After Cadillac unveiled the XT4 compact crossover at its Manhattan headquarters last month, Renee Rauchut stood discussing everything from an art installment at the building — with the artist — to the sounds of high-performance motorcycles.
The 38-year-old Long Island native is knowledgeable and comfortable discussing both topics — giving a glimpse as to why Cadillac hired her in 2015 and her expanded her responsibilities from senior manager of content creation to director of marketing, content creation and media. She came to the General Motors brand after working at marketing and advertising firms Partners & Spade and Mother, where she spent most of her career.
In her advertising and marketing jobs before GM, she worked on campaigns for Burger King, Virgin Mobile, Calvin Klein, Sweet’N Low and Diageo, among others. But there were underlying enthusiasms that have made her at home in the auto industry.
“Motorcycles were always a passion of mine,” she says. “I like to race them and rebuild them,” said Rauchut, the daughter of an auto mechanic and real estate broker. “I have a passion for everything mechanical.”
Rauchut, who learned how to drive in a 1983 Cadillac Eldorado, is responsible for the brand’s content creation, strategy and consumer-facing products such as social media, websites and virtual reality. She recently helped refocus Cadillac’s advertising message, which debuted during the 2018 Oscars to the delight of dealers and company officials.
Rauchut said she was attracted to Cadillac because she feels there’s an opportunity to re-establish the brand as a refined, American-made company — essentially create the “Cadillac of Cadillacs.”
“We are really aspiring to be the best product, the best portfolio, the sleekest design — having a perspective, not just doing something that’s generic that may or may not appeal to everybody,” she said.
-- Michael Wayland
