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CORVETTE TODAY #184-Meet The New Director Of Marketing At The NCM, Ryan Eichler
Jul 11, 2025
In this episode of CORVETTE TODAY, you'll meet one of the fresh, new, enthusiastic faces at the National Corvette Museum! Ryan Eichler is the new Director of Marketing at the NCM. He brings with his a wealth of ad agency and marketing experience to the Museum. Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, introduces you to Ryan. You'll get to know him up close and personal. He is more than qualified to lead the NCM's marketing efforts moving forward. And his enthusiasm is infectious ! Meet Ryan Eichler, the new Director of Marketing at the National Corvette Museum in this new episode of CORVETTE TODAY.
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0:00
[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the podcast
0:06
that talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett, MC and DJ at one of the largest Corvette weekends
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in the country, Corvette Funfest, president of the Corvette Club of Kansas City, Missouri, and radio disc jockey at
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the number one radio station in Kansas City for over 40 years. Here's Steve Garrett.
0:28
Thanks for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette and the only
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current podcast dedicated to Corvette. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. I appreciate you tuning in. Corvette Today
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Corvette Forum.com. Welcoming Corvette enthusiasts from around the world. My guest on Corvette today is the new
2:47
director of marketing for the National Corvette Museum. He brings with him over two decades of in-house and agency
2:54
marketing experience and a lot of enthusiasm, too. His name is Ryan Ikler. Ryan, welcome to Corvette today.
3:01
Thank you, Steve, for having me. Thrilled to be here, and I'll make sure and bring that enthusiasm to match that
3:06
introduction. That's fantastic, buddy. First of all, Ryan, tell us about your childhood and your upbringing. Where'd you grow up? Do
3:13
you have siblings? Did you grow up in a car family? So, yeah, I grew up really around
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Corvettes, and that's where my Corvette story begins. Originally from Rine, Wisconsin, so just north of Chicago. But
3:25
instead of going to baseball games as a child, I went to car shows with my dad. His first Corvette was a 1980. He
3:31
purchased that in 1984. So my first memory of a Corvette was really looking at that big glove box that you saw in
3:37
the passenger seat of those early8s C3s. Always grew up around cars, going to car
3:43
shows. Have a sister who also was kind of drafted into this car culture. I think she's probably had four times as
3:49
many cars as any of us. Wow. But yeah, come really from a car family and have grown up around really
3:54
anything with an engine, anything with gas and oil has always interested me. That's awesome. Your passion growing up
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was cars, not sports necessarily or theater or something like that then, was it? Absolutely. I hear stories of when I was
4:06
two, gravitating to Hot Wheels even at that age and playing with cars. Then was
4:11
fortunate enough to work at some car dealerships in my formative high school years as a lot jockey, lot porter. If
4:18
you have a love for cars and then you really start spending more time around cars, it really translates into what I
4:25
think was kind of the beginning of a lifelong passion. Fantastic. So, where did you go to college? What did you study? And what
4:31
was your degree in? Yeah. So, I was fortunate enough to go to University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. So,
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kind of one of the satellite schools, not the home of the Badgers that so many people know in Wisconsin, right? Oshkosh, also a big home for Oshkosh
4:44
Truck. appreciate all that they do for our defense industry as well as Oshkosh Bagosh and then you know of course cars
4:50
intersect with airplanes many times. So of course Ashkosh being the home of the experimental aircraft association and
4:56
their massive flying every year. So some of those things are what kind of drew me up to Oshkosh. I had the opportunity to
5:02
be I'll say a big fish in a small pond was not a big school. Journalism was my major with a minor in political science.
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What was really special for me in college was getting into journalism had the opportunity to meet a gentleman who
5:15
became a mentor of mine named Charles Plutman. And Charles was a freelance writer for Harley-Davidson Enthusiast
5:21
magazine for Esquire had written for Men's Journal and he had a passion for a
5:26
very interesting hobby and that was vintage snowmobiles. Now you can imagine Wisconsin the connection to snowmobiles
5:33
pretty strong. I had been on some sleds, but it wasn't anything that I really grew up with. And what he needed was
5:38
somebody to help him put together a quarterly magazine that the Vintage Snowmobile Club of America put out. And
5:45
he actually purchased the organization and with that the list of everybody that received this magazine. And he went to
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University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, just lived off campus, sauntered into the journalism department one day and said,
5:57
"Hey, I need somebody that knows a little something about engines to help me lay out and write this magazine."
6:02
Huh. And that was really kind of the beginning of me being able to take what I was interested in in terms of gas and
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oil, engines, anything I'll say in that kind of world and turn into something that became, I'll call it a career at
6:14
that point. So, worked with him for 2 and 1/2 years putting out this vintage snowmobile magazine. I learned so much
6:21
about the Rups and the early Polarises. Went to some snowmobile shows in northern Minnesota. Really, really
6:27
interesting. Met some amazing collectors of vintage snowmobiles. And of course they would show you their vintage snowmobile collection and then they'd
6:33
open up the door to the real garage and that is where the collection of cars were. But that was fortunate for me
6:39
because he had this connection with Harley-Davidson and made an introduction to the folks at Harley-Davidson
6:44
corporate communications which allowed me to kind of make the jump into taking what was a little bit more of kind of a
6:49
part-time operation in college into a full-time career for me with my first job at Harley-Davidson. So you were really active during school
6:56
and you did a lot of volunteer work. You were obviously busy with clubs and organizations too.
