Category: Blog

Our video man Nigel heads to the Jungle

Screen shot 2013-12-07 at 11.01.37Blackball Media’s video team doesn’t just produce motoring films – they can turn their hand to pretty much anything. And if anything proves that, it’s this!

Nigel Swan, our head of video, recently headed to Brazil to film the Jungle Marathon. This gruelling event crosses 200km of the Amazonian rainforest and has been voted the ‘World’s Toughest Endurance Race’ by CNN.

Hearing the stories Nigel came back with, we don’t doubt that’s anything but the truth. While he dodged snakes and handbag-sized spiders, the competitors had it even tougher – they had to run the course!

Nigel said: ‘It was an incredible event. At times it was pretty scary, but I’ll never forget the inspirational athletes who battled some tortuous conditions to complete the marathon.’

Blackball Media was commissioned to produce a round-up video of the event.

The footage Blackball Media shot for the organisers was also used by news channels across the world, including Sky News Sports, Hungarian Euronews, Eurosport, Netherlands TV, ABC News as well as Spanish and French sports channels.

On top of the showcase film you can watch below, we are also putting together a longer film for the DVD, which will be offered to competitors.

If you’re interested in commissioning the Blackball Media video team for ANY video job call (023) 9252 2434 or contact us via the website here.

Opening sequence from Blackball Media on Vimeo.

How dealers and manufacturers made most of our Used Car Awards

11203375015_a01a0be3fdIt’s just over a week since Blackball Media hosted the Car Dealer Magazine Used Car Awards, sponsored by Black Horse, and as the stress ebbs away and the hangovers subside, our thoughts are already turning to next year.

But before we do, it’s worth taking a quick look at how – in just year two – these awards are already seen as an important date in the automotive industry’s calendar.

The event, hosted by TV’s Mike Brewer, was held at The Brewery in London. The stunning venue was given a ‘Miami Vice’ theme and looked brilliant.

The sell-out night featured a fabulous three course meal, unlimited beer and wine, a band and disco – and the 400 guests sure did make the most of it. At midnight the venue was still packed with people enjoying the event.

The winners were delighted with their gongs and already many are making the most of the marketing collateral an award like this offers.

Our Dealers’ Dealer of the Year, Umesh Samani, made the front page of his local paper’s motoring section. A photographer and reporter visited him a few days after the awards to capture the story.

Jim Reid Vehicle Sales went back to Scotland with two gongs – and they’ve been making the most of them on social media sites ever since.

The dealership won Used Car Dealer of the Year (51-100 cars) and their salesman Phil Buchan won the Upsales and F&I Performance of the Year award.

The Used Car Dealer Group of the Year winner, HR Owen, sent out a special message from chief executive Joe Doyle to their customers saying how pleased they were winning one of the magazine’s special awards.

And that’s just a snap shot – the magazine has been inundated with tweets and emails from guests and winners who loved the evening.

We’ve also noticed a steady stream of press releases being issued by the car manufacturers who were recognised on the night – Volkswagen, Skoda and Kia have all issued releases to the press, shouting about their awards.

Commenting on a clutch of awards, Ian Plummer, head of sales for Volkswagen UK, said: ‘We’re extremely proud of these two awards and of our retailers.

‘So much focus within the industry is on new car sales and products, but used car sales outstrip these and are a key part of any retailer’s or manufacturer’s business.’

Black Horse managing director Chris Sutton hands out an award
Black Horse managing director Chris Sutton hands out an award

Kia – who won Car Manufacturer Used Car Scheme of the Year – also issued a release.

David McCluskey, Kia’s National Used Car Sales and Remarketing Manager said: ‘Car Dealer’s award is recognition of what we have always believed is the best manufacturer used car programme in the market. It is reassuring to have this verified by Car Dealer Magazine – we are delighted and honoured!’

While Skoda, who picked up Best Used Car for the Yeti, was equally pleased. Chris Horrell, Product Marketing Manager for Skoda, said: ‘We are honoured to have received the award from Car Dealer Magazine.’

The comments only cement the importance manufacturers are already placing on these awards. The date for next year’s event has already been set – December 1, again at The Brewery (winning formula) – and already we’ve got a number of companies lining up to be involved.

