Motorwerks Marketing
GILBERT, Ariz. — Motorwerks Marketing might not be a name a lot of folks in the collector car hobby are familiar with. In a way, that’s the way company founder and CEO Darin Roberge likes it.
Being discreet and unassuming can be a big asset in the world of high-end collector cars, and Roberge’s company works with some serious high-rollers who don’t invite unnecessary publicity. Roberge figured that out during his days working for Russo and Steele Auctions, and today he is running a thriving advertising/marketing/consulting business than helps him combine his business aspirations and passion for cars.
Old Cars recently caught up with Roberge for a “10 Questions with …” interview.
Q. Old Cars: How and when did Motorwerks Marketing get started?
A. Darin Roberge: Motorwerks was founded in late 2017, shortly after I had left my role as marketing and media VP at Russo and Steele Collector Automobile Auctions. I almost hate to say it, but it wasn’t really like a planned type of situation. I had taken a month or so off after Russo and just kind of rolled out of bed one morning and started putting everything together. We created the website and we launched a few weeks later at SEMA in Vegas.
Q. Old Cars: What were the company’s long-term goals or aspirations?
A. Darin Roberge: When we first started, I don’t particularly think we were thinking long-term. We just wanted to build something that was first and foremost fun for us to come to work and do every day, and secondly provided us an opportunity to help good people make their businesses better. I don’t think it’s really a secret to anybody who’s involved in this industry, but there’s a lot of great companies doing great work that have really, really bad marketing out there. From my perspective, it makes sense, too. If you’ve got a room full of Jaguar E-Types, or whatever, that are your primary focus, the rest of it rightfully becomes an afterthought. That’s where we come in. I think our objective has always been to try and help companies like that to better tell their story, and that’s pretty much what we’re still doing today.
Q. Old Cars: Did you see a particular need in the collector car world that needed to be served?
A. Darin Roberge: We just saw a lot of bad marketing out there from companies that we knew were capable and were doing amazing things. We also saw a lot of larger, more one-size-fits-all-type agencies, with no concept of how the industry or hobby operated, that were massively overcharging and then badly under delivering for these companies. Thus, companies like ours were viewed a lot of times as being too expensive and ineffective, despite the need of the client to be helped by people like us. This seemed like a fairly straightforward bridge for us to gap, and to this point, that assumption has proven correct.
Q. Old Cars: In layman’s terms, what are your bread-and-butter services? What keeps you the most busy?
A. Darin Roberge: We are undoubtedly the biggest buyer, provider and creator of both in-house and sponsored e-mail marketing services in this industry. That’s probably our busiest department, but we are a full-service agency and offer a full suite of products and services that you would find at any Fortune 500-level type of advertising agency. I have brilliant social media people, designers/artists, PR pros, consultants, etc., that can help solve virtually any problem that a specialty, classic or collector automotive business specifically might experience. We also have a lot of experience with events, street team marketing and that type of thing as well. We like to say that we can offer basically any service that you can dream up (and a lot of stuff that you can’t), and I think that pretty accurately describes what we do over here.
Q. Old Cars: You have worked with some of the collector car hobby’s biggest players. What has been the key to getting your foot in the door with such important companies?
A. Darin Roberge: I think this really breaks down to a couple of things. First of all, we’re very discreet and are very protective of how our clients identities are perceived in the marketplace. Obviously, this is a competitive industry and it’s important for our clients to feel comfortable and know that we provide an environment where they can be open and straightforward with us. Secondly, our success rate is very high. Although it does happen, we very rarely fail at anything. Part of this is because I have a very talented team that is dedicated to being successful for our clients, but also we tend not to take on projects that we know won’t work and we communicate that directly up front. We have a very deep understanding of this industry and that provides us with the knowledge and experience to know when somebody is coming at us with something that’s likely going to be problematic for them and we’re honest about that.
Q. Old Cars: How has the company changed as you’ve gone along? Have you had any big changes in course along the way?
A. Darin Roberge: I think we’ve always had a pretty winning formula overall, but part of that is having the ability to change with an industry like this, which changes so quickly. I keep a small, tight team that communicates effectively not only with our clients, but within our walls and this gives us the ability to pivot in a way that larger companies simply cannot. For us, communication really is key and if we’re communicating effectively with ourselves and with our clients, big changes don’t really become a requirement.
Motorwerks Marketing
Q. Old Cars: There is so much going on in the world today — hostilities in the Middle East, economic recession, continuous drama in Washington … Overall how is the collector car hobby holding up? Are old car buyers more skittish these days?
