Blog – Page 8 – Blackball Media

Want to work with us? Know PR? Know cars? Read on…

Blackball 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). 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.

Wages 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 July 15.

Drive cars. Write about them. Get money!

LIKE a seat in the House of Lords, a place on the Blackball Media editorial team doesn’t come along very often.

You see, the thing is people don’t usually get fed up of writing about cool cars, being treated like a pop star by manufacturers on lavish launches, driving the latest vehicles or working for a fast growing fun firm that truly values its team.

However, a rare opening for a Senior Staff Writer has opened on the hallowed turf at our Gosport HQ for a talented scribe to fill.

Working for a multi award… entering company based on the beautiful south coast of England, in close proximity to no less than SIX supermarkets, a well-stocked Greggs and a Subway, you’ll work with a talented team of writers to produce compelling car copy.

One day you might be driving the new BMW M4 through the Alps, the next you might be at a test track helping out with a photo shoot. One day you might be eating a full English breakfast in our staff canteen, the next you might be in a five-star hotel gorging yourself on miniature-sized posh nosh.

Day-to-day, however, you’ll be producing content for our network of editorial outlets which include AOL Cars, Motors.co.uk and Car Dealer Magazine, serving a combined monthly readership of 2.6 million readers.

And that’s not all – Blackball Media has some big plans and is working hard on some hush, hush, Project Squirrels that will give the right writers the platforms to really shine.

So, among other things, the right candidate will need:

A keen news sense – and the ability to tailor stories to the right audiences.
Excellent news-gathering skills – we have to find 20 motoring news stories every day. That’s a task not to be under estimated…
Ability to write lots – and keep standards high. Our clients demand the very best motoring content and lots of it. You can’t spend all day penning one 300 word piece, that’s for sure.
More ideas than you know what to do with. Blackball Media prides itself on coming up with innovative ideas. You need to prove you can too.
Excellent eye for accuracy – we don’t like mistakes. Excellent grammar and spelling are an absolute must. You need to be a stickler for fact checking too.
An understanding of the laws affecting reporting
A brilliant writing style – Our content needs to be passionate, humourous and engaging. We like our writers to have personailities, but know when that needs to be toned down too.
A sense of humour. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. If you’re expecting the news desk of The Times look elsewhere. We love what we do and have fun doing it. You’ll need to fit in.
Excellent CMS skills. We upload our content directly to our clients’ websites. You’ll be expected to manage that.
Fantastic organisational skills, work ethic and self driven.
The ability to hit a deadline long before the client hits you.
Obviously you’ll need a driving licence. Preferably your own. And a valid passport.

The right candidate will ideally have some experience in the motoring world of writing. But we’ll consider talented newcomers too. You’ll just have to prove you’re ready for the role…

The job is full time based in our Gosport offices. Pay (I take it you want that, right?) is negotiable depending on experience.

To apply wow me with your covering letter and CV. We get LOTS of applicants for these roles and you really need to capture our attention with your brilliant writing style in your opening email…

Applications to [email protected] by close of play on June 27. Any questions, tweet me @CarDealerEd

If you know everything there is to know about fleet, then we want to get to know you.

Blackball Media’s dynamic and expanding PR team is embarking on an exciting new project to raise a major marque’s profile in the fleet sector and help them meet their ambitious growth plans.

And we’re looking for someone who can take the driver’s seat and lead the way.

The right candidate will be someone keen to make the move from a fleet title into PR or with extensive fleet experience at agency or manufacturer level.

Either way, you’ll know your BiK from your KFC, have a real passion for all things fleet and an inherent understanding of what fleet operators, business car drivers and the specialist media are looking for.

Working as part of a three-strong team servicing the client, you will take responsibility for all fleet activity. Find out more details at https://fleetwraphq.com/denver/.

Your responsibilities will include:

Liaising with the manufacturer, dealers and fleet operators to find the best news stories

Building and managing relationships with key journalists and titles

Planning a media calendar and strategy to keep the client’s fleet operations in the public eye

Planning and attending promotional events for the fleet media

Fielding enquiries from fleet journalists

Although we are based in Gosport on the sunny South Coast, this role will take you all over the UK and beyond and so location is no obstacle.

