We are a dealer-owned magazine. As the only dealer-owned publication that reaches all of Canada’s franchised new car dealers, it’s our role to represent dealer interests. That mandate hasn’t changed in the seven years we’ve been publishing Canadian auto dealer (and six years of publishing Affaires automobiles, the French-language counterpart to this magazine).
Earlier this year, we made major changes to our magazine team. Now, with six months under our re-organized belts, I want to take a moment to recognize an extraordinary achievement — one that our new team deserves all the credit for.
The last issue of Canadian auto dealer was the biggest issue in this magazine’s history, by a good margin. At 76 pages, it contained more editorial and more advertising than any issue we had published before, and demonstrates the degree to which our new team has taken up the baton and run with it. Affaires automobiles achieved a similar success, as we published our biggest French language issue at the same time.
Todd Phillips, our new editorial director, has embraced the role of principal story-teller for the dealer community with a level of skill and enthusiasm that is truly remarkable. Todd has a clear vision of what he wants to do with the magazine. Under his editorial guidance, we are focusing more of our coverage on the dealers, the suppliers, and the industry association leaders who make this industry what it is. The profile of Brent Marshall, an extraordinary dealer principal from Prince George, B.C., in this issue is another example of the type of stories you can expect more of.
People are noticing. We are getting more feedback, more new story ideas and more input than we ever have. Todd is building on the solid foundation Gerry Malloy put in place in his tenure as editor. We’re also fortunate Gerry continues to write for us, which only adds to the mix.
I’m also proud that Shirley Canty, former executive director of the Manitoba Motor Dealers Association was featured on the cover for the biggest issue in our history. After her 29 years of service to the industry, it was recognition well deserved. In typical Shirley fashion, she contacted us to thank us for the coverage, but wanted to make sure we sent a copy to one of the keynote speakers at her conference that we had also featured in the issue. She’s still thinking of others even in retirement!
We are also seeing the results of the change we made to our advertising sales team. With the retirement of Tony Chisholm, who led our sales team since the launch of the magazine, our advertisers are being served by the dynamic duo of Kristina Silva (Toronto) and Linda Nadon (Montreal). Both as a result of their efforts and the many new product categories our changing industry is creating, we are seeing stronger advertiser support than at any time in our history. We appreciate that overwhelming industry support, which now demonstrably proves we are the market leader in serving the dealer community in Canada. The proof is in the pages, as they say.
If you are ever in the CADA/OADA/TADA office building in Markham, please drop by our offices on the first floor. We love the direct interaction, and you can feel for yourself the energy and enthusiasm our new team is bringing to your magazine.
