I love Memorial Day because it comes with so many traditions. Obviously its initial (and most important) purpose is to honor our fallen heroes, but it’s also the official start of summer for most Americans. That’s why I took some time this morning to read up on Memorial Day traditions. In past years I’ve featured Weber-Stephen and the National Park Service, but today we’re going to focus on a late May tradition that I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t know was linked to Memorial Day Weekend—the Indy 500. I’m obviously not a race fan, but I think that you’ve gotta respect the fact that they can fill up a stadium with people who want to watch a bunch of guys (and 4 girls) in fast cars make a lot of left turns. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway plays host to the Indy 500 every year along with the Brickyard 400 and the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. The facility has been around since 1909, and the Indy 500 is coming up on its centennial in 2011. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway also happens to be the “largest spectator sporting facility in the world.” Continue reading about Indianapolis Motor Speedway…
I know that it sounds like a place to buy illicit substances, but Dealer.com is a legal operation as far as I know. They may operate in the underworld of search engine optimization, but so do I, and I’m not a sleaze bag or spammer. Dealer.com is a Burlington, VT based company that “has become the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry.” They provide a platform for car dealers to generate leads online. I’d imagine that Dealer.com is a direct competitor with Cobalt, a company that we featured back in January. It’s no surprise that automotive online marketing is a growing industry. Most car dealerships don’t have the resources to do online marketing themselves—cheesy tv commercials don’t translate to the web. So how do they reach the masses of people who are using search engines to aid in car buying decisions? They either build an internal online marketing division, hire a local agency that doesn’t know anything about the industry, or go to Dealer.com. Which decision do you think will sell the most cars? Continue reading about Dealer.com…
It’s every teen’s worst nightmare. You finally reach that magical age where the state says that you’re ready to drive a car. Your parents reluctantly hand over the keys to the family station wagon. You get a lecture, but you’re going to escape. You’ll finally have the freedom that you’ve been waiting for all your life. But there’s a catch. Your parents have installed a camera in the car to assess your driving and mitigate risk. It’s from a San Diego based company called DriveCam. To you it’s a terrible idea. You hate being spied on. You know you’re a good driver with your state mandated 20 hours of experience behind the wheel. What you probably don’t know is that car accidents are the leading cause of teen death. You’re too caught up in having a sense of freedom to care that this device has reduced the risk of reportable crash by 70% over the course of 2 million miles. Continue reading about DriveCam…
When I last bought a car in 2001, the best way to go about it was to stop by dealerships to see what they had in their inventory. I remember using the Internet to some extent, but it wasn’t all that helpful. Although I haven’t purchased a car since, I’m pretty sure that the web is playing a much larger role in the car buying decision process these days. That’s why Cobalt, a Seattle based company, is doing so well. They’re in the business of automotive marketing, and they made the Inc. 5000 last year with 134.0% three-year revenue growth to $168.4 million. Cobalt works with both dealers and manufacturers to “increase their retailing effectiveness and profits.” The company has been around since 1995, and it consists of three key subsidiaries: Dealix, UsedCars.com, and IntegraLink. Continue reading about Cobalt…
Henry Ford was one of the most ingenious men to grace our country’s history. “Fordism,” his philosophy of bringing inexpensive automobiles to the masses through cost cutting and the assembly line has truly changed the face of world history. It’s amazing to think that ideas that we now take for granted were so revolutionary back then. You can find plenty more on Henry Ford on Wikipedia, but what about The Henry Ford. It’s kind of an odd name for what it is, but it’s a place in Dearborn, MI that includes historic Greenfield Village, the Henry Ford Museum, the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, the Benson Ford Research Center, and The Henry Ford IMAX Theater. It’s something between a museum and an educational center. It’s a non-profit organization, but that doesn’t really tell us much about what it is. I guess that’s why they call it The Henry Ford. Continue reading about The Henry Ford…
