February 16th, 2010

What Car Are You?

If you were a car what would you be? Take this fun quiz and find out!

The quiz claims to show you “your true inner vehicle.” So, do you have the heart of a Aston Martin Vantage or the soul of a Lamborghini Murcielago? See how you measure up.

It seems as if most people are a Corvette (who knew?) and coming in second is the Porsche 911. Apparently very few folks resemble the Porsche Boxster as it landed last on the list—probably best.

Our profile was a Ferrari 360 Modena.  This is what they had to say about us: “sensuous, exotic and temperamental.” Seems pretty close to us.

February 15th, 2010

Better in the Bahamas: Especially for Young Auto Lovers

Meet Valerie Lightbourne, the first female auto mechanics teacher in the Bahamas. Ms. Lightbourne has been teaching for about 15 years and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

She started out teaching other subjects but eventually turned her hobby into her profession. Not only does she love cars but also loves teaching her young students whom she refers to as “automotive technicians” and “car doctors.”

Ms. Lightbourne, we wish you were around when we were in school but we’re happy to hear you’re involved in improving the lives of so many young people. In honor of all your hard work, we would like to present you with the DLAW teacher of the year award!

February 14th, 2010

Auto-Attraction:    Buy A Car and Fall in Love

Looking for a date this valentines day? Then get a car immediately! According to Diamond, an insurance company in the UK, 36% of people are more attracted by the type of car someone drives. Unfortunately it will cost you, and women, it will cost you more. The Diamond poll found that women were most attracted to men in an Aston Martin whereas men were most attracted to women in a Ferrari. Go figure!

So who is more superficial—men or women? Click below to find out more!

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February 12th, 2010

Meet Antonella, She’s Not Real But She Loves Her Ford Fiesta

James Cameron, what have you done to us? It looks like Avatar has come to Detroit. We would like to introduce you to Antonella, she is 28, really hot and does not exist. Oh, and she’s the new inspiration for the Ford Fiesta.

Ford has taken to creating imaginary personalities to design their cars around. That’s right, these personalities are not real people. According to the New York Times, “Antonella cares more about the design and function of her telephone than that of her car.” In other words, Antonella is the usual female stereotype that car companies imagine: a ditzy idiot who cares more about the checking Facebook on her iPhone rather than buying a fun, cool, fast car. We’d also like to ask Ford, why exactly did you decide to create a muse to design a car for who does not even like cars?

“Invented characters get everyone on the same page,” Said Moray Callum, executive director of Ford Americas design. “Personalizing gives context to the information we have. Sometimes the target demographics are difficult to relate to by, say, a 35-year-old male designer.” Ok, but who is creating these avatars then? Callum claims the avatars are created from demographic research about the cars target customer. But is this a chicken and egg scenario? Perhaps if you market a car to a smart, savvy woman, who at the very least enjoys driving then perhaps that is the customer you will attract.

Something tells us Ford is not going to change its strategy soon since the Fiesta is Ford’s best-selling car in Europe, and in the first half of 2009 it was the No. 2 seller over all in that market.

We hate to be disappointed in Ford especially since we were so impressed by Christina “Chrissy” Rodriguez, the Vehicle Dynamics Development Engineer for the 2010 Ford Taurus. Rodriguez has been working at Ford for 12 years (and she’s only in her 30s!).

CNN described her as “equal parts engineer, race driver and vehicle psychologist.” Born in Cuba, Rodriguez grew up in Puerto Rico where her father was a chemical engineer. But she says it was her mother who encouraged her toward a mechanical pursuit.

Clearly she’s a superstar at Ford given that they trusted her with their highly anticipated car. Perhaps her road hasn’t always been an easy one but certainly she has earned the role she has now. Rodriguez seems to love her job and has said about her current role “I know what a car should feel like, and I don’t get questioned anymore.”

C’mon Ford, get it together, more Christinas and less Antonellas!

February 12th, 2010

Sponsored Ad: Bullrun on Speed!

Are you ready for the biggest and baddest show of the year? Well it’s coming, and the only place you can see it is on SPEED!

12 Teams composed of 2 drivers will set off on an epic journey that takes them across America in the most extreme and hardcore road rally known to man! This is Bullrun, where the motto is: Go BIG or go home! Each episode teams will battle it out on the road and in high-octane, explosive challenges competing for survival, and the grand prize of $200,000.

Ego’s will ignite and brawls are almost certainly going to follow! With the competition this season as fierce as ever, it’s important to know who your allies are, and who not to let out of your sights. Get ready for the most explosive show you’ve ever seen on television!

Catch the Bullrun preview show on tonight at 10:30pm Eastern/ 7:30pm Pacific and the premiere on Feb. 18th at 10:00pm Eastern/ 7:00pm Pacific. Get ready for One Helluva Ride!

February 11th, 2010

Trend Alert: Cars Designed for Women

We believe that we will start to see cars designed for specific groups and in particular cars designed for women. A contest was held to “design a car for the modern woman.”

The winning car seems more stereotypical than modern however, assuming that women neither know nor care about cars. Here are some of the features: Access to fluids without opening the hood, a drawer in the back that holds the spare tire, and the worst detail is a flower design on the wheels. It’s no surprise that this “woman’s car” was actually designed by a man, Marcelo Aguiar from Lisbon. Listen, we applaud him for trying.

Click here to view other contest entries. Not surprisingly many were designed in pink.

February 10th, 2010

Fashion Designer (and Nomad) Catherine Malandrino For BMW

Fashion designer Catherine Malandrino is the newest spokesperson for BMW, specifically she is promoting the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo. The ad campaign was shot by Norman Jean Roy, a fashion and celeb photographer who is a staple at Vanity Fair. The ads appeared in various Conde Nast publications including Vanity Fair, W and The New Yorker.

For once a car company has gotten it right, kudos BMW! We would like to award you our Drive Like A Woman seal of approval! Here you have a successful woman, who travels the world, who has built her own company, who is a mother, who is fashionable, smart, savvy, and…loves driving her car! Is this really so hard for you car execs to figure out?

Granted the car Malandrino is endorsing is not exactly a high performance sports car but at least it’s not a mini van. We still have some ground to cover but this is a start. Clearly BMW is trying to capitalize on all those women out there who have never been marketed to and we support this effort.  Although it is equally as clear that there is a long way to go in the industry, as evidenced by The Auto Marketing Blog which referred to this demographic as “the Neiman Markus MILF.” Shame on you! You should feel free to change your name to the Auto Marketing To Men Blog.