Saturday, January 15, 2005
Charity Preview - Detroit Auto Show
Likes
- Raising $8 million for various charities. Bill Cook and the Detroit Auto Dealers Association do great things year after year.
- Seeing old friends, catching up with how our children have grown and sharing successes and failures.
- The displays....although not as ostentatious as in years past (remember the multi-level Ford Taj Mahal of years gone by?) always make the cars and the industry look fantastic. How can you not want to buy a new car? (until you see the stickers....)
- The Auto executives...as crowded as it gets, we've never had a problem saying hello and enjoying a conversation with the senior execs. It takes a lot of patience and energy to stand for hours and talk about products...late into the evening. People like Eric Ridenour (Exec VP, DaimlerChrysler) and Jeff Bell (VP Jeep/Chrysler) are always generous with their time and enthusiasm about the industry.
- Chatting with Steve St. Andre, President of Forddirect.com...about why a Porsche Turbo Cabriolet would look great in my garage...and why e-commerce is taking over the car business...finally.
- Seeing Claude Ethridge...one of my early mentors in advertising at JWT. As I told him in the Ford display...when everyone is running around yelling there's a fire, Claude's the guy calmly unreeling the firehose.
Observations
- I prefer the show without the loud entertainment/singing. The cars/trucks and concepts are the show
- The evening is too short...because of slow limo traffic most people get there late...then rush out early to get to dinner and post black tie parties and dinner. Too hectic. All of this is aggravated by the long waits for coat check etc. Many people I know spent more time in line than enjoying the actual show itself.
