Cobalt Celebrates Fifteen Years in Style

Cobalt's 15 aniversaryTraditionally, a 15th anniversary is commemorated with crystal, but Cobalt, as always, does things a little differently.

Cobalt was founded in 1995, and this year celebrates 15 years of innovation and service in the automotive industry. In the past, we’ve celebrated at the Cobalt offices, at some select locations around Seattle, and even at Boeing’s famous Museum of Flight. This year, however, was something completely new.

On April 30th, a cool Friday evening, Cobalt employees from both Food at Cobalt's anniversarythe Seattle and Lynnwood offices gathered at the Trinity Nightclub for a night of good food, music, and dancing. Cobaltians explored the four rooms in Trinity, each with a different theme and style with pulse-pounding dance music that set the tone for the night. Bartenders in each room served the growing crowd everything from wine to mixed drinks and even Guinness on tap.

As things heated up inside, guests could step outside to cool off and get a bite to eat. Cobalt provided delicious sausages from several Dante’s Inferno Dogs carts as well as Hawaiian and Korean treats from “Seattle’s sauciest food truck,” Marination Mobile.

Cobalt's 15Back inside, the crowd grew and everyone cut loose to dance into the late hours of the night. Many guests, from those new to Cobalt to those of us who’ve been here for years, agreed that it was simply a blast – one of the most fun Cobalt parties ever, and that’s saying something!

Crystal may be traditional for a 15-year celebration, but Cobalt’s 15th Anniversary party did it  better, by creating a night filled with good memories for all who attended. Here’s to 15 years past and many more to come!

If you’d like to see more pictures from the evening, take a look at the Cobalt Talent Facebook page.

A Win-Win Scenario – Social Media and Ownership Email Marketing

Hello my Friends:

I am proudly presenting my colleague Louise Smith and her guest post in conjunction with some thoughts of mine.

GUEST POST: Louise Smith and VJ

Of great interest to you is the acquisition of new customers, the engagement of your existing customers, promoting customer loyalty and driving revenues. Social Media works “with” your Owner Marketing email campaigns – to do just this. Relevancy and value are keys to successful email campaigns and social media. Here are some ideas:

In your email campaigns:

Implement links/buttons into your email campaigns to promote and link to your social media sites as well (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn). VJ’s thoughts: May be the customer is not ready right now to jump on your inventory page or visit your dealer URL, but he would like to see what else you are talking about in the future. Capture them!

Integrate (brief) teasers in your email campaigns about your social media postings such as your involvement, following or supporting local groups, charities, teams, events etc. VJ’s thoughts: An old PR rule is “Do good things and talk about it” – so do it and brag modestly!

Have so called “Calls-to-Action” in your email campaigns that promote postings of events and happenings that your dealership is involved in (Car Clinics, Open House, Charity/Fundraiser car detailing etc.) – then link these activities to your social media page with more information about events. VJ’s thoughts: Create RSVPs for customer evening events, make them feel important, make them your V.I.P.

Keep up the core premise of successful email marketing: right time, relevant messaging, of value to targeted customers. VJ’s thoughtsWhen tailoring your sales messags think about the three categories according to a study of Nielsen Online: Baby Boomers love monthly and quarterly cash-back savings  –  Generation X is looking for convenience factor (Loaner cars, Play area, Business center, WiFi)  –  and the Millenials just appreciating Specials and Deals in what is ”Cool and In” with instant gratification!

On your social media postings:

You need to be relevant, give value, share information, follow/support your “locals”, be conversational, embrace the fanatic fans and respond to the problems in a timely manner. VJ’s thoughts: Best example: Toyota, where were they the whole time when the issues of their recalls occurred. Now they are pumping millions of $$ into national ne page print-ads and prime time T.V. commercials.

Who to follow or to be-friend? Support your local teams, organizations, chamber, business groups, consumer groups, community events. VJ’s thoughts: Reach out to them and let them know about your ambitions for them. Tell your local community that you are supporting them and you will steadily talk about their deals (barber shop and the retiree Wednesday haircut for $7)!

Not sure what to “tweet”? – You can start off by re-tweeting relevant information about happenings in your community, great news about your brand, events etc. – share local business news. Is a neighbor business or a good customer who is a local business owner offering “specials”? You can support these in brief tweets or postings. VJ’s thoughts: Has a customer of yours “pimped” their ride and is this possible share worthy? Post it with a testimonial from them. Did you solve a problem for a customer – turning them into a satisfied customer – share it!

Always include a sign-up for email actions on Social Media site and promote a value (like free car wash, a special price for the next oil-change) of signing up for email sign-up. VJ’s thoughts: Allow your customer to decide if they want to follow you. Permission based marketing has since decades the highest ROI.

Call to action value of your service coupons on your website. VJ’s thoughts: Involve each of your profit centers – Service, Parts, Wholesale Parts, Bodyshop, and even Finance!

Keep your postings current. VJ’s thoughts: Please, it does not make sense you are telling on your website “follow me on twitter” and a customer who then finally follows you will see that your last post said “Happy Thanksgiving”, even so it is now March!

