Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com Expands OEM Advertising & Business Development Team

IRVINE, Calif., July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Kelley Blue Book's www.kbb.com, the leading provider of new car and used car information, today announces a major expansion of its OEM Advertising and Business Development team nationwide, with promotions and new hires in both the company's Detroit office and Irvine, Calif., headquarters.

Susan Makuch Brown recently was promoted to vice president of OEM advertising and business development for Kelley Blue Book, after serving nearly 10 years as director of OEM advertising – East for the company in its Detroit office.  As vice president, Brown will focus on Kelley Blue Book's advertising and business development initiatives with automakers and lead kbb.com's team to support these projects.  This promotion follows the retirement of Robin Cooper, who previously worked for Kelley Blue Book as vice president of OEM advertising and business development for a decade.  Furthermore, Tim Hand recently was promoted to senior director of OEM sales and business development, after serving nearly 10 years as director of OEM advertising – West for the company in its Irvine, Calif., headquarters.

In addition, kbb.com has made a number of significant new hires to support growth in Kelley Blue Book's Detroit office.  Shane Kay and Doug Weiland both have been hired as directors of advertising and business development for Kelley Blue Book.  In these roles, the sales directors will provide in-depth industry knowledge and thought leadership in the arena of digital advertising programs and offers from kbb.com.  Prior to joining Kelley Blue Book, Kay most recently worked as senior vice president and digital negotiation director at Ford's agency, Mindshare Team Detroit, and Weiland most recently worked as vice president and media director for Starcom, leading the charge for General Motors' digital advertising team.

Furthermore, Kelley Blue Book has hired Jinar Han-Bombard as sales manager, and Erin Wrobleski as associate sales manager, both working in the company's Detroit office.  In these roles, the sales managers will be providing in-depth coverage for a variety of OEM and agency customers of Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com.  Bombard most recently worked as an account executive for Scripps Network Interactive, and Wrobleski was an account executive at Tribune Broadcasting – Fox Affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich.  To round out the new hires in Kelley Blue Book's Detroit office, Colleen O'Keefe has joined the team as account manager, providing day-to-day contact with the company's agency partners.  O'Keefe most recently worked in new product development for AutoWeek.

"With the recent promotions and new hires to Kelley Blue Book's OEM advertising and business development department, we are growing our world-class team to better support OEMs who want to partner with us on kbb.com," said Leo Drew, executive vice president of OEM/partner sales & strategy for Kelley Blue Book.  "Now, more than ever before, we are in a great position to support the goals of OEMs, and successfully deliver their messaging and information to in-market car shoppers on Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com."

Kelley Blue Book's OEM advertising and business development team has won numerous honors and recognitions over the years for its collaborative work with automakers.  Most recently, they were honored with an Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) award for 'Best Automobile Online Campaign' in 2010 alongside Ford Motor Company for the 'Cash for Clunkers' campaign that ran on kbb.com during the summer of 2009.  In addition, they were honored with an IAC award for 'Best of Show Rich Media Online Ad' and 'Best Automobile Rich Media Online Ad' in 2009 alongside Digitas for a Pontiac G8 'Tommy Kendall Avatar' campaign that ran on kbb.com.

Since its inception in 1926, Kelley Blue Book has grown by leaps and bounds to become the only vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the industry.  Most recently, Kelley Blue Book launched a fully redesigned version of its top-rated website, www.kbb.com, revolutionizing the way shoppers research new- and used-car information.  With the May 2011 site redesign, the company introduced new useful tools such as Reality Check(SM) for New Cars and revamped Total Cost of Ownership, designed to help shoppers understand the full financial implications of a vehicle purchase.  

In addition, kbb.com continues to shatter previous website traffic records with its best month and day to date occurring in March 2011, with more than 19 million visits to kbb.com occurring that month.  In 2010, the company expanded its reach into mobile with kbb.com applications for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7.  Furthermore, in 2010 Kelley Blue Book also implemented an industry-changing data system to provide heightened precision and transparency in its valuations.    

For more information and news from Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com, visit www.kbb.com/media/, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kelleybluebook (or @kelleybluebook), or like our page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kbb. 

About Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com)

Founded in 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource®, is the only vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the industry.  Each week the company provides the most market-reflective values in the industry on its top-rated website www.kbb.com, including its famous Blue Book® Trade-In and Retail Values and Fair Purchase Price, which reports what others are paying for new cars this week.  The company also provides vehicle pricing and values through various products and services available to car dealers, auto manufacturers, finance and insurance companies as well as governmental agencies.  Kbb.com is a leading provider of new car prices, used car values, car reviews, new cars for sale, used cars for sale, and car dealer locations. Kelley Blue Book Co. Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of AutoTrader.com.

SOURCE Kelley Blue Book