Erica: Gary, tell us about yourself.
Gary: My name is Gary LaDue. I’ve been at Modern as the Marketing Director for 8 years and I’ve worked in marketing my whole career. I spent the first 12 years in the Blinds & Shades Industry with product development/marketing and 8 years at Acco Brands. Then I worked for 4 years at Hanes Group where I ran the Bali Bra business, which is the 2nd largest bra brand in intimate apparel behind Victoria's Secret. This also means running inventory, product launches, etc. So, it was a big job.
Erica: How did you get into the Automotive Industry?
Gary: It was a mix of getting into the business by accident and by strategy – I wanted to do something that leaned more into media & communications rather than spending time on the inventory/P&L’s side of the business. I stumbled onto this role on LinkedIn and then I got a call from Rob at Modern. He said “Hey, I saw you applied for this job”. We ended up meeting, talking and I felt really welcomed. I like the construct of the job. We ran very high-level marketing at Hanes, both traditional and digital media, but it was only a small piece of the job where this was full time everything I loved to do. I was walking into a role where they had 2 directors – one that handled traditional and one that handled digital/website – and now I can consolidate that into one.
Erica: What's the greatest career lesson you've learned that you wish someone had prepared you for?
Gary: One of the most amazing things – that I don’t think a lot of people think about but once it’s brought forth and be aware of it – just being a really good listener. That comes with everything – not just your customers, but also the people you interact with every day. Whatever it is you’re doing – there’s nothing more important than being a good listener.
Erica: What piece of advice would you give to someone entering the Automotive Industry?
Gary: Buckle Up! It’s a lot to absorb. Getting into Automotive from outside of the industry - the first 2 years is drinking out of a fire hose. Every OEM is different, every brand is different, compliance. Dealerships are complex. We aren’t just selling cars – we are selling warranty products, service, etc. All the pieces and components, tech is impressive. The key for dealerships is to sell to your customers regardless of how they want to be sold to. You can’t just say “this is how we do business” anymore – everyone has different expectations so it’s important that you’re able to meet all of them.
Erica: What keeps you going in this industry of so many ups & downs? What keeps you passionate about it?
Gary: I love Marketing so there’s always something exciting to do there. I’ve made a lot of really great connections in Automotive. The world is actually smaller than you anticipate in this industry. The amount of people who are sitting in the marketing seat of automotive is small so you’re going to have a great community. I love to test and play with new tech that hasn’t existed prior in this industry. When I first started working here, this was soon after I started, I asked “Ok, how do we access our data?” and I got funny looks like “What do you mean?? We have the CRM?”. And I was like “Wait, how do we run business intelligence and see what works and what doesn’t? How do we analyze all of that?”. I think you are seeing a lot of emergences of plug & play CDP tech in the last few years but now you’re seeing the likes of Salesforce trying to break in – and what they bring into the space is a fully licensed platform that has the strength to do so. It now brings audience data into our marketing. The next few years will be exciting!
Erica: If you weren’t in the car business, what would it be? What has stopped you from making the change?
Gary: I would assume I’d still be working in Marketing because I enjoy it quite a bit. I had the burden and the luxury of going to school at the same time as my career was taking off so I was able to dive in deep. Where and what industry – I don’t know – but I know it’d still be marketing.
Erica: What’s your least favorite part of the Automotive Industry?
Gary: There’s just a lot of restrictions…your OEM partners are a brand but there are so many restrictions about how we must go to Market. With every part of our business – web partners, chat, etc. – and you can get a little frustrated on where the boundaries are. We have been able to test a lot and figured out what works best for us for Modern as a brand. It’s about keeping the consistency for Modern as a brand as well as supporting the OEM guidelines as much as possible.
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