I wanted to let you know that on Wednesday, June 30, 2010, we’ll be closing the doors here at TheFirehouse.biz.

It was about 5 years ago when the phone was ringing as I walked through the door after returning from the airport. It was an old journalist friend also involved with a web development company who knew I was looking for something new after 30 years of banging out stories for CNN, the AP, and The Detroit News.

That something new was a blog just for journalists that the then head of Chrysler PR wanted to launch to respond to coverage and maybe plant some stories, or at least ideas for stories. He also wanted to give journalists a place to fire back.

I told him journalists would not comment on a blog where their competitors could catch a glimpse of what they’re thinking, or working on. But they might like a sort of private, online club.

So I took the job and the leap. We’d call the blog TheFirehouse.biz after the legendary firehouse that Chrysler converted into a bar and grill every year during media days at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It was place where the suits tended bar, and a warm but professional relationship with journalists was built and nurtured.

We launched TheFirehouse.biz on Sept. 12, 2005 to coincide with the Frankfurt Auto Show.

Two things happened. We took a lot of heat for denying access to the blog to anyone whom we didn’t deem an actual journalist, and, as warned, journalists didn’t comment on our posts.

That was fine. The criticism for our exclusionary policy only won us more coverage, and privately, respect for thumbing our noses at the self-appointed blogosphere sheriffs. The lack of comments posted was expected, with most of them arriving by phone calls or emails, safely out of view from the competitors.

We had a great time posting things you wouldn’t dare put in a news release. Things like “Friday Night, Gotta Go,” an explanation of the company’s potty break policy in response to a minor flap at one of our competitors. When coverage of recalls at domestic automakers seemed out of whack, compared with coverage for recalls by foreign companies, we listed every recall by a major Japanese competitor that had previously won a free pass in the press, and pointed out that indeed, they had recalled many, many more vehicles than the Detroit bunch.

Our biggest blowout was calling out “Big Oil” for artificially propping up fuel prices.
Over time we were playful, pointed, and took great glee in “guiding” journalists towards positive results hidden in those monthly sales reports.

The brick and mortar firehouse during the auto show has been gone for a couple of years, a victim of financial realities, and now we’ve made the tough, but logical decision, to shutter the virtual version.

What’s really changed over these 4 years and 10 months is that the public expects to get its news right from the source, not necessarily through the filter of the press. The public also has the expectation that through social media, it can take its questions, beefs, comments and criticisms directly to companies, governments and organizations.

It’s a two-way street. While still depending on the press for important coverage of our company and industry, we’re now able to also promote our news, positions and products directly to the public through social media without waiting, hoping, the media will pick up particular stories or angles that benefit us.

We enjoy the give and take with the public, appreciate some very blunt feedback, and embrace the opportunity to answer questions and handle customer service issues quickly and directly.

By moving on from TheFirehouse.biz, we’re able to focus our social media efforts and resources on building that direct relationship with anyone who happens to be interested in what we’re doing. We’ll be posting plenty of material on our public blog, blog.chryslergroupllc.com, become even more active on our “@Chrysler” Twitter handle and “Chrysler Communications” Facebook page, and continue to post scads of videos on our Pentastarvideo YouTube Channel.

With many new products in the pipeline, we’ll make it easy for the public and the press to learn about them, and have the opportunity to post questions and feedback. We’re stepping up other activities such as web chats with executives, webcasts, and on-location social media events open to everyone, not just the press.

It’s good time to thank the two pros, also former journalists, who succeeded me as editor of TheFirehouse.biz: Mike Ellis, from August, 2006 to August, 2009, and Scott Anderson, from August, 2009 to present. They’ve kept the fire burning on the site under some very challenging conditions.

The Chrysler Group LLC of 2010 is much different than the companies previously residing at 1000 Chrysler Drive. We’re not only open for business, we’re open for inspection, and open to conversation. Can’t wait to hear from you.