7:01
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, you know, I think when you look at college, you can certainly go for the experience
7:07
and the fun and the friends, which I certainly enjoyed. We were, this was in the middle of Wisconsin. There's not too
7:13
much to do in the winter, but I really wanted to maximize my opportunities and set myself up for the future and always
7:18
had been a hard worker. So, really tried to get my hands in as many things as I could. not only from being involved with
7:24
this vintage snowmobile organization to being involved with the public relations student society of America and serving
7:31
on that board at Oshkosh along with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh participated in some advertising
7:37
competitions and you know again a little bit of feel like I've been groomed a little bit to end up at the Corvette
7:43
Museum. One of the assignments that I worked on was we were given a project to be in a competition with other
7:49
universities to write an advertising campaign for at the time was the Toyota
7:54
Yarus. So very small economy car but again kind of gave me a taste of okay
8:00
there is a real business and world around supporting things that I loved cars. So yeah definitely kept busy and
8:07
tried to seize every opportunity that I could in school. So really the automotive industry was kind of on your radar during college years, wasn't it?
8:14
It absolutely was. I also was fortunate enough to pick up another position while I was in school for a direct marketing
8:21
company that took me around the country. They partnered with car dealerships and they would do direct mail sales. So they
8:26
would send out 5,000 10,000 letters inviting people to come into a car dealership to see if they won a prize.
8:33
And then when they would come in, I would pre-qualify them. Were you really interested in looking at a car? Did you just want the diamond bracelet that I
8:39
was here to give you? Right. But again, for me, having spent time in a dealership years prior as kind of a
8:44
lot Porter and my grandfather actually owned a Chrysler Dodge dealership in Rine, where I'm from, years ago. He had
8:51
that in the 50s and 60s. So, I kind of felt like all these pieces were a little bit in my blood. And then as I started getting out into more of the automotive
8:58
retail world, that's where I really found I love talking to people and I love talking to people about cars. was
9:04
involved with the vintage snowmobile organization, putting that magazine out, managing that, involved with some of those elements at school, whether it be
9:11
public relations, student society and ad club, touching this Toyota launch, and then also this other company that really
9:17
had me at dealership floors on every Saturday for about 3 years, man. Lot of fun. Lot of fun
9:23
for sure. Well, buddy, let's take our first break. When we come back, we're going to talk about your career after college. That's coming up next on
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[Music] You're listening and watching Corvette Today with Steve Garrett.
12:09
Hey, thanks for checking out Corvette Today on podcast and YouTube. It's the only current podcast dedicated to
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Corvette. Corvette today is brought to you by Wheelcraft. You want your Corvette looking its best? Well, dress
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today or call them 833-639-4231. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is
12:40
the new director of marketing at the National Corvette Museum, Ryan Ikler. Ryan, in the second segment, let's talk
12:45
about your work career after college. You got a primo job right out of college with Harley-Davidson, didn't you?
12:51
I certainly did, Steve. It was a little bit of a dream to come out of school and have a position available at the
12:57
Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Was fortunate enough to join their product communications team. So, again, as a car
13:04
person, I hadn't really been around motorcycles, but I mean, it's easy. You listen to that potato potato potato and
13:10
it's immediate. You fall in love with that bar and shield that Harley-Davidson has and was fortunate enough to work on
13:16
the launch of the VRSCA V-Rod which was Harley-Davidson's first liquid cooled
13:21
motorcycle and then a fast follow on that was able to support Bule motorcycle. So, for any of our two-
13:26
wheeled fans out there, Eric Buell, a famous Harley-Davidson racer, started his own American sport bike company and
13:32
created Bule and the XB9R Firebolt was the first liquid cooled Bule motorcycle.
13:39
So, they were pulling the engine from the V-Rod and putting it in this really kind of naked high-performance sport
13:44
bike. So, really incredible experiences. It was also amazing to then start to meet this incredible Harley-Davidson
13:51
community. Much like our Corvette community, Harley-Davidson riders, they will tattoo the logo on their arm, they
13:58
will bend over backwards for each other, and charity is always part of everything they do, whether it be a ride across the
14:05
country or a poker run across town. So really pretty incredible to be able to start my career at Harley-Davidson. Also
14:10
touched their enthusiast magazine, which at the time was the longest produced motorcycle magazine in the world. This
14:16
was a little bit of a feature on the Harley lifestyle that had been around since 1903. So was a contributor to
14:21
enthusiast and also was able to manage a lot of media relationships on behalf of Harley-Davidson. I tell you what, it is
14:27
an easy job and a job that puts a smile on your face when you can call an editor and say, "Hey, I have a brand new fat boy arriving at your house for a week."
