Tag: Interview

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Fashion

Interview with PR Manager of Dune Shoes: Claire Cormack: Tips for Working in Fashion

Interview with PR manager of Dune Shoes, Claire Cormack. I am back with YouTube interviews but totally in a new environment, fashion. And my first interview with Claire Cormack, Dune Shoes. She gave some good tips for people who are looking forward to work in fashion industry.
Also Claire talked about the new Dune Shoes collection and you can see some heels as well ;)
More is here :)
Categories
Cars

Interview with Ben Sayer (PR Manager of ProDrive)

Today I was in Ben Sayer, PR Manager of ProDrive. If you are a bit interested on world rally championship, I am sure you know ProDrive. They worked with Porsche, Subaru, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mini. Their job is to develop cars for racing, especially for word rally championship.
For me it was a great experience to visit ProDrive and see their heritage cars. Since I was a kid, I always heard ProDrive on TV but did not have opportunity to visit their head office. Thanks to Ben, I have been to head office of the legendary ProDrive.
In interview; Ben and I talked about future world rally championship (RedBull will in WRC), how live coverage of French WRC stage will be, history of ProDrive and their engagement with manufacturers, of course social media.
It was great to hear that ProDrive appreciates the works of bloggers and doing their best for us to create our content.
It was a great interview and great experience to be in ProDrive. I am sure you will like the interview and have an opportunity to see how the head office ProDrive looks like :)

 

Categories
Cars

Interview with John Rawlings (PR Manager, VW Commercial Vehicles UK)

Today I was with John Rawlings, PR manager of VolkswagenCommercial Vehicles UK. This was my first interview in commercial vehicles segment. And I was excited; until now I was taking pictures and doing interview in passenger vehicle segment. Commercial vehicles were a bit far for me! However, I had spent more time and had more fun than passenger vehicles.
We did the interview inside a VW California van. It is based on Transporter, however California is designed for camping from A to Z. Let me start with exterior, you have an expandable tent on the right side, and also you may have it on the left side. Two camping chairs are place inside a specially designed pocket on luggage door. The roof is expandable for sleeping and for daily living. Driver and passenger seats rotate 360-degree very easily. Four adults can sleep very comfortable inside the California. Also, there is a very cleverly designed foldable table. Actually, you may use that table at home as well. There are lots of places to hang, lots of curtains, pockets and many more things. I was playing with Volkswagen California for hours and still there were something more.
As you can see, I was excited with Volkswagen California :)
With John, we talked about the difference between commercial and passenger vehicles in terms of public relations. I was wondering about this difference, because commercial vehicles are sold for commercial reasons and there might be some critical differences.  We talked about how commercial vehicles became popular in passenger vehicles segment, John told about the history of VW’s commercial vans and how they were emerged. Also, he mentioned about the technology transfer from VW passenger vehicles to commercial vehicles. Lastly, the importance of social media for commercial vehicles.
There will more coming in following days!

Categories
Cars

Interview with Mike Orford, Seat UK PR Manager

Last week I visited the Seat UK Head Office for an interview with Mike Orford, PR Manager. It was the sunniest interview I have ever made. The weather was like in Spain and totally matching with the Seat!
With Mike Orford, we talked about future of Seat, new Ibiza with amazing design touches by the former Lamborghini design director. Seat Ibiza’s fuel filler cap! The Ecomotive brand of Seat that is concentrated on low CO2 emissions and better fuel economy. Also I didn’t miss the Seat Mii, the new city car with amazing spacious interior, super-efficient 1-lt engine. And avoid congestion in London thanks to low CO2 level! 
Lastly, Mike talked about how he perceive the social media for automotive industry and how he manages the Seat UK’s Twitter account, which is started on 2009 after a MIPAA Social Media Workshop. And great explanation of the difference between marketing and public relations by Mike Orford; “marketing talked at customers and say the message, public relations engage with journalist and try to influence and put the best”.

And more!

