Steve Davies

It's that time of the year when those boffins from BMW put their little grey-cells together and devise an outstandingly clever solution... to a problem that nobody as yet was aware of. Last year it was those colour-coded BMW roundels, providing a means to show your true colours during the UK General Election.

Kia Motors dealers around the UK have launched innovative plans to keep the cars on their forecourts spotless and free from attack by the enemy of all car-owners, bird-droppings!

Innovative Spanish car maker SEAT is once again leading the way on in-car technology with the debut today of a pioneering and dynamic new satellite navigation system.

Unless of course you've been living on a remote island, away from TV, newspapers and the interweb, then you'll know that Ford is in the middle of launching its new Focus - a more significant event than any previous launch because despite being developed in Europe, it will be sold in over 120 markets worldwide.

Whether it's appropriate or not, sex has been used to sell nearly every type of product since the beginning of advertising itself and even more so when it comes to digital advertising on the internet.

If you work in the automotive sector then you'll be heartened to read the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer, the company's 11th annual research study into the trust and credibility of businesses around the world. For 2011 Automotive climbs to become the 2nd most trusted industry sector, just behind Technology which retained the No.1 spot for a second year in a row.

I've undertaken my fair share of 'teaser' or pre-launch marketing campaigns and they can be a very effective means of grasping and then holding customer attention in the build up to a major launch. But they rely on the element of surprise, of the unknown - where the audience are intrigued and curious about what will happen next and where the foreplay becomes nearly as satisfying as the main event...

We're big fans of BMW USA's previous films - their groundbreaking The Hire film series ignored conventions and created the phenomenon known as online films. The Web has never been the same since.