- Hey guys, what's going on?
It's Alex from Fitment Industries and I've got a very
very very special guest.
I have...
- Jesse Hemans with BBS of America.
- BBS, BBS.
Dude, it's the real guys,
they've got the polo (Jesse laughing)
with the stitching, (Jesse laughing)
it's so awesome!
And we are here, I'm so excited,
we are here to bring you 10 questions
that we are asking BBS.
Are you ready?
- I'm ready.
- Have you been in front of the camera often?
- Not as often as you.
- Yeah I know, it's kinda weird.
But that's okay, let's get into it.
I got my fancy fancy phone here.
It's an iPhone, 'cause I switched to Android,
but we're not gonna talk about it.
Who are you and what do you do for BBS?
- I am the VP of Sales and Marketing for BBS.
My role at BBS is multifaceted.
I work with our marketing team,
I work with our dealers,
I create programs that make us function.
I prospect for new business.
I manage and work with companies that want sponsorship.
I work with companies that do all the event
and activities that we participate in,
because BBS now wants to get very involved
in the community and be a part of what's happenin'
in the aftermarket scene.
- Cool, cool.
So you also make me eat fresh,
because Jesse, when we went to lunch, he's like,
"Can we eat somewhere fresh?"
So I didn't get to have my Panda today,
but instead we had freshy which was very very exciting.
But with that being said, everybody actually
is gonna want to know what do you drive?
- You know, you're gonna be a little disappointed
'cause I know you want it to -
- Yeah, I want it to be -
- You wanted me to drive a Porsche
- Yeah, I definitely - - And I'd love to be
driving a Porsche myself.
But the real truth is I drive an Audi S4.
A B9 chassis, I love the car, it's a lot of fun to drive.
It's got BBS wheels on it.
(Alex laughing)
- And then some.
(both laughing)
- I would be really weird.
What is your favorite thing to do at BBS, or with BBS?
- I enjoy the engagement with customers.
- Okay.
- I really like the relationship
that we've forged over the years.
And I like meetin' a lot of the new people
that we've brought on board to work with our brand.
So I'm a people person and I like engaging customers
and consumers alike.
- Sure.
What would you say is like the most common misconception
people have about BBS all the time?
- (chuckling) BBS doesn't make anything new.
- Well, I said that. (Jesse laughing)
That was me, I said that. (Jesse laughing)
(both laughing)
- It's really a misconception,
'cause a lot of people are so in love
with what BBS used to be as an old brand
of RS's and RC's, and I see a lot of people
rebarrel them and reuse them all over again.
Real truth is over the last several years
we've made a lot of new products.
So the misconception that I hear all the time is that
we don't make anything new.
Or what we make is boring.
Well it's funny because what we make
is supposed to be boring in the eyes of a lot of people.
But when I look around the automotive industry,
especially in the wheel space,
many companies have copied BBS's products.
- Yeah, that's true. I mean - - Okay?
And what really shocks me
is that people buy those new copy products
and they go, "Oh wow, this is really cool," and I go,
"But we've had that product out forever."
So...
- I'm just gonna skip that,
I'm not even gonna (Jesse laughing)
talk about it. (Jesse laughing)
I'm not even gonna talk about it.
But anyway, what is the biggest change
in the wheel market you've seen
since being involved with BBS?
- (chuckles) The wheel market is filled
with companies that know nothing about wheels.
That literally design product,
and have them built offshore for them.
And through marketing expertise and social media
many of these companies go on to form
successful companies.
There are hundreds of companies in the U.S.
that follow no regulation whatsoever.
And it's a bit of a risk to the consumer
who are buying those type of product.
So I'd like to see that change.
- Do you go throw hands in the back alleyways
at SEMA when you see these new companies come out?
- Yes I do (chuckling) - Yeah, you just hurt.
- It's like oh God, (Alex laughing)
there's another one of those (Alex laughing)
companies out there. (Alex laughing)
(both laughing)
- So what's one quirky thing,
what's one thing that was different
for when you started working at BBS
that you were just like, "Huh, that's different"?
- You know, BBS is still very old school.
And for me that's a little quirky
'cause I'm a forward moving guy.
And I look to what's going on with today's youth,
and look for a lot of input from them.
But we are still kind of a quirky company
in that everything is very rigid
in terms of production, design and engineering.
