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Archives for 2009

Taking Taxpayers for a Ride

November 30, 2009 By

blogcdn.com

GENERAL MOTORS raised more than a few eyebrows last week by announcing plans to repay what it describes as $6.7 billion in outstanding loans to taxpayers. So provocative was this announcement that it all but overshadowed the real news of the day: G.M. had lost $1.2 billion since exiting bankruptcy in July, and its fourth-quarter results were expected to be worse.

The company’s chief executive, Fritz Henderson, called the repayment plan “a personal commitment.” The Obama administration, wardens of the 60 percent taxpayer stake in the company, declared itself “encouraged” by the news. Many commentators followed suit. But in the premature rush to herald the beginning of the end of the government’s involvement in the auto industry, a number of key considerations were left out. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: Bailout, Boneyard, Ed's Boneyard, New York Times Tagged With: , , First published on November 30, 2009 7:10 pm

Autobiography of BS©: How Car Catalogs Killed Creatives

June 21, 2009 By
VW Scirocco GTI 1976

Three severely camouflaged VW Scirocco GTI 1976 were flown to Los Angeles

Did you ever hold a 70s vintage Volkswagen car catalog in your hands? You know, the ones without a picture of a car on the cover? Just “The Rabbit,” “Der Käfer,” “Le Golf?” One distinct color per model, that’s it? Yes, those were the handiwork of yours truly. Making them was dangerous business. Those catalogs left dead bodies behind. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: advertising, Autobiography Of BS, Bertel Schmitt, Bertel's Boneyard, Boneyard, Features Tagged With: , , First published on June 21, 2009 9:50 am

Autobiography of BS©: How I Lied About The Golf

June 7, 2009 By
Golf I

The accidental king of the hill: Golf I

1973, at the tender age of 24, I defected to the enemy. BS, the former muckraking journalist, became a copywriter in a hotshot advertising agency. As the saying went, I didn’t sell out, I cashed in: As a junior copywriter, I was paid twice as much of what I had made before as the editor in chief of a muckraking journal.

Raking muck had paid shit. Advertising was paradise. Work was easy, no more nerve-racking and downright dangerous undercover research, just sit and write. Powered by pilsener. Soon, my salary multiplied. Times were good. Until the world nearly ran out of gas … [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: advertising, Autobiography Of BS, Bertel Schmitt, Bertel's Boneyard, Boneyard, Features Tagged With: , , First published on June 7, 2009 2:35 pm

Autobiography of BS©: How I Violated the One China Principle

May 31, 2009 By

Parade - Picture courtesy cdn.turner.com

For more than ten years, every word a certain top executive of Volkswagen uttered in public was pure BS. I wrote his speeches. I wrote articles under his name. I even ghostwrote a book for him. I studied his mannerisms, his way of thinking and talking. He slowly but surely slipped into the role for which I wrote the script. He’s retired now, but still is a sought-after speaker on the conference circuit.

He liked to live and work on the edge, and I gladly walked him there. We had a strange symbiotic relationship. His trust in me bordered on the obscene. Even before major strategy announcements, his brief for the speech usually amounted to: “You know what to write.” He rarely did read the speech before giving it. He always delivered it with great aplomb and usually to thundering applause. I could put practically any word into his mouth. Power that had to be used wisely. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: advertising, Autobiography Of BS, Bertel Schmitt, Bertel's Boneyard, Boneyard, Features Tagged With: , , First published on May 31, 2009 1:54 pm

Autobiography of BS©: The World’s Most Elaborate Duck Trap

May 24, 2009 By
Bugattin Ehra Lessien - Picture courtesy Autoweek.com

Years later, on the Ehra-Lessien test track

From 1973 through 2005, my job was to create excitement for Volkswagens in the hope that people would buy them. The job had its ups and downs. We loved facelifts and hated totally new cars. With a facelift, we could travel to attractive and warm places for the photo shoot. “Because of the sun.” Not to mention the beach. And the nice amenities of the Hotel Negresco in Nice. With a facelift, we could tool around in broad daylight, and nobody would bat an eye or even think of snapping a picture. Which magazine would publish the spy shot of a re-designed bumper? Totally new cars were top secret. Not allowed to travel outside the confines of the VW factory. Even there, constantly under tarps. The only places we could photograph them were at the in-house photo studio or at the VW proving grounds in Ehra-Lessien. Wait until the animal rights people will hear this story. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: advertising, Autobiography Of BS, Bertel Schmitt, Bertel's Boneyard, Boneyard, Features Tagged With: , , First published on May 24, 2009 1:08 pm

Autobiography of BS©: How I Invented Interactive Video

May 17, 2009 By

apple II

In the late 70s, after Volkswagen had launched their new worldwide dealer network under the mysterious V.A.G. moniker, the V.A.G. dealers received a strong voice, their own national advertising campaign and a renewed focus on the importance of service. No wonder. Then as now, after-sales is the VW dealer’s number one profit center. The profit contribution of parts alone was often 30 percent or more. In 1979, for the first time, VW invited the service guys to the IAA auto show in Frankfurt. The suits asked me to come up with a spectacular concept for their debut. My first idea: fix cars live, Formula 1 pitstop style. Everybody liked it—until someone found out that the maximum height of the booth was 2.5 meters, way below the heights of the lift. Scratch that idea. Then I had an odd thought: Why not do it virtually? Except that virtual reality had yet to be invented. This was my contribution to the cause. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: advertising, Autobiography Of BS, Bertel Schmitt, Bertel's Boneyard, Boneyard, Features Tagged With: , , First published on May 17, 2009 12:47 pm
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