Last night’s Community Conversation “Dan Rather: Tough Questions, Tough Reporter” at St. Petersburg’s Poynter Institute was a first person smorgasbord of world events over the past half century, mostly framed in political perspective, that ended with an unexpected benediction on the need to teach America’s children – targeting the seventh grade – to deal with the real dangers of domestic propaganda.
The veteran broadcaster brought his look back and vision forward half-century’s worth of reporting on the American experience to an appreciative capacity audience that, based on the followup Q and A session, seemed focused on how the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would resolve. Continue reading ‘dan rather at poynter institute’
In a series of major management changes at Cycle World magazine this week, Senior Vice-President/Chief Brand Officer Larry Little (left) was let go August 4th, following earlier news of the departure of Vice-President Brand Publisher (formerly national Advertising Director) Paul LaBella and long time veteran national Advertising Coordinator Dottie George.
Little first joined Cycle World in 1981, as Western Advertising Manager. In 1985 he took over as National Advertising Director before being named Publisher in 1990.
Little represents one of the last connections between Cycle World founder Joe Parkhurst and the current publication’s owners, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. (HFM), publishers of Car and Driver, Road & Track, Elle, and Women’s Day, among their best known titles.
Little, well known and regarded for his role in guiding the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) as Chairman for the past seven years and board member for 13, is also integral to the success of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation in partnering with the powersports community.
labella oversaw national ad sales
LaBella, with HFM in Detroit before joining the Cycle World staff in the early ’90s, took over as National Ad Director from Little and oversaw the publication’s growth during the past two decades.
Leisner returns to the magazine after a previous stint as Western Advertising Manager in the late ’90s.
Does Corvette know their customers or what? Say you’ve got a hankering for a nifty new ZR1 or Z06. The dealership’s walked you through all the paperwork, but in order to really feel fulfilled, you’d like to lend a hand on the engine assembly line.
For a nominal $5,800 fee, all things are possible, and helping build your own blown and injected engine that you’ve already paid for once is one of those life experiences that, if you have to explain, no one would understand. Visit your local Chevy dealer for details.
In a major head turner in the world of off-road, Scot Harden, long time former marketing director at KTM, announced his departure after a short-lived reunion with his original and current employer Husqvarna.
Harden said it, “…was certainly a tough decision,” but left plenty for others to speculate on as far as where he’ll land next by saying that, “… there is some exciting new terrain for me to explore.”
His departure signals what in all likelihood will be his last involvement with the BMW owned Italian manufacturer of originally Swedish off road rides. The Southern California rider began his career as a factory rider for Husqvarna when it was still a Swedish owned company, a position he’d hold for over a decade before moving on to other OEMs.
During his time with KTM Harden scored major successes on the world rally stage, most notably his Red Bull sponsoredDakar and Baja teams, before returning to Husqvarna in 2008.
Got caught up reading a link from Poynter Institute’sDaily Beast RSS feed and noticed this tasty fresh approach to presenting online advertising – note the word wrap to the ad’s outline.
For all I know this technique’s been around awhile but it’s the first time I’ve noticed. End result: eyecatching integration and another step closer to replicating print sex appeal in an increasingly flexible online framework.
US Highland Motorcycles COO Chase Bales, company President Mats Malmberg and CFO Damian Riddoch died in a plane wreck Saturday, July 10. According to initial news reports, their twin-engine aircraft, registered to and piloted by Mr. Bales, apparantly ran out of fuel and crashed short of the runway while attempting to land at Tulsa International Airport as they returned from a Pontiac, Michigan business trip.
us highland is an american motorcycle manufacturer
US Highland had just opened a new manufacturing facility in Tulsa for their critically acclaimed build-to-order motocross, supermoto, quad, enduro and dual sport high performance motorcycles. The May 30th open house drew international coverage, much of it focused on the innovative stainless frame and engine combinations offered by the Husqvarna inspired effort originally launched in Sweden.
US Highland is a genuine American manufacturer of high performance street and offroad motorcycles. Their proprietary four-stroke multi-valve engine design, available in either single or v-twin versions with displacements ranging from 250cc to an on the drawing board 1050cc, captured the attention of the trade in large part because of the significant advancement in EFI development by the Oklahoma startup.
In an announcement e-mailed – ironically, considering – June 18, Rick Campbell, Publisher and Editor of Motorcycle/ATV/UTV Industry Magazine(s) and the Powersports International Internet Expos (PIIE), will cease operations July 1, 2010. (www.mimag.com)
Campbell is the latest casualty in print’s war of attrition with online (digital) content, further hampered by a devastated powersports market in an overall struggling economy. The main culprit remains loss of ad revenue, the lifeblood of publishing and the sauce that has historically driven the presses.
announcement ends 30-year run
While MIM’s readership remained fairly constant, the same couldn’t be said for the B2B’s clients. Campbell recently took a big redesign step of downsizing from a tabloid format to a more conventional, more economical letter-based layout. The move bought time, but no new revenue. Continue reading ‘mc mag folds; 30 years and out’
As The Motor Company continues to lurch from marketing pillar to advertising post, this new message for Jeep Chrysler nicely summons the Zeitgeist Harley historically fails to communicate. The 60-second ad from Wieden+Kennedy (Nike) introduces Jeep’s new slogan, “The Things We Make, Make Us.” Wow. Perfect. And perfectly positioned. Continue reading ‘the ad harley should have made’
ouch! this buell brand warrior skewers the motor company
This bullseye parody by halfthrottle over on YouTube has garnered nearly 150,00 views since it was posted on May 24th, and though Harley’s flailing marketing isn’t specifically called out, it’s a broad – and accurate – indictment of a brand that can’t decide what it should be.
It isn’t until the final frame that the impetus links back to Harley throwing Buell under the bus in 2009. But regardless of the inspiration, there’s no way to argue with the summary judgement of a powerful brand that’s been drifting on the wind for the past three decades. And that’s now paying what may be the ultimate penalty for a status quo strategy.
What are they thinking? Every single time BP head Tony Hayward opens his mouth it’s only to change feet! Now comes news that the geniuses behind what’s shaping up to be the most inept crisis management since the birth of the genre have hired one of the key architects of an industrial disaster that’s quickly approaching the incalculable damage stage.
During the Bush-Cheney administration – and given the way this is turning out “administration” may well have to be reconsidered – Anne Womack-Kolton hauled water as Cheney’s campaign press secretary before graduating to the Department of Energy where she led the office of Public Affairs. Continue reading ‘bp names disaster insider to deflect critics’
