Even in the world of large manufacturing, it’s about people for brand ambassadors

Editor's Note: This column was originally posted on May 20, 2019, and has since been updated with additional information.

“It’s the people.”

Any of my friends from college will chuckle at that phrase. It’s on the roadside welcome sign heading into Hillsdale, Mich. I immediately think of my dad telling me about the classic dystopian movie “Soylent Green,” where Charlton Heston declares that the food “… is people!”

I used to laugh about it, but dang if that doesn’t just sum up life. It is the people—and not in a Hannibal Lecter with fava beans and a nice chianti kind of way.

With individuals having the ability to brand and market themselves on a scale that was impossible before contemporary social media, large companies have taken notice. From their perspective, these individuals can reach either a substantial fan base, a specific niche following, or both. The question of how to become sponsored by or partnered with brands is a popular one, for good reason. The right connection could benefit you with killer products, an income stream, credibility, and a reach extended by corporate dollars.

It’s a good thing to remember that manufacturers and marketing agencies, whether industry giants or newcomers to the scene, comprise human beings. These people are individuals, each with a heart and mind of their own. And while company policy might dictate specific actions or decisions they take and make, personal relationships have been at the core of every brand partnership I’ve developed.

Here are a few examples of some special people I have formed both business and personal relationships with.

Well over a decade ago, the gentleman who ran Miller Electric’s social media accounts (Bill Elverman) started following me on Twitter. Soon after, we started a dialogue. I already used blue machines, so that part was natural. He dug my work and started sharing some of it online while also introducing my art and welding to workers within Miller and its marketing rep, Two Rivers Marketing.

I don’t know if the term influencer had yet been coined, so developing a formal relationship with the brand took some effort on both ends. This was a new kind of marketing. Yet, a few face-to-face talks and some due diligence convinced all parties that we were the same: passionate, genuine, and loyal.

Before too long, they were setting up a trip to my shop in Detroit to capture original content for marketing purposes, which became a regular thing.

Josh Welton collaborates with Miller Electric at his Brown Dog Welding shop in Detroit. Images: Josh Welton

A few years after that relationship took root, I was at FABTECH walking the show when I bumped into a familiar face at the Weiler Abrasives booth. I didn’t know it then, but the same marketing firm that works for Miller also had Weiler as a client. That year, my friend Kim (whom I met through her work for Miller) was representing Weiler at FABTECH. She hooked me up with a sample flap disc that I took back to my shop, and I was blown away by its performance.

Not too long after that, Two Rivers asked if I’d be interested in partnering with Weiler in some way. Heck yeah! A few people within the company were already fans of my work on Facebook, so agreeing to the proposal was a no-brainer. Weiler brought me in to display my work and sign autographs in its booth at the next Chicago FABTECH. Since then we’ve done more cool outreach stuff with Weiler and recently even stayed a night at its campus in Pennsylvania and toured one of its factories. It’s a family-owned business, and that sense of family flows from the top down.

Recently I wrote for dodgegarage.com, but my connection with Dodge and Stellantis started years prior. I’m sure some people think there’s a correlation between my epic Mopar road trip adventures and my time as a millwright for Chrysler. But they are, mostly, two separate lives.

The current relationship started, again, on Twitter, where I was spotted by one of their marketing representatives, Kathy Graham. She is a big fan of Harley-Davidsons and motorcycle racing and at some point became a fan of my sculptures. She invited me to the Viper American Club Racer (ACR) launch event at the Viper plant in Detroit in 2015. There, I was introduced to Mark Trostle, who was Dodge and Street & Racing Technology’s (SRT’s) head of design (currently he is the head of Ram Trucks and Mopar Design).

As I attended additional events and wrote a couple of pieces for my blog, I was able to meet even more Stellantis folks, on both the company side and the marketing side, who appreciated the voice I could give their brand. They backed my efforts in art and writing and believed in me enough to hand over the keys to the craziest cars they’ve built.

I’ve driven a Viper ACR from Detroit to Vegas and back; had a widebody Challenger Hellcat on the Bonneville Salt Flats; taken another Hellcat out in the Nevada desert; grabbed a barrel of Jim Beam in Kentucky while driving a Durango SRT; raced Vipers and Hellcats versus Trostle and Bill Goldberg (yep, the wrestler!) in Arizona; and taken the family to Plymouth Rock for Thanksgiving dinner in a Trackhawk. We’ve taken our dogs to Tennessee and bested the Hurricane Creek Trail in a Rubicon Gladiator, and I’ve channeled my inner Evel Knievel jumping a Ram TRX.

My outlook on life and love for Detroit and artistic style just aligned with my friends at Stellantis, and it still does. I’ve even served as a guest judge for its “Eyes on Design” automotive design competition and hosted the event’s Facebook live kickoff twice!

Metabo is another brand of tools I’ve used since day one. I still have my first 6-in. angle grinder from my early days as an apprentice. While I was at a previous FABTECH talking to Vicki Bell, the now-retired FMA Communications editor who originally brought me on to write for TheFabricator.com, she was on her way to meet one of her friends at Metabo and asked if I’d like an introduction. Heck yeah! That meeting led to some talks between Metabo and myself about becoming a brand ambassador. The company put together a list of products it wanted to send to me to use, but among them were some of its abrasives. No doubt they are good, but I already had a healthy partnership with Weiler.

I responded to Metabo and said, “Hey, here is the thing: I’m loyal. I would love to use your tools, but I’m going to use them with Weiler’s discs and wheels. If that’s a deal-breaker, I completely understand.”

I expected perhaps that would be the end before it even began. Instead, Metabo wrote back and basically said, “Weiler makes terrific products and we respect your loyalty.” Then Metabo sent me more tools than it was going to originally! It takes good people to recognize good relationships, and that was the beginning of an outstanding partnership with Metabo.

The common thread among these four brands is the sense of family within them—in a real way, not one that’s just put on for show. All four partnerships started organically, and in each instance, they began with a one-on-one relationship where someone connected with me, trusted me, and was then bold enough to stick their neck out for me.

To this day, even when some of them have moved on in their careers, we stay in touch. I do my best not to let them down. In each instance, I’ve developed not just strong working relationships, but friendships as well. I have other alliances in the early stages, and I’m trying to follow the same formula. It’s important to me that there are real, passionate people on the other end.

This is not necessarily the right path for everyone, but it’s the one that’s worked for me.

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