Categories
Cars

Interview with Charles Morgan (Morgan Motor Company)

Today I was in Morgan Motor to have an interview Charles Morgan. It was second time in a car factory; but first time for a very niche brand. Morgan is one of the oldest car company in the world and loyal its original roots. For many years, Morgan managed to stay niche and did not extend the brand like some other car companies did, thus this made Morgan a very exclusive brand. 
Let’s move onto factory, the manufacturing is totally done by hand as you can see from the pictures. There are not robots, which kills the emotional factor of a sport car manufacturing. I think this is one of the most important factor for a niche and exclusive sport car. Being manufactured by hand! Unfortunately, there are not many cars are made like this and Charles explains why!
The Morgan cars are made by aluminium alloy and wood is used a supportive structure. The most interesting part is the wood manufacturing. I think you cannot smell the wood in none of the car manufacturers except Morgan. Don’t think that Morgan is made from wood, they use it as a supportive structure and also it makes the Morgan a very unique car. The process of wood making is great to see. It shows you how the cars were made in the past; nowadays it is not that hard to spot a robot is making a car but did you ever see how they shape a wood!?! Probably no! However if you have time, I strongly recommend you to visit Morgan’s factory tour to see all these manufacturing processes. In most of the car companies, you cannot even enter inside. But, Morgan makes a great tour and they explain every single detail! If you want to know more, you need to go :)
During this tour, the manufacturing of Morgan reminded one thing. It is made like a luxury shoes. If you order or buy a luxury shoes, they are made by hand through complicated processes like in Morgan.

With Charles Morgan, we talk about his media experience, heritage of Morgan, three-wheel Morgan and its story, and his experience to across US with a three-wheel Morgan. Also, future of Morgan and I cannot ignore the social media. Charles Morgan is one of the most active person in Twitter from automotive world. If you want to follow him, here is the Twitter address (@charlesmorganuk). Lastly, he explained the partnership with BMW and Morgan. 
I am not going to write everything to here, you need to watch the interview for more :)

For more photos: Cars & Life Facebook Page

Morgan Website
Morgan Factory Visit

Categories
Cars

Interview with Kim L. Palmer: Discovery 4’s Trip to Chernobyl

Last week I have attended the Jaguar Land Rover’s PR event and guess who I met? Kim Lawrence Palmer (Senior Press Office at Land Rover), one of the team members of Journey of Discovery from Birmingham to Beijing, however he attended to stage where they visited Chernobyl!
One day ago, I wrote about the 1.000.000thDiscovery 4’s journey to Chernobyl and I was thinking, is it possible to meet someone from the team? And it happened! So, I took this opportunity with Kim and did an interview.
We talked about the Chernobyl, what he saw, how he felt and details of the journey. Probably I will never have chance to meet with someone who visited the Chernobyl.
And thank you very much Kim to take time for the interview during the tight schedule.
Here is the interview!
Journey of Discovery is a fund raising project and here is the information.

The Journey of Discovery expedition aims to raise £1,000,000 (GBP) for Land Rover’s Global Humanitarian Partner, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The money will be used to support a much needed water sanitation project in Uganda(www.landrover.com/million).


Pictures’ Copyrights
Land Rover

Categories
Cars

Interview with Roger Crathorne (Mr. Land Rover)

Yesterday I attended to Jaguar Land Rover’s PR Event. I had the opportunity to experience with various Jaguar and Land Rover models. However, and the most important moment was meeting up with Technical PR Manager of Land Rover, Roger Crathorne (as known as Mr. Land Rover). Roger has been working in Land Rover for 49 years; he started from the junior level and worked in different positions in Land Rover during the years. His nearly half a century of experiences made him the most experienced off-road specialist and engineer in the business. All those years, he worked as engineer for the first generation Range Rover, and developed the four-wheel drive system, transmission and drive train. Later on he was involved with the Discovery project and also took important roles during the development.
He has a well-respected experience and knowledge on four-wheel drive vehicles and currently works at PR department to explain the Land Rover’s technologies to us. You will find more details during the interview. We talked about why Land Rover never introduced front differential lock, the details of the journey from Birmingham to Geneva with the first generation Defender and 1.000.000th Discovery 4, how he perceives the contemporary SUV market and experience at Land Rover. We didn’t skip the Mercedes G-Wagon, Porsche Cayenne and BMW X6!

