12 Volt Taps 'Got Milk?' Idea Man

By Amy Gilroy On Sep 15 2008 - 6:00am

The 12 Volt Summit has given birth to the "12 Volt Initiative," the new name for the industrywide cooperative to raise awareness of car stereo.

The steering committee that organized the 12 Volt Summit held in July has nominated a slate of industry members to run the initiative and will email that slate out to attendees of the summit, who will then vote on the nominees by the last week of September. To view the nominees please see www.TWICE.com.

In addition, the steering committee voted to enlist the support of Jeff Manning, architect of the Got Milk? campaign and a featured speaker at the 12 Volt Summit, where industry members gathered to tackle how to raise awareness for car stereo. Manning has reportedly agreed to be hired by the industry but no formal contract has been signed.

Steve Witt, steering committee member and marketing VP of Alpine, said a newly elected committee was necessary because the commitment will be long term and will require "consistent planning, management and execution to achieve our goal … of increasing awareness." He said the voting process will not delay the goal of creating a campaign or strategy for the industry to review by International CES in January.

Witt claimed that steering committee members have been very active since the 12 Volt Summit. "Personally I have spent 50 hours in the last three weeks working on this, and I'm not alone. There are people working tireless hours right now to get this thing established."