As part of the package, we’re offering a generous salary (negotiable upon experience) and a company car. We also offer 25 days holiday a year, discounted private health care, on-site gym and bonus scheme.

By the way, we should mention that you’ll also get to be part of Blackball Media – an agency where we all love what we do and have fun doing it.

To apply, send your cover letter and CV to James Baggott via [email protected]

Add up, subtract, tell people off for buying coffee… we need a financial assistant

Like numbers? Crunch quadratic equations like Vorderman? Good at herding cats? Then Blackball Media needs you!

We’re looking for an expert calculator operator who can make Excel spreadsheets and accounting software look easy (apparently it is, who knew?).

You’ll be working with a creative team of people who currently think acceptable receipts are written on the back of a napkin and like handing over their expenses in shoeboxes. Or fat envelopes.

We need someone who can bring some order to this creative chaos and knock the troops into shape.

You’ll be working across the Blackball Media business to manage invoices, credit control and liaise with clients, reporting to our current Keeper of the Credit Card.

We want someone who’ll bring some cracking ideas to the business while also managing to keep a beady eye on the books too.

Ideally you’ll have strong numerical skills and previous experience working in credit control. You’ll need to demonstrate good understanding of accountancy, have excellent attention to detail and be able to spot when someone’s bought a latte outside of work hours and then CLAIMED ON EXPENSES!

For a full role profile, more details and salary see here, then email operations director [email protected] with a CV and letter explaining why you’re the number cruncher for us.

Touch cars, write about them, tweet things – and get PAID!

You could have a desk here. All of your own.

Do you like touching cars? Do you get a funny feeling in your stomach when a V8 rumbles by? Do you have a constant itch to buy something rear-wheel drive?

Well, don’t fear! These could be the early signs of a career in motoring journalism and as luck would have it, we have a cure.

[Sorry. Not sure what happened there. Slipped into job advert cheese. It won’t happen again…]

So, what’s the role? Well, it’s a chance for an up and coming motoring scribe to work in our busy editorial team producing stories about CARS! Blackball Media publishes award-winning Car Dealer Magazine, manages AOL Cars and Motors.co.uk editorial, plus lots more, so you won’t be short of something to do.

You’ll need some basic skills – the ability to write will help, and it’d be useful if you can prove it with a motoring blog you’re currently updating regularly.

You’ll be writing about cars every day here so the ability to tell a Fiesta Style from a Zetec from five car parking spaces away will not be ridiculed, but celebrated (Corsa model identification skills, not required).

A Fiesta Zetec… or is it?

You’ll need to be active on Twitter and Facebook too. No, we’re not particularly interested in that ‘cracking Korma’ your mum made, or the ‘banging’ night out you had with your mates, but we do want to see you interact online with other humans – and we will be checking (not creepy).

A large part of this role will be managing social media accounts for a variety of firms so you’ll need to prove you know your tweets from your likes and have some ideas on how car businesses should be presenting themselves online.

Organisational skills are important. We’re not talking about putting your pens in perpendicular order on your desk, but more the ability to work on your own and plan how to get tasks done, to deadline.

Oh yes, that dreaded word. Funnily enough deadlines are quite important here – we pride ourselves on hitting them and that sometimes means (god forbid) putting off the next caffeine fix for all of 15 minutes. I know, shocking, but it’s true. Needs must.

This role is ideal for someone just starting out in motoring journalism. You might be on a motoring journalism course at university, or you might just be very keen and want to prove yourself. Or you might simply be a massive car geek who wants somewhere to vent his or her knowledge of the history of the Hofmeister kink.

If you think you’re right for this role, send me a covering email explaining why you’re ideal for this job, links to your motoring blog or published articles, and details of your social media addiction to [email protected].

Deadline (that dreaded word again) for applications is Monday, March 10. So be quick.

Oh, and pay (you’ll want that, right?) is between £18-20,000 depending on experience. We offer 25 days holiday a year, discounted private health care, on-site gym and the chance to touch as many cars as you want without being looked at strangely. Oh, and the chance to put Best Job In The World on your CV*.