All too often the used car industry isn’t celebrated in this industry, with the focus by many on new cars. I’m delighted that we can recognise all levels of this vital cog in the car industry machine with these awards which will only continue to grow in importance.

Thanks to all the sponsors who helped made the night happen – especially Black Horse – and the Car Dealer team, Mike and myself are very much looking forward to making next year an even bigger success.

Look out for a video from the night coming soon and the full results will be published in Car Dealer Magaine’s BIGGEST ever issue, which should reach subscribers before Christmas.

If you’d like to get involved in next year’s Used Car Awards, contact the Car Dealer team on (023) 9252 2434.

Join us! Blackball Media needs a new Dealer PR executive

bblogo2Blackball Media is looking for a new Dealer PR executive to work with some of the coolest car manufacturers in the UK.

The job, which is predominantly based on the road with occasional meetings at our Gosport office, means your location is not a problem. In fact, a central UK base would be an advantage.

The role requires visits to car dealers across the UK, where you’ll dig up stories that would interest their local media outlets. A news reporter with a desire to move into PR would be perfectly suited to this job – a keen news sense is far more important than knowing the difference between BHP and PS.

An interest in cars and motoring would be handy, but is not essential. More important is your ability to find a good story and get it written in a manner that local media outlets could use.

If you’re handy with a camera, it would also help (and we’re not talking selfies with an iPhone). You’ll need to be self motivated, organised and disciplined.

Previous journalism experience is essential – if you’re working on a local newspaper as a reporter or on the news desk you’d be perfectly suited to this role. And it’s far more fun than covering parish council meetings…

Working from home and on the road you’ll help uncover the best stories for our car manufacturer clients. Some of the stories we’ve uncovered in the past have made the BBC and pretty much all national newspapers.

The role comes with a company car, an iPad, Apple Macbook computer and an expenses account that would make local newspaper editors weep. You’ll also get some of the coolest business cards ever seen.

Wages? You want paying? Well, these are to be discussed with the right candidate, but needless to say will be more than a local newspaper reporter’s salary…

For an informal chat, tweet me @CarDealerEd, or call the office. Otherwise send me your CV and a covering letter explaining why you should be part of one of the fastest growing automotive agencies in the UK. I’m on [email protected] and need to see something by December 14.

Car Dealer Magazine Used Car Awards sell out

logoCar Dealer Magazine’s second Used Car Awards have sold out – with more than 400 people expected at the glittering awards on Monday.

The shortlist for the event was announced yesterday and we’ve been busy making the final preparations ahead of the big night.

Hosted by Mike Brewer, the event is held at The Brewery in London and will see hundreds of car dealers, so make sure to read these 3 reasons to scrap car, scrap it and then come to buy a new one as the discounts are going to be insane.  People even get to enjoy a night of celebration with a host of car manufacturers too. To customize and get repairs you can count on Japanese Auto Repair.

Confirmed attendees include a large Volkswagen contingent, as well as parties from Skoda, Kia, Fiat, BMW, Ford and Jaguar Land Rover.

Dealer groups represented include Marshalls, Vertu Motors, Perry’s, Arnold Clark, JCT600 and HR Owen as well as countless independent dealers.

This is the second year we’ve held the event and it’s already grown in size. The awards are headline sponsored by Black Horse, and many other motor trade suppliers have put their names to gongs on the night. Huge thanks to all of them for helping us make this event happen.

It’s set to be a brilliant evening and real feather in the Blackball Media cap. The whole team here is working hard on pulling everything together for the glittering bash.

Operations director Andy Entwistle is driving the organisation side of things and currently has his head stuck in a guest list spread sheet that makes the Census look like primary school homework.

Video specialist Jon Reay is working hard on a glitzy introduction and the presentations, while editor Batch is currently nursing bruised fingers from bashing his keyboard in an attempt to write a script.

The last week before a big event is always a frantic one – but we’re certainly looking forward to celebrating a successful year with hundreds of Car Dealer Magazine readers.