Unfortunately my cable package doesn’t come with BBC America, so I can’t watch the British version of Chef Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (it has a lot more swearing than the American version), and I can’t watch Top Gear. I’ve actually never seen Top Gear, so I don’t know a lot about it, but it seems to be a tv show about cars with quite a cult following. It’s apparently wildly popular in the UK, and it’s also one of the world’s most pirated television shows according to Wikipedia. This popularity has spawned American and Australian versions, and the word is that the American version might end up on NBC this spring. Continue reading about Top Gear…
The great thing about living in downtown Chicago is that I’m constantly bombarded with new ideas for companies to feature here. In suburban Connecticut most of what I saw when I was driving around was trees. Here in Chicago there are few trees in sight, but plenty of businesses, billboards, and buses (with advertising on the side, of course). There are also plenty of taxes. Sales tax is 10.25% and the parking tax is 28%, but likely soon to be 33%. This is on top of already outrageous monthly parking fees, so it’s no wonder that there’s a Zipcar location just a hundred yards down the street from my building. Zipcars are kind of like rental cars, but better. They’re more affordable (I think, but I haven’t done the math), they’re intended for residents instead of travelers, they’re green, and you don’t need to be 25 to take them for a ride. It’s kind of like having a friend with a car except you have to pay that friend whenever you use his car. Continue reading about Zipcar…
Ok, it might be politically incorrect to celebrate Columbus Day, but it was just about the only holiday that I had off when I was in college. Maybe it just happened to be a convenient weekend for Fall Break, but I still can’t believe that I didn’t have class on Columbus Day, but did have class on Labor Day (when I went to a School of Industrial and Labor Relations). Anyway, Christopher Columbus wasn’t much of a navigator. He had no idea where he was going, and he tried to take the long way around the world. Still, his ineptitude was the reason that he “discovered” the Americas. Had Garmin been around in the 1490s, Columbus never would have ended up where he did. Then again, the existence of a company built on GPS technology would have changed a lot of things for famous explorers five centuries ago. (Much like the existence of iPods – like the one we’re giving away – would have changed the world for musicians back then.) Continue reading about Garmin…
You may have seen it on a bumper sticker or overheard it while shopping downtown – especially in a college town – “Go Local.” It’s a movement that should stir pride in anyone who shares the small-r republican ideals of Thomas Jefferson. Farmers’ markets are back in style, artisanal cheese shops are popping up all over the place, and local, grass-fed beef is appearing on more and more restaurant menus. The yeoman farmer is back! Not only are these people making great products available, but they’re also building successful businesses by serving the demand for local food. How can this business model based on going local be extended beyond farming? One startup, Local Motors, is trying to make people “go local” when they buy cars. Yes, cars. Continue reading about Local Motors…
To be honest, I’m not totally focused on writing this post right now. I’m trying to stick it to the airlines who have responded to high fuel prices with surcharges for checked baggage. I’m already on the hook for $15 each way for my first checked bag, but I’m trying like heck to avoid the $25 each way for a second checked bag. The issue is that I’m packing for a trip that includes a Cubs game, a wedding, two days of fly fishing, a couple work related meetings, and some quality time with my girlfriend and her family. Nobody has built luggage that can keep a suit wrinkle free and hold two 4-piece fly rods yet, so I’m left scrambling. A much better way to stick it to the man is to get an electric car. That way fuel prices will just be a worry in your rearview mirror. Tesla Motors is in the business of designing and producing electric cars, and they will hopefully one day make purchasing an electric car a real possibility. Continue reading about Tesla Motors…
Over on One Day, One Job, we recently mentioned that Facebook now has a valuation on par with that of the Ford Motor Company. In our post about Facebook, we noted how amazing it is that so much wealth can be created seemingly out of thin air; however, we didn’t mention the contrasting point that American auto manufacturers have had a similarly amazing ability to hemorrhage money. It’s sad to say, but the reason for the decline of the Big Three has a lot to do with foreign auto companies like Honda making better cars, and often doing it with American talent! Continue reading about Honda R&D…