*Disclaimer: Other jobs may be better (fighter pilot, Copacabana lifeguard, F1 driver)

I tweeted a picture of my micro machines wall mural recently and it got a lot of interest, so I thought a blog post about how it was made might be worth writing. If not, move on, nothing to see here…

I decided late last summer that I wanted to produce something for my office wall with a car theme and spotted at a business we do a lot of work with some clever wall adornment fashioned from tiny cars. So, I admit, the idea for this wasn’t entirely my own, but all the best ones are ‘borrowed’, aren’t they?

I remember collecting Micro Machines – tiny toy cars around 15mm long for the non-toy geeks among you – when I was a child.

My three brothers and I would badger my mum to buy us the packs of five they came in from the supermarket toy aisle while she was doing the weekly shop – God only knows how much we bumped up her weekly bill by…

As time moved on and we moved out (and we wondered who would iron our clothes in the future), our collection of tiny cars went the way of the tip. My dad never did like to hang on to ‘junk’. I remember him taking my older brother’s £400 BMX to the Council Area For Unwanted Stuff because he’d left it in the garden for two weeks, but that’s another story…

Anyway, back to the cars…

The first job was to source the Micro Machines. They’re hard to get hold of these days so the hunt was confined to eBay. Prices varied wildly and the fact I needed so many of them didn’t help.

In the end I bought – in varying different package sizes – more than 300 of the little cars. Prices varied from £12 for 20 to £60 for 50. I bid on as many as I could and lost more auctions than I care to remember.

The prices all depended on when the auction finished – one minute a pack of 25 would go for as little as £12, the next day a similar sized package would go for more than £35. It was more than a little strange.

At this point I must apologise to serious Micro Machine collectors because I’m pretty sure I single handedly bumped up the price of the tiny cars by around 10 percentage points for the last quarter of 2013…

In total the cars cost around £300. The next thing needed was something to mount them on. Originally I planned a canvas, but when buying that the assistant suggested using acrylic. A Saturday morning hunt online and I’d soon found and ordered a 1200mm x 1200mm square for £144, drilled and complete with fixings.

It wasn’t until it turned up a week later that I realised just how big 1200mm x 1200mm really is. The problem was apparent: I needed more cars – so back to eBay I went.

When they’d arrived it was time to get cracking. I bought a glue gun – like you used to use in CDT at school – and laid out the cars. This took a LONG time and made me feel like a giant in a massive shiny car park.

It was at this point my OCD took over and the jumbled coloured line of cars just wouldn’t do. It needed ORDER. So I started again, this time colour co-oridinating the cars in bowls first and Blue Tak-ing them in place first to ensure I got the lines right.

After that I laid them out in rows, emulating a spectrum, and it seemed to work better. It satisfied my OCD at least. Lining them up was a combination of using an old floor board as a ruler and eye.

It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. I swore. A lot.

The gluing took hours. Quite literally, hours. I was completely paranoid about ruining the lines so painstakingly put each one in place. The good news is the glue seems to be holding too – I only lost a few in transit from home to office.

Ok, so a few more fell off when we attached it to the wall, but it gave me an excuse to get the glue gun out again. And yes, I know my plant is wonky…

Now it’s up on the wall I’m chuffed to bits with how it looks – it’s brought some welcome colour to my otherwise brown office. It’s also inspired me to do something else.

But before then I just need to tweak a few lines. You see they’re not ‘quite’ straight. And my OCD does NOT like that… Now where’s the glue gun?

Blackball Media’s January update

One of my New Year resolutions was to try – as hard as I can – to keep our friends in the industry up to date with what the Blackball Media team is doing.

Over the last two years the team has more than doubled in size and we’re now writing for more than 2.6m people a month.

We run content channels for AOL Cars and Motors.co.uk as well as the UK’s biggest motor trade publication, Car Dealer Magazine.

VIDEO

Our video team has recently grown to three. Headed up by Nigel Swan we’re producing more video for more clients than ever before – at the last count we were set to deliver 27 videos in January alone.

Along with retainers with Motors.co.uk and Money Supermarket for 2014, the team is producing B-roll and social media videos for a number of car manufacturers as well as supporting new dealer launches.

You can see some of the work we’ve been doing for our clients elsewhere in this blog, but if you need help in the video sphere, just drop me a line. We’ll be out in Geneva producing video content for a number of car manufacturers and lots like the one below for Motors.co.uk. If you need some too, let us know.