Categories
Cars

Interview with Gavin Ward (BMW UK)

Today I visited the BMW UK Head Office for an interview with the PR Manager, Gavin Ward. Before I started, I want to mention one thing. If you are a real BMW enthusiast, you will love their parking space. There is only one car existing, and it is BMW. I have been to many car companies but I have never seen this type of fleet.
Since now, I did couple of interview and additionally I met with many PR managers from automotive industry. Most of them have similar working experience, the most exceptional ones have an engineering degree and moved to PR business. However, Gavin has an extra ordinary background! He has a journalism background, there is nothing unusual with this. But, he was war correspondent during the Kosovo war. Being a journalist during a war is probably one of the hardest jobs on earth. You need to search for news, then prepare it, send it and at the same time try to save your life. I think he is the calmest PR manager in this business, whatever happen cannot be as tough as those years.
This interview also was an opportunity for me to ask two questions that are inside my mind for last fifteen years! Why BMW never revealed a M7 and what happened to 8-Series. You will find the answers during the interview. Also, we talked about the Brutus. A car powered by an air plane engine. And explained why it was made!
I cannot skip the social media, he emphasised on the critical points of social media. BMW has one of the biggest fan communities in automotive industry and these fans can be their customers. Therefore, it places BMW brand into a different position. Ferrari might have more fans than BMW but, there is a little opportunity for fans to own a Ferrari. That’s the diversifying character of BMW community, a fan can be a customer. Therefore, I was curious how the social media has influence on the sales figures of BMW.
As usual, I asked what car he drives :) And I spotted a Bond car, BMW Z8!
And lastly, if you spot a BMW prototype on British roads don’t be shocked!

For more photos: Cars & Life Facebook Page

Categories
Cars

Interview with Rob Halloway (Mercedes-Benz UK)

Today’s interview is with Rob Halloway, PR Manager of Mercedes-Benz UK. He is the person responsible for the passenger and commercial vehicles, and one of the most active Twitter users from the automotive industry. We know each other through the Twitter and the MIPAA.
From the beginning, Mercedes-Benz did a great hospitality for me. They picked me up from the train station with a Mercedes C350 Coupe. It was a fully loaded vehicle with everything, radar guided cruise control, blind spot system, traffic sign recognition, and ventilated seats! Five-star transportation.
Mercedes-Benz HQ is always amazing place for someone, who likes cars. They have many different types of vehicles in one place, from trucks to AMG high performance vehicles. Actually, my best piece was Lego Unimog that has more than one thousand parts and takes around at least six hours to build it!
With Rob, we talked about the new Mercedes vehicles. In 2011 and 2012 Mercedes revealed many new vehicles; SLK, CLS, SL, M-Class, B-Class and Actros truck. He summarised each vehicles’ unique feature and explained the new crash prevention system in B-Class.
In addition, we talked about the social media, its role in automotive industry and whom should manage it!
And, his journey with the Actros truck for a camping trip! And you will see what he drive at work ;)

Again, thank you very much to all Mercedes-Benz team for their great hospitality :)

The Actros camping post is here!

More photos: Cars & Life Facebook Page

  

Interview with Ian Cook, Pop Bang Colour

Today I was with Ian Cook known as Pop Bang Colour for an interview. I was lucky to have an interview with him, probably ten years later, he will be so busy and famous it will take ages to contact with him. Why I said this? Ian draws his paints without the usual brush. He uses something else! Remote controls cars and tyres. Yes, all his paints are done by them. In addition, he is the only person on earth draws like this.
Therefore, I am not surprised how his work became so popular in last couple of years. He created a new dimension in art, no one else achieved before. And I pretty sure that His unique talent is going take place in art history, he will become more famous and ten years later I have to wait for months to have an interview with him.
I cannot say I am an art person and judge the paints. I am just a normal person, no talent for arts. However, when I see his works, I cannot imagine how he creates so many details with just remote control cars and tyres. We all can have these materials very easily but I am pretty sure that, we cannot paint something proper. Controlling the remote control and constructing story in paint is a very complicated process but he achieves this perfectly.
He works is not limited with paintings, also has contemporary sculptures. I had chance to see his works and took some pictures. They are also amazing, I think this type of talent comes from birth. People like Ian have these abilities, receiving the properly education makes them perfect.
For more check the interview and visit his website! Pop Bang Colour and Twitter @PopBangColour
And thank you very much for Harvey Nichols Birmingham Cafe and Studio Venues.
For more photos please check Cars & Life Facebook Page