If you missed out on a ticket this year, we can always put your name down for next year’s event…

Blackball Media sweeps up Swan

2284999_300With the football transfer window drawing to a close, Blackball Media is pleased to announce the signing of Nigel Swan, who has joined the team as Head of Video.

Nigel, who moved for an undisclosed fee, has been working as a freelance videographer for the past three years and will lead the video team at Blackball Media.

“It’s a really great time to be teaming up with Blackball Media,” said Swan. “It’s great to be part of a team that’s expanding in video and is as excited as I am about the future of online motoring production.

“With demand for high quality online video getting stronger, it seems the perfect time to join forces. Many corporate and editorial teams are nervous about video production because of expensive film crews and freelance videographers charging the earth, but working with Blackball Media means we can tailor a video package that offers an excellent level of production without the need for clients to dig deep.”

Blackball Media has produced video for a number of car manufacturers to support product launches as well as dealer groups across the UK. The company also works with leading websites Motors.co.uk and MoneySuperMarket.com to produce consumer-orientated videos.

Swan has been involved in the motor industry for more than 13 years and started at Haymarket, working on Whatcar.com and What Car? magazine as staff writer, before moving on to the road test team.

After three years, he moved up to help develop the video road test team as project co-ordinator, a producer role that involved everything from writing scripts to logistics, editing, presenting and the important job of lifting bags in and out of the boots. Swan also played a key role in kick-starting videos for Autocar.

After eight years at Haymarket, he moved to MSN Cars as web producer, gaining a stronger grasp of web production, and two years later decided to plunge into video freelancing, producing a mix of social media, b-roll, and corporate films directly for blue chip clients.

Swan’s role as Head of Video at Blackball Media will see him continue his previous client video commitments as well as overseeing in-house production. He brings with him not only his editorial experience, but a long list of talented support crew, including presenters, voice over artists, sound engineers, cameramen, video editors and scriptwriters.

If you have video needs and would like to know how Blackball Media can help, contact [email protected] or call (023) 9252 2434.

 

Tackling the content thieves who rip us off

Screen shot 2013-04-05 at 15.25.40

Blackball Media writers work very hard to provide our network of websites and magazines with unique and entertaining stories. On the whole, I like to think we achieve it.

I’ve invested a lot in my team of writers and in turn they invest a huge amount of time in producing content. That’s why it annoys me all the more when our stories are blatantly ripped off and stolen by others.

It happened with an exclusive we broke on AOL Cars – but this time I wasn’t going to let it go quite so easily.

You may remember, towards the end of 2012 I broke a story (after a four month investigation and 20 Freedom of Information requests) that none of the overhead speed cameras on the M25 had caught any drivers in the last 12 months.

It transpired that none of the cameras were actually on – and my exclusive was followed up by countless national newspapers and radio stations, all of whom credited the source of the story.

STOLEN

However, on the morning we published the piece, I found my copy – word for word – cut and pasted on to a fleet website. The site looked genuine, it had a lot of content, had phone numbers, and other news stories, but they had blatantly stolen my piece and pasted it as their own.

I spotted it on Twitter – expecting their tweet to link back to my AOL story, but it didn’t, instead linking to their website.

Furious, I rang them and asked what they were up to. Answering the phone was a wide boy who accused me of “not being in the job very long” and that I was “wasting my time and his”. Turns out it wasn’t his site at all – it was run by a friend of his and he just answered the phone as his mate “works full time”.

When I accused him of stealing by piece and asked for “his mate’s” number, he laughed and hung up.

Pleasant chap.

Now, I’m nothing if not persistent, so I did some digging. It’s very easy to find out who registered a website – WHOIS, lists the name and address of those who bought the domain unless they opted out.

The idiot behind the fleet site hadn’t done that. Within minutes I had his name and home address and was looking at it on Google StreetView to see if he was worth suing.

He wasn’t.

So I popped over to LinkedIn instead. Soon I knew where he worked and it turned out he just so happened to be a fleet salesman at a franchised car dealership… so I picked up the phone to, let’s call him by his real name, Dean, at his dealership viagra europa.

CAUGHT OUT

“Good morning, XX Motors, Dean speaking, how may I help you…”

Oh. My. God. He’d only gone and answered the bleeding phone.