TRAVELS

At the tail end of last year I spent two weeks in the Far East with Kia and Mazda. Firstly I travelled to Korea where I dug up a huge variety of stories that ended up filling six pages in Car Dealer as well as a load of news stories for AOL and Motors. I then flew on to Tokyo to cover the motor show, thanks to Mazda, where again I got some exclusive access to cars for early first drives.

And the year kicked off with another motor show trip. I’ve just returned from Detroit– unfortunately my bag hasn’t – but again I got some great access to produce content for our online and print titles. Thanks to all those manufacturers for having Blackball Media along.

CAR DEALER

Earlier this month we were delighted to announce that our iPad App has now been subscribed to by more than 6,000 readers. This, on top of the 12,000 printed magazines that are sent out each month, makes us by far and away the biggest motor trade title. We’ve added half the print readership again on top with the iPad App and the number continues to grow every month.

Sophie Williamson-Stothert will sadly be moving on from the mag on February 4. She’s heading back up to Oxford and a job in PR, which we wish her all the very best with. Dave Brown, former sub-editor, will be returning as production editor for the magazine, working alongside editor James Batchelor.

We’ve recently helped organise a PR master class for a large number of dealers for one of the manufacturers we represent. The day kicked off with an introduction from TV’s Mike Brewer and was followed by social media advice and a Dealer PR workshop from the Blackball Media team.

The video department produced a short film for that session too – featuring some rather familiar faces – it was designed to explain to the dealers why PR is so important. Take a look and see if you can see anyone you know…

Mitsubishi Dealer PR Conference – Blackball Media Interviews from Blackball Media on Vimeo.

EDITORIAL

Our editorial teams producing content for AOL and Motors continue to deliver. Numbers on AOL Cars are growing every week and we’re now one of the biggest channels in terms of traffic on the AOL network.

Motors – which has recently launched an impressive TV advertising campaign – is continuing to see a welcome uplift in traffic to its news articles, thanks to the hard work of the Blackball Media team.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Well we’re busy producing a large number of car videos for Money Supermarket at the moment, alongside the other film work already in the diary. We’re also preparing for the Geneva motor show, from which five members of the team will be reporting for our outlets.

We’re also working on producing bespoke dealer newsletters that they can send direct to their customers for a number of manufacturers. These brilliant six-page gatefold publications look superb and are designed and written by the Blackball Media team. We’re hoping to talk to more manufacturers about these as we go forward in 2014.

For now, that’s about it. If you’ve got a story or an event you think we should be covering, or need help with editorial, video or design needs, call me on (023) 9252 2434.

LATEST BLOGS

Motors.co.uk signs up Blackball Media for 2014 video

Detroit Motor Show Bag Woe

Chevy saves the day

Video praise and Ford’s response will warm your cockles

Blackball Media secretly films A-list celebs

We film a Trackstar video showcase

How dealers and manufacturers made the most of our Used Car Awards

Tackling the content thieves who rip us off

Motors.co.uk picks Blackball Media for video production

Blackball Media’s rapidly expanding video department has been signed up to produce a series of videos for Motors.co.uk during 2014.

The classified car website, which has recently relaunched with a new look and fresh logo, will be working with Blackball Media during 2014 to create bespoke video content.

Last year, we produced a number of car reviews, advice videos, motor show reports and a series of unique Will It Fit films, designed to show car buyers what will fit in their prospective new cars.

Motors.co.uk’s Stephen Jury said: ‘We work with Blackball Media because they’re great at sourcing cars from manufacturers, finding industry experts to comment on topics, great at logistics and planning pre-shoot and on the shoot day. They’re very professional.

‘The videos have performed well for us and as Motors.co.uk enjoys a new look, video will form an important part of our offering. We’ve got some exciting videos planned with Blackball Media and we’re looking forward to releasing them over the next 12 months.’

Motors.co.uk videos include a series of car reviews, car buying/selling and ownership advice pieces with a number of experts, plus a few fun videos created along the way. You can see examples of our work for Motors.co.uk below.

If your company needs video, get in touch with the team on (023) 9252 2434 or contact us via email here.

Motors.co.uk 90 Second Review

Motors.co.uk Will It Fit

Motors.co.uk Frankfurt Motor Show Review – Nissan X-Trail

Motors.co.uk Quickest Lap

Blackball Media films at the British Comedy Awards for Suzuki

They say this job isn’t all about the glitz and glamour, but sometimes it really is.