Now as far as the direction we're going
with marketing, with sales, with what we're doing
with customers, we've definitely gotten out
of that quirky space.
- Do you guys got an Instagram now?
- We have an Instagram. - Do you have a YouTube now?
- YouTube, Facebook. - This is exciting time.
(Jesse laughing) This is exciting times!
I love it!
What is your favorite application for BBS wheels?
- We do a ton of applications for BMW.
We somehow are joined by the hip
with the BMW community because we've been around
that particular brand of car space for so long.
Porsche has a great lineup also,
that we do great applications for.
We have great relationships, not only with the factory,
but the Porsche owners
'cause they know they can trust our brand.
Volkswagen, Mercedes, Audi, all of those European brands
are a core for BBS.
- That's true, that's a very exciting thing.
What would be the next big thing then, for BBS?
- The next big thing we're about to celebrate
the company's 50th year in business.
So we're workin' on all the plannin'
for what we're gonna do this year at SEMA.
Although we've been in the truck wheel space in the past,
we've sort of like vacated that space
over the last 10, potentially 15 years.
Lookin' around the U.S. market today,
the truck industry is huge.
So we're lookin' to do everything we can
to get BBS back in that space.
And that's the next big thing
BBS is going to get into.
- So we have our E30, our BMW E30
that has like 70 horsepower that one,
we will not name names,
but that turned it into a nonfunctional vehicle for a while.
Then we turned it back into a functioning vehicle,
we took it to a drag strip, we did some stuff with it.
It's on BBS wheels, but they're rebarreled.
So BBS, how do you feel about people taking old BBS wheels
and turning them into big show wheels,
or changing 'em around like that?
- You know, it's always a compliment when you see a company
or an individual rebarrel BBS and use it.
But there's always that risk factor that we worry about.
Because our brand name is tied into a product
that does not meet the standards
that we like to produce our products at.
So I'm not always happy and warm and fuzzy about it,
(Alex laughing) but the market inside of me
is pleased to see
that the brand
has those type of legs.
But at the same time there's a little bit of apprehension
on whether or not we can trust
whoever is doing the rebarreling of the product.
You know at the end of the day, the companies
that are doing the rebarrels, some reach out to us
and they look to us to follow the proper procedures
to do the job right.
Those companies we know will always do it right.
There are a lot of companies out there
that don't do it right,
and they pose a risk to the consumer
that's buying that product.
So we don't love it, but at the same time
we don't dismiss it.
- I love your neutrality about it.
We like it, we would prefer if you didn't
because we're really good at doing it,
but it's there.
You know? It happens.
And that's okay.
The good news is he said, "at the end of the day,"
and all the people on YouTube give me so much slack
for saying at the end of the day.
Now you said it, which means BBS and Alex talk the same way.
So I'm pretty much clean and clear
and under control forever.
I don't ever have to worry about it again.
But last question.
If there was ever to be anything that you would want to tell
the Fitment Industries community from BBS, what would it be?
- I've just come to know Fitment Industries as a company,
and in the short time we've known this company
I've come to realize one thing
in that they're real.
They are not a company that takes anything lightly.
I love the fact that Fitment Industries
is about education because a brand like BBS
requires a company that can educate the consumer market
to understand the value of quality.
You know, long term quality is far more important
to what we do as a company and what we produce
than just stylin' and short term.
A lot of companies don't do any education,
and we've been kinda guilty of that
over the last several years
but we've changed the way we're doing business
and it's great to be in a relationship with a company
that really is all about education
and making sure the consumer is informed
about what they're buying.
You know this company has a lot of other branches
that I've come to work with
and I'm very pleased that they're doing a great job
for the BBS brand.
- Yeah, you guys like that?
There you go. Boom.
And if you guys are actually looking for BBS wheels
we have them on the website too.
So there's the sales plug, fitmentindustries.com
Thank you, Jesse
for making your way in front - You're welcome, thank you
of a camera, and allowing me to ask you some questions.
It was a little, we gotta be careful,
don't want to ask you
what your favorite Porsche is,
because that has nothing to do with Fitment Industries.
So we're gonna ask it after this.
But I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
Jesse, anything else?
- Thank you very much.
- All right, we'll see you guys later. Peace.
(laid back jazz music)