“Hello Dean, my name is James Baggott. I understand you run a website called XX and this morning you’ve stolen my exclusive story from AOL and pasted it on your website.”

Dean: “Er.”

“Now, before I contact the extremely large and incredibly deep-pocketed legal despartment at AOL about your blatant infringement of our copyright and put a claim in for your house at XX Drive, I want to give you the opportunity to remove my piece from your site.

“Does your dealer principal know you’re running a website with a side line in fleet sales? And more to the point does he know you’re stealing content from others in order to run that site?”

Croaky-voiced Dean: “Errr, no he doesn’t.”

“Ok, well if the story isn’t removed in the next hour, I’ll be giving him a call as well as the car manufacturer you’re representing too.”

Dean: “I’m sorry. I’ll fix it now.”

About 15 minutes later the site was down for maintenance… and it hasn’t reappeared since.

The internet has made it all too easy to steal stories. People don’t realise that pinching posts from other websites has a consequence – because more often than not they get away with it.

Unfortunately, copyright theft is too often seen as a forgivable misdemeanor, but it shouldn’t be. Publishers spend large amounts of money on employees, equipment, taxes and offices to let others simply rip off their output.

Sadly, we’ll never put a stop to stories being stolen, but every once in a while it feels good to make a stand. If more of us did it, perhaps people would think twice before hitting CTRL C, CTRL V…

Blackball Media is hiring!

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WE’RE recruiting! Offering new roles to work within our offices, based on the picturesque south coast of the UK.

The current roles available are:

Account Manager

Industry: Automotive – Media Sales

Location: Gosport

Reporting to: Sales manager

Hours: Full-time, 37.5 per week

Duties & Responsibilities

  • Outbound Account management and Telesales to a portfolio of clients and prospects, generating revenue through Ad sales.
  • To effectively present the product and proposition to Potential Clients and Media Agencies.
  • Secure appointments with relevant Agencies / Clients with a view to building a successful business relationship.
  • To Effectively develop the client relationship to maximise revenue opportunity
  • Maintain and grow client base through delivery of “industry leading” account management and customer service to customers.
  • Provide constructive feedback to the Business on any key operational issues identified with the proposition to help develop the business.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL ROLE PROFILE

To apply, send your CV to andy[at]blackballmedia.co.uk quoting either role title, or call us on 02392 522 434 with any questions.

Why Blackball Media’s website took five years to arrive

Blackball-LogoIt’s only when I said it out loud in the office to a few colleagues that I realised just how stupid it sounded – Blackball Media has been trading for five years, pretty much to the day, and only now are we launching a website.

For a company that specialises in publishing – mostly of the online variety – that’s simply an embarrassment, but one that’s simply been the cause of too much else to do.

When I launched Blackball Media back in January 2008, it was out of necessity. I needed a company to process the business bits and bobs behind my idea for a motor trade magazine, Car Dealer, and Blackball Media was it.

Where did the name come from? Well, I’d like to come up with a jazzy reason – something about Blackball Media not conforming, or something equally agency-like, but I won’t – because that’s not us.

I’ll give you the rather boring and real reason – my daughter suggested it because I like playing snooker. Should I have revealed that? Who cares. It’s the truth.

WEBSITE

Anyway, back to this website. It’s here because the work Blackball Media does has grown over the last five years. No longer is the company simply the vehicle behind the award-winning, highest circulation, brilliant motor trade business publication Car Dealer any more (biased? Me?) ohne rezept viagra. The company now provides a variety of services.

Our clients include AOL – who we provide car content for on a daily basis – as well as two Japanese car manufacturers who rely on us to provide news and services for their dealer networks. Using an economic calendar or a ekonominis kalendorius while trading is proven to be helpful.

We’re also working hard to build on our contract publishing services – we’re currently producing a magazine for a global leasing company – as well as investigating further opportunities to provide car content to trade and consumer websites.

This new website’s aim is to showcase the brilliant work my talented team, hidden away down on the south coast, do every day and this blog will aim to bring to life some of the fun we have along the way.

I’ll try not to bore you too much…

James Baggott

Managing director, Blackball Media