In early December, Blackball Media was booked by Suzuki to film and photograph the blue carpet arrivals at the British Comedy Awards, held at the Fountain film studios in north London.

It was a night that saw a host of high-profile comedy A-listers including Jonathan Ross, Will Ferrell, Harry Hill, Eddie Izzard and Paul Whitehouse take to the stage in recognition of their comedy greatness.

Under the shadow of Wembley Stadium, the blue carpet was a hive of activity, and because the awards were being filmed live, it certainly proved a challenge filming around multiple television crews who were also getting shots of the arrivals.

Nigel Swan, Head of Video at Blackball Media, said: ‘There were a lot of challenges to the shoot. Not only was there a lot going on, there were the circus acts and film crews, plus celebrities mingling with fans. Also, the cars were arriving during rush hour so you never really knew when another car would arrive.

‘Nevertheless we got some great stuff. The pictures were delivered the same day and a fully edited video by lunchtime the following day.’

Suzuki laid on around 30 cars to ferry stars to and from the show in a mix of S-Cross and Kisashi models, plus one Grand Vitara was wheeled out to carry 6ft 6in Greg Davies.

Alun Parry, head of Press and PR at Suzuki, said: ‘Being a live show it got a bit frantic at times with our 30 cars but we got everyone in on time and home again. The images look great and we are very pleased with the video for social media.’

If your company needs a video to showcase a product, get in touch with us for a competitive quote via email through this website or call (023) 9252 2434.

Detroit: Chevrolet sends aid parcel; stink averted

Detroit Train Station. Stunning. It shut down in 1984.

It was a welcome parcel. Partly because the clothes inside hadn’t been designed by someone who’d just listened to Tubular Bells straight for nine hours while popping LSD, and partly because they trebled my current wardrobe.

Aid package from Chevrolet arrived at my hotel

After launching Operation Pant Hunt in the malls the hotel receptionist said she wasn’t scared of going to on her own, I returned to find this aid package on my bed.

A note inside from a saintly Chevrolet PR said they’d heard about my lost case woe and hoped the contents would help in my hour of need.

Inside were three T-shirts, and a polo shirt. It meant I could retire the walking-on-its-own clothing I’d been sporting up until yesterday and the clobber I’d bought in Showtime, the store that specialised in ‘kitting out musicians’.

Perhaps my cartoon Twitter avatar made me look like a medium, or the Pulled Pork and Ribs I’ve been living off have added a few unwelcome pounds, but they don’t all fit.

In fact, if I shaved my head I’d look like the lost member of Right Said Fred – but they’re clean clothes and actually rather cool, so I’m rocking the look all the same.

Yesterday was spent looking for smalls in the malls of Detroit with Auto Express editor Steve Fowler. As a World Car of the Year judge he’d managed to get hold of a Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CTS to try out – so we took the Chevvy for the unplanned shopping trip. Fitting really, considering the aid package waiting back at base.

Chevrolet Impala. Not coming to a UK showroom anytime soon.

The Impala impressed. Not only does it look cool in a Camaro sort of way, but it also showcases some impressive build quality – something we’re not quite used to on some European offerings from the brand.

The V6 sounded great, the multimedia system was top notch and with brown leather interior it was a pleasant place from which to take in the dilapidated Detroit suburbs.

After a visit to Macy’s (pant mission complete) and Walmart (replacement suitcase) we looked around some of the derelict buildings. The most staggering of which was the central station (seen in the panorama above) – empty since 1984 and still strikingly beautiful.

I even treated Steve to a trip to Showtime so he could meet Dan the owner and see the shirts for himself. Dan was on top form (I think this is standard) and we laughed some more as he tried to sell us a Sergeant Pepper-style jacket and leather waistcoat.

He also showed us the video below. Called Skiing in Detroit it shows off the city in all its dark drama – Dan even makes a cameo appearance in it himself. It’s worth a watch for the mad urban skiing.

I head home later today and have given up all hope of seeing my case again. Last time I checked American Airlines still had no idea where it was.

But do you know what? I’m sort of glad I lost it – it’s led to one of the most memorable press trips ever.

Category: Blog