Be authentic in your postings, and do not speak about politics, race or use “bad” language. VJ’s thoughts: It happens and I showed it numerous times on my speaker sessions: ” Wow, the customers are so crappy today. Is it full moon or what?” – YES, this is an original twitter post I grabbed and just imagine when I would be a customer of this dealership, and had visited them today for an oil-change. How would feel? Really CRAPPY after reading this, right?

Be conversational, sharing and relevant! VJ’s thoughts: That means with all due respect – NO INVENTORY FEEDS appearing in your twitter stream. I see frequently tweets or facebook posts which are stating “Just uploaded a YouTube video of an 2002 Ford….” and a second later the next tweet says “Just uploaded a YouTube video of an 2004 Buick…” Come on, please!

Here are a few links that you may find as great resources:

Dealix Learns How to Be Fit While They Sit

Fitness is a subject on the minds of most people in the workplace these days. Busy schedules and increasingly sedentary lifestyles leave many of us with a conundrum: How do you stay fit when you’re sitting in front of a glowing screen all day? At Dealix, a division of Cobalt, the employees found a unique solution; and last month, they tried it out at their first Wellness workshop.

“The whole concept is to learn how to move at work even just a little bit more, instead of feeling tight and tired at the end of the day,” said Eunice Mendoza, office manager at Dealix’s Redwood City location. “Stella, the Pilates instructor, definitely made the workshop interesting for us, teaching a few Pilates exercises to do at our desks.”

There were several different moves she showed the group, such as learning how to breathe properly. Practicing different breathing techniques correctly has benefits to your core. One example was the “navel to spine” method, also known as the “zipping up your jeans” method. Basically, when you exhale, you should pretend that you are zipping up a tight pair of jeans. Mendoza and other participants found that this one really works.

Other techniques included the “I Dream of Jeannie” seated abdominals, and the “Twist and Reach” movement (like you are grabbing a file, using the same navel to spine breathing) both of which strengthen abdominal muscles and shrink love handles.

“Many of us came out of the workshop thinking how such little movement made such a big impact!” said Mendoza, once she had completed the first workshop.

Dealix is planning another “Fit While You Sit” event in the coming months, just a part of how Dealix and Cobalt helps employees to achieve better wellness and fitness.

The Cobalt Group
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The Cobalt Group

A Morning of Inspiration: Lifelong AIDS Alliance Charity Breakfast

I got this email one day indicating that Cobalt was sponsoring a $125 per plate breakfast along with a chance to visit with our busy CEO, John Holt. The event featured Seattle KOMO 4 newscaster, Molly Shen, and other local bigwigs. Sounds great, right?

The only catch was that it was the Lifelong AIDS Breakfast. Yes, that AIDS. The one that killed Freddie Mercury, Easy E and Ryan White. The one that generations of young adults live in fear of. The one that I’ve grown confessedly ignorant of.Lifelong Aids Alliance Breakfast

Could I tolerate an hour and a half of stories about starving children in Africa whose lives are that much more terrible because they were orphaned by HIV/AIDS? Or my own Northwest neighbors, who suffer from the disease every day? The truth is, yes; this is a cause I believe in. But in 2010, I really don’t know what to do to support those affected by the disease. So I went to the event because I wanted to fill a seat, make a donation and do something.

At the event, there were stories of Seattleites who have been battling AIDS for a decade or more. But that was the also the miracle of it. It’s been more than ten years for some people! One thing that I learned is that Cobalt’s own Matt Browning, manager of technical support, sits on the Board of Directors for the Lifelong AIDS Alliance and organizes Cobalt’s AIDS Walk team. I had no idea! He’s such an unassuming guy around the office, but he’s a board member for a major cause in Seattle.

Aids Alliance AwardsWashington State Attorney General Rob McKenna also spoke, offering up some statistics and figures. He quoted Gandhi, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” He added that those of us who attend Charity Breakfast Events like this one should adopt the phrase, “Lead the change that you want to see.”

During the event, the foundation awarded the annual Ned Behnke Award for the researcher who provided the most benefit to finding a cure. The recipient, Dr. King Holmes, spoke about advances in AIDS research that are not getting the kind of attention they should.

Current Lifelong AIDS Alliance Chair Maurice Jones also took the podium, making sure to let us know that 86 cents of every dollar donated to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance goes directly to their clients. Truly, this is a rare chance to maximize direct help.

The event included a video presentation that covered some of the current work and goals of the Lifelong AIDS Alliance. One patient featured in the video, Krystal, has had this disease since 1991. I remembered that AIDS was a death sentence back then, but here is Krystal, a 19-year survivor, who lives an active and contributing lifestyle.aids_alliance3

That’s what this is ultimately about. It’s not just about statistics versus cures and success stories. This is about “quality of life” and being able to contribute to someone’s life in a meaningful way, whether it’s a full day of work, delivering donated food or just the simple act of giving someone an hour of your time.

Lifelong AIDS Alliance is giving a better quality of life to individuals in a variety of ways every single day. I was humbled by the opportunity to help this organization advance that cause and that Cobalt would give me the chance to have that opportunity.

Donate to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance.

Photos taken by Ben Zheng, courtesy Lifelong AIDS Alliance Facebook Photos page.

Deb Thogersen
Account Advocate
www.cobalt.com
www.twitter.com/CobaltMarketing
www.youtube.com/cobaltlive

The Cobalt Group