences and simply live social media. This expands the knowledge and increases the expertise across the organization. Chris’s approach is “about building a capability instead of just building up one or two people.”
Conclusion
I do find GM’s approach of getting many participating in social media a great way to expand the knowledge and understanding of this new communication method impressive. I have also seen first-hand how influencers in the automotive industry gravitate to different GM representatives which increases engagement and a relationship with the brand.
There is some inefficiency, especially with accounts where there is a lot of overlap in what is being said, like said image at left, and not a lot of additional information is getting out about the brand. That said, the benefit of having your fans and influencers establish personal relationships with representatives they develop an affinity for is strong enough to not be concerned with the redundancy. Just understand there is some inefficiency with the GM approach if the people do not have a clear distinction from the general corporate account.
Volkswagen’s new advertising agency Deutsch is proving it can be as irreverent as Crispin Porter & Bogusky with their first ad campaign for the VW brand featuring a foul-mouthed senior citizen named “Sluggy.”
What's this all about? It's derived from the game of "Punch Buggy." Punch Buggy supposedly started in the 1960s and according to Wikipedia is "a car game generally played by young children in which participants lightly punch each other in the shoulder upon first sight of a Volkswagen Beetle while calling out 'Slug bug!' or 'Punch buggy!' in reference to the Beetle's nickname, the Bug."
Sluggy is fabricated as the person who started the game of slugging a person every time a VW passes by. It goes something like this: If a VW car, of any model or year, drives by you get to punch a person. Hopefully, the person being punched understands what you are doing and no one loses a tooth.
Sluggy's Videos, Tweets and Blog Posts
The videos are definitely entertaining. The concept reminds me of a popular cultural icon on Twitter called @ShitMyDadSays that features quotes from a curse ridden old man who makes outlandish comments about life.
The game comes with some rules developed by Sluggy with a companion blog and Twitter account (@SluggyPatterson) to assist people who want to learn the game. Rules include where to hit a person, three hits when seeing a VW with Hawaii license plates and many other tips for extending interest in the game.
Making the game real with evolving rules and the ability to ask questions that may spawn more rules is an excellent way to extend the online experience. First of all, it brings life to the game for people who want to play. So watch out if someone slugs you as a VW Jetta drives by.
The use of social media to ask questions, clarify rules and interact with the personality of the concept is interesting and better than most of the social media campaign outreach we usually see in the automotive industry. Here VW can have conversations with fans of the campaign instead of just simply pimping the website or YouTube video links. There is a natural conversation that exists with this idea and it lends itself well to platforms like Twitter and Posterous.
Obtuse Online Media
One area that could use some work is in the online media marketing of the campaign. I found the campaign from a banner ad on Yahoo! mail. The ad had the confusing message of "PunchDubDays" with a circle and a fist next to the text and copy saying "We're taking a hit for you."
The campaign’s message is a bit difficult to comprehend. Perhaps it's designed to be obtuse as a way to get people to learn more about PunchDubDays, but this seems weak compared to doing something a bit more playful in the ad placement. Creating some visual interest instead of the logo and campaign headline might be more compelling to draw people into the fun of the concept.
Other than the minor messaging issue, the campaign is well executed in the social space, it taps a cultural trend of listening to old men with no filter, and the writing in the videos is stronger than VW’s sister brand Audi’s Green Police campaign.
"The Green Police is, in many ways, a representation of the impact every day choices have on the environment- from choosing paper or plastic bags at the grocery store and drinking bottled water to the type of car we drive," said Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer, Audi of America. "The star of our ad is the Audi A3 TDI, awarded the Green Car Journal's 2010 'Green Car of the Year' award, and clearly a great option for customers who want to be greener without sacrificing the thrill of driving."
So is the Audi Diesel campaign not making traction? Or is this just some really obscure experiment that is acceptable during Super Bowl commercial folly? I get the make better “green” decisions to better the planet, but I don’t know how watching a bunch of fake cops talk about how many napkins I’m supposed to take when eating a burrito will increase interest in Audi’s A3 TDI. Perhaps that is coming on Super Bowl Sunday.
I get that it is supposed to be satirical, but it’s really boring. It lacks the fun and good writing of Audi’s other recent viral video concept “Meet the Beckers.”
“trying to save the planet with recycling and saving napkins is like bringing a dustpan and brush to an earthquake”
“Aren't napkins compostiable [sic], recycleable [sic] and most are made from recycled material? Sometimes environmentalists need to pick their battles. Stupid stuff like this is a waste.”
