Editorial:
“Help is coming from an unlikely source,” say many articles about the car audio shops making COVID-19 face shields. CEoutlook has even written the same. But no one in this industry is surprised that top car audio shops delivered 76,000 shields before major companies like Ford could get them out the door.
That’s what this industry has done for decades… beat Ford and large OEMs to market, only this time it was with life saving equipment.
Dozens of shops worked day and night, sharing resources, knowledge and skills to pool their know how and hard work to make the shields. And isn’t that what many of them do regularly in online forums, helping each other share parts, expertise and advice?
And, in terms of the skill it took to design and make shields, these shops, every day, are assembling OEM-worthy audio systems and other electronics, integrating them, and finishing them with designs that can exceed the craftsmanship in a new top end Mercedes, BMW or Audi.
So, no, we weren’t surprised.
But that’s not the only reason we are writing this. The good will effort it took to make 76,000 shields in 3 weeks paid off in a way that the participating shops did not expect.
PR agency HWH Co-owner Lois Whitman helped us add up the viewership of the evening news programs that featured segments on 12 volt shops making shields. We figured they reached over 2.5 million people including one segment on CNN and about 8 local TV stations. Plus, JK Automotive, MA, which started the 12 volt shield making wave (and which asked not to be singled out, but we figured it was unfair not to mention them at all) was featured in People magazine, which has a circulation of 46.6 million people (and a reach of 96 million). That adds up to over 49 million views conservatively, and that’s not counting social media, newspaper and radio coverage.
A while back, I and Solomon Daniels, who led Mobile Electronics magazine for the past 10 years or so, presented a seminar on public relations at a few KnowledgeFest shows. We thought we were being helpful telling the industry how to get attention from local media. I’m sure Solomon would agree that it is you guys that just taught us how its done.
The fact that selfless shop owners, facing the prospect of no or little income, cared for their communities instead of their pocketbooks, says all that needs to be said about why you should go to a local car audio shop. Their good works was better than the”Got Milk” style campaign the industry tried to create years back. It turned out the center of the campaign need not be about car radios or blind spot detectors, but about ingenuity, technology and community spirit.
Of course, PR is not why the shop owners dropped everything to help hospital workers going into battle without PPE. They did it to save lives and eventually, to see the look of gratitude and relief on the faces of the recipients. We have to figure that they helped save many lives and helped countless family members sleep better at night.
We are so proud of all of you and of the many suppliers that have been donating masks and PPE as well.
Here are some of the media segments on our 12 volt shops:
CNN https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/us/coronavirus-auto-shops-face-shields-trnd/index.html
People.com https://people.com/human-interest/workers-design-donate-hundreds-face-shields-coronavirus/
Mechanicsville, VA https://www.facebook.com/mike.bartells/videos/10158277370468011/
West Warwick, RI 10WJAR http://turnto10.com/news/coronavirus/show-us-something-good/west-warwick-audio-store-donating-thousands-of-face-shields-to-frontline-workers
Roselle, NJ News12 https://www.facebook.com/groups/ppemask/permalink/847263445756023/
Thank you to all the shops and individuals who busted their butts to do the work. This has been a truly admirable, selfless, and valuable effort. Deep respect.
Very proud of all the people and shops who have participated in this effort!!
Nice job. Fantastic work.
And THIS is why I love our industry! Well done.