Mike Austin Joins Tiny Toy Car

Tiny Toy Car is growing with the addition of Mike Austin as our new Director of Creative Strategy. Mike brings nearly 12 years of automotive experience with him, having previously worked as Technical Editor at Car and Driver and most recently as Automotive Editor at Popular Mechanics. "I'm excited to have Mike on board," said Tiny Toy Car Founder Ray Wert. "His background and unparalleled technical knowledge give us and our brand partners all the resources they need to tell awesome stories in an authentic way."

Under this newly-created role, Mike will leverage his editorial expertise to craft creative automotive programs for our publisher partners. In addition, Mike will serve as technical advisor to the company.

Mike will remain based in the Detroit, Michigan area to provide a constant supply of craft beer to the Tiny Toy Car headquarters in Los Angeles, California, and to allow Ray to make sarcastic jokes about the weather, all while secretly wishing he was there for easy access to surfing and tacos.

  

About Tiny Toy Car

Founded in 2013, Tiny Toy Car provides automakers, publishers and brands with customized advertising content designed to entertain, inform and engage car shoppers and automotive enthusiasts.

Founder Ray Wert brings a decade of automotive storytelling experience to the table. Most notably, Wert served as editor of automotive lifestyle site Jalopnik for six years. In that time, site traffic increased from 2 million page views per month to 32 million page views per month with annual traffic growth of nearly 100 percent each year. 

With presences in New York, Detroit and Los Angeles, Tiny Toy Car is wherever you are. By partnering to create authentic, insightful content, Tiny Toy Car will help your brand create stronger relationships with consumers by crafting deeper, more meaningful experiences in the digital space.

Brandchannel on Jaguar and the Branded Content Boom

Brandchannel recently reached out to Tiny Toy Car founder Ray Wert for thoughts on the recent boom in automotive branded content. 

Following in the pioneering footsteps of BMW's The Hire series, made in 2001 long before "branded content" was a buzzword, Jaguar teamed up with sultry crooner Lana del Rey in their film Desire, produced by director Ridley Scott's film house.

"We're seeing automakers spending more and more on branded content for the same reason every brand is -- when done right, you can tell a more compelling story than any other form of advertising," Wert told Abe Sauer for the article.

For more, head over to Brandchannel.

Ray Wert Returns to Jalopnik for Q&A on Tiny Toy Car

Ray Wert and current Jalopnik editor Matt Hardigree, showing that Jalopnik bonds never dies

Ray Wert and current Jalopnik editor Matt Hardigree, showing that Jalopnik bonds never dies

Tiny Toy Car is officially official! To kick things off in true Tiny Toy style, founder Ray Wert returned to his old stomping grounds over on Jalopnik to answer reader questions about the new venture. 

As always, the commenters' questions didn't disappoint. Head over to Jalopnik to read the whole Q&A and learn a little more about what makes Tiny Toy Car tick.