A. Darin Roberge: Obviously, we see waves of things moving in either direction based on what the news is and where it’s coming from, but due to the nature of what this hobby is and who it primarily appeals to, we’re fortunate enough to be above a lot of it. Things can certainly snowball and that can definitely create an ugly environment if improperly managed, but there’s always things incoming and outgoing and as long as you stay on top of the market, understand its motivations and how it flows, you can do pretty well in this hobby despite what may be going on elsewhere. More sophisticated investors and collectors understand this and tend to evolve, rather than panic. Comparatively speaking, collector cars are still a very safe place overall, even if the world is a little crazier place than normal.
Q. Old Cars: Does anything in particular worry or concern you about the hobby these days?
A. Darin Roberge: Probably my biggest real concern… is the consolidation towards the top of the hobby and outside corporate involvement coming out of that as a result. This business is very difficult to measure on spreadsheets, and because of the passion component, unless you’re on the ground, a lot of what makes this business work may not make sense. I think it’s certainly a good thing when outside interests come in looking to invest time and resources in what it is that we all love so much, but with that always comes the bottom line. That can certainly be a double-edged sword if misunderstood or taken advantage of past a certain degree.
Q. Old Cars: Any segments of the hobby really hot right now? Trucks have been rolling for quite a while. ’70s and ’80s vehicles are getting a lot more nostalgia love than they used to. Any other stuff that you’ve noticed is really doing well?
A. Darin Roberge: Anything that could potentially be considered an end-of-era, analog-type car seems to be performing really solidly right now. Especially special edition and/or “in the wrapper” type examples. Obviously, we’ve seen some pretty impressive appreciation with ’80s and ’90s super and hypercars, but I think this trickles down through things like BMW M3, Ford Mustang Fox, etc. Even C4 Corvettes seem to be garnering more attention than they have traditionally as of late. I think the one to watch right now, however, will not really start appearing until this January. If you’re of a certain age, the car has always been the Nissan Skyline, and most specifically the R34 generation. Whether it be movies, video games, whatever, this vehicle represents kind of an unusual moment in the standard cycle of desire that most collectors have. Everybody knows about it, everybody wants one, but nobody is allowed to have one. All of this changes in January as 25 years ago, the first examples of the fabled R34 rolled off the assembly line and, as a result, will become post-gray law and finally within reach of what largely amounts to an entire generation of people that want them. I would expect an explosion in prices here, and if you’re lucky enough to have a warehouse that you’ve been sitting on in Osaka that’s full of these things, now is your time to shine.
Q. Old Cars: You write about this on your website (great piece by the way!), but what do you think are some of the really good bargain cars or areas still out there?
A. Darin Roberge: I think traditionally the best bargains are found in one of two places and today is no exception: Think incoming and outgoing. Back to the last generations of analog cars from the early-mid 2000s, although again, they are still climbing most certainly, there’s still deals to be had. Another one to consider in this category would be any of the late-model, high-horsepower American muscle cars from the last decade or so (Hellcat, GT500, ZL1, etc.). Although most of these are still considered to be used cars, they represent the last of a dying breed and the insane numbers they produce performance-wise will likely never be replicated again by internal-combustion engines. That ensures future collectability for certain. On the other side of things, if you’re maybe a little less concerned with collectability and more concerned with the experience or preserving history, there’s bargains to be had all over the place with American cars from the early ’60s or prior. These are usable, capable, highly nostalgic cars, coming from a fascinating design era, that are fun to work on, easy to own and becoming more affordable all the time. You don’t have to look far to find a deal in this segment right now, and I expect this won’t change anytime soon.
Q. Old Cars: What are your goals for the future of Motorwerks Marketing?
A. Darin Roberge: Our future goals remain pretty consistent with the goals that we have right now. Do cool stuff, work with cool people and continue to win for all of the above. We have a couple of little pet objectives that I personally have on the side that I would like to further expand as we move down the line, but you’ll have to wait and see on those!
Q. Old Cars: You get one car for the day. You can have any car in the world for a single day. You have to give it back at midnight. What car are you taking and why?
A. Darin Roberge: I’ve actually kind of semi done this a lot of times in real life and already checked quite a few of my boxes, but I’ve never actually reached the top of the heap on it. For me, it’s gotta be a short-wheelbase, covered-headlight Ferrari 250GT California. Not really sure where I would go, or what I would do (as I would probably be terrified of breaking it), but in theory, the idea is certainly a good one.
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