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Former Jalopnik Editor Wert Launches 'Tiny Toy Car,' Auto Ad Agency, With Detroit Office

NEW YORK CITY -- Ray Wert, former executive director of content for Gawker Media, Thursday announced he has launched a digital content and advertising strategy studio, Tiny Toy Car.

The agency will be based in New York with an office in Detroit. It is intended to provide online publishers and their automotive and agency clients with customized, branded advertising content designed to entertain, inform and engage car shoppers and automotive enthusiasts.

The studio name comes from the emotions and enthusiasm that children feel when they see a toy car. Wert said his goal is to bring these emotions to life for adults when they engage with content featuring their favorite vehicles.

"Our goal at Tiny Toy Car is to tell our clients' stories in a way that evokes the passion and emotion that people attach to their cars and trucks," Wert said. "We see ourselves as story tellers who bring the advertisers best brand attributes to life, creating deeper, more engaging experiences for auto enthusiasts and consumers in the vehicle shopping process."

Wert developed a similar strategy for Gawker Media, where he was in charge of conceptualizing and promoting scalable branded content and conversation offerings across all eight of Gawker Media's sites. He helped create Studio@Gawker, the company's custom advertising studio that produced sponsored content for its brand partners. In the three months following the launch of Studio@Gawker, views of sponsored content on Gawker Media brand sites jumped by 300 percent.

Prior to helping Gawker Media launch Studio@Gawker, Wert served as editor for Jalopnik.com, Gawker's automotive lifestyle site. In six years, Wert helped turn Jalopnik from a site with a precious name to the go-to industry tabloid with a precious name, and a must read for auto enthusiasts with more than two million unique visitors per month.

Under Wert's leadership, Jalopnik site traffic increased from 2 million page views per month to 32 million page views per month with average annual traffic growth of nearly 100 percent each year.

Tiny Toy Car's first client will be Gawker Media.

"We're grateful to Ray for his efforts to bring our sponsored content offerings to the next level, and look forward to continuing to work with him at Tiny Toy Car," said Andrew Gorenstein, chief revenue officer at Gawker Media.

The location of the Detroit office hasn't yet been decided. Spokesman Mike DeVilling said downtown Detroit's Madison Building, where numerous creative companies are based, is among the locations under consideration.

More at http://TinyToyCar.com.

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