“wouldn't it be better if places just switched to cloth napkins if dining in?”
“Manbearpig approves of this message!”
The other issue is the use of “Green Police” for the campaign. The phrase "Gruene Polizei" is well known as the name used for the Nazi police force due to the green uniforms they wore. Fortunately for Audi it is well known by history buffs and not the general U.S. population; though, some articles are already getting published discussing this as a potential public relations snafu for Audi’s otherwise innocuous campaign.
Sure the Green Police title will get some negative buzz but I doubt it will have much impact on the campaign. The bigger issue is around whether this police parody will have any impact on getting U.S. consumers interested in Audi Diesels.
I have submitted a speaking topic for the first ever Ignite Detroit event coming February 25, 2010.
If you don't know what Ignite is checkout the Ignite Detroit website or view one of the better Ignite speakers on what makes a good business meme. It's basically a educating the audience in quick, efficient way with only 5 minutes and 20 slides that automatically change every 15 seconds.
I would appreciate it if you can give me a vote on Ignite Detroit's website where you can vote for my topic "How changing your car’s oil will make you a better car enthusiast." If chosen to speak, I'll definitely post a link to the video here on the site at a later date.
There is one clear leader in this month’s Automotive Facebook Fans by Brand report: Volvo. They ran some advertising campaigns developed for the Facebook platform. The first is one that’s been up a few months but was continuing to get some media dollars, Drive Around the World. The other is a lifestyle brand experience called Ice Camp that also has its own Facebook page.
The Drive Around the World has Facebook friends travel together as each friend takes over the drive like passing a baton in a race. Volvo will then donate 15,000 Euros to a charity that fights Global Warming. Obviously the game has broad appeal with the charity aspect and social enablement. Altogether Volvo saw a 421% increase in January fan numbers. Quite impressive though like many of the huge percentage changes we have seen they only started with 11,875 fans at the beginning of the month.
Most brands saw typical gains in January. GM brands saw a slowing down since backing off media spend on the platform, particularly Chevrolet and Cadillac (both had 50% gains in recent months), but this is typical and shows the difference between organic and media driven growth.
Zoom. Zoom.
Mazda saw a nice improvement this month. They also moved their Mazda North America page into the Mazda Facebook fan page which got rid of some confusion around how one follows the brand. The now retired Mazda North America fan page was more for Public Relations communications which seemed duplicative to the http://www.facebook.com/Mazda fan page.
Both MINI and Acura ran advertisements in Facebook that I caught during the month. The Acura one was for increasing fans of their ZDX vehicle page, not the primary brand fan page. Meanwhile MINI promoted their coming Countryman SUV. This shows that both brands are interested in further developing vehicle fan pages which to me seems odd since both are niche vehicles and it would be better to get consumers engaged more with the brand than an isolated product.
Toyota’s Public Relations Issue
Toyota is an interesting brand this month, not so much for its growth but it’s public relations fiasco with its faulty pedals on 8 vehicles. Currently, the Toyota fan page has a status update pointing fans to http://www.toyota.com/recall for information about the company’s response and updates. This shows that brand pages can act as another communication medium to keep consumers up to date on major announcements.
Brands be warned; one “fan” keeps posting a news video that discusses Toyota allegedly concealing and destroying information. That “fan” has posted the story five times with four posts having been deleted by the page administrators. He continues to post the story on the Toyota fan page wall. So, it works both ways and the brand should just let the post live since it is just a link to a news story and removing these posts might cause more of a PR issue.
The Auto Marketing Blog is a marketing blog analyzing various companies and their brand engagement online. It looks at efforts that affect sales, new product launches, viral campaigns, social media usage, online media choices, brand lift, and other related advertising . Within these entries I will not only share opinions on what I think brands are doing wrong (or right), but will also provide ideas to further enhance efforts that may improve your own marketing decisions.
About Christopher Baccus
I am a Senior Digital Brand Strategist with Wunderman Team Detroit where I work on digital strategy for Lincoln and Mercury automotive brands. My work approaches digital strategy from a consumer centric position and involves strategy on brand shopping sites, vehicle launches, campaign development, online media messaging, marketing goals, analysis, social media and collaboration with traditional media efforts.
I have a MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and hold a Bachelor's of Art in English Literature from Hillsdale College.
I love all things automotive. I also enjoy spending time with my family, gourmet cooking, trying to improve my bass guitar skills and am an avid reader.