14:34
Man, that's got to be a primo job for sure. Yeah, a lot of fun. Lot of fun. Now, after that, you went to MSL and
14:40
Kramer Crassold. And I know that some of our people don't know what those are, but those are two big agencies. Yeah, correct. from Harley-Davidson
14:47
started to kind of transition into the public relations agency world. You know,
14:52
I loved working on Harley-Davidson but was looking for a little bit more variety. So was fortunate enough worked
14:57
for Manning Salvage and Lee MSNL and that was my first fora into being able to work on truly automotive
15:03
communications. Um I had General Motors as a client and manage communications and public relations for them and their
15:09
Midwest region. So based in Chicago and really was kind of the frontline team that was making sure that the latest and
15:16
greatest Corvettes and Cadillacs were getting in the hands of writers from the Chicago Tribune, the Milwaukee Journal,
15:21
Sentinel, the Detroit Press. So really some pretty amazing experiences there. And then moved on to Kramer Cassel,
15:28
which is one of the longest and largest privately held advertising and public relations agencies in the country. again
15:35
was able to keep the throttle down on some of the automotive and motorsports work at Kramer. Was able to work on my
15:41
first kind of motorsports programs. Supported a few entries in the Indianapolis 500 as well as started to
15:47
branch out into some beverage marketing. So wine spirits as well as some quick service restaurants for anybody out
15:53
there that likes coffee. Oban Pon national chain quick service restaurants. Best coffee in the world in
15:59
my opinion. So was able to support those brands on behalf of those agencies. Wow. And you're no stranger to four
16:04
wheels either. We're going to do some name dropping here, Ryan, because you oversaw Weber Shanwick's motorsports
16:09
practice. You were involved with NASCAR, Formula 1, and Indie Car. Plus, let's do
16:14
some other name dropping. Like you said, you worked with General Motors, but you also worked with Annheiser, Bush, and Verizon, too. That's right. The
16:21
motorsports world is an incredible one again for a car guy to be able to go to a NASCAR race and not only be standing
16:28
next to Dale Earnhard Jr., but then instruct him in on what to do and what you want him to say on behalf of your
16:34
client Mountain Dew for example was really pretty incredible at Weber Shanwick managing the motorsports
16:39
practice I had a team of about 10 people underneath me and what we did was bring to life sponsors visions as they
16:46
embarked on these pretty significant tier one sponsorships within NASCAR. So this touched Mobile One was fortunate
16:53
enough to work with Tony Stewart Tony Stewart Racing and we did a reboot of Smokey and the Bandit. We called it
16:59
Smoke and the Bandit. Really amazing. Filmed at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We
17:04
had Tony Stewart play the role of the Bandit from the famous movie. Even had to go and find a beautiful 77 Trans Am
17:11
to use as kind of our showcase vehicle. But then also supported FedEx, which was a client of ours, Denny Hamlin in the
17:18
number 11, and then spent the bulk of my time supporting the number 18 M&M's Toyota, which was driven by Kyle Bush at
17:24
the time. Wow. and spent 10 seasons with M&M's and Kyle and Joe Gibbs racing doing everything from media tours with
17:31
Kyle to talk about our latest and greatest flavor M&M's all the way to you'll see a little bit of a trend here.
17:37
We were able to do kind of a homage and a reboot of Days of Thunder with Kyle
17:42
Bush starring as the lead character and this was all to support Eminem's Krispy.
17:47
So, it was Eminem's Krispy Days of Thunder, but a lot of fun. got the rights from the network to be able to
17:53
actually use some of the original names. We filmed it at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Some of the crew were actually
17:58
the same people that were with Tom Cruz and the original actors in the movie.
18:04
Wow. So, all pretty amazing. And that season was an intense one for us because Kyle unfortunately went on and had an
18:09
accident Daytona in the Xfinity series race and injured himself and was out for several races and then came back and
18:16
actually won his first race back at Kentucky Motor Speedway. and they get on the radio and they say, "You were riding
18:21
on that crispy edge," which is a line that we wrote in the video series. So, a lot of fun. On the flip side of that, of
18:26
course, a lot of weekend work, a lot of pressure, the NASCAR and anything in motorsports. You know, you're really
18:32
sprinting to every weekend, which is interesting and certainly poses its own fair share of challenges, but had some
18:37
great experiences, met some amazing people, and made some great friends. That's truly amazing, buddy. And you
18:43
were also a vice president at the iconic Flashman Hillyard and you worked with the US Army and Novo Nordisk.
18:49
You could tell a lot of these clients are tongue twisters, right? Yeah. You know, I joined Fleshman Hillard to
18:54
support the US Army recruiting account. Very obviously so important to make sure to maintain the strength of our army.
19:02
You know, really the tip of the spear in I think freedom around the world was amazing experience. was able to actually
19:08
go to several US Army installations on some production shoots when of course in
19:13
those cases your clients working on the army are generals. So you look at who you're answering to from a client
19:19
perspective and you look at their careers and of course it makes you feel like you really haven't done anything because they've run missile batteries
19:25
defending Saudi Arabia or running intelligence in Iraq. Really incredible people and that was also an incredible
19:31
experience. Wow, that's amazing. So, out of all these different campaigns that you've worked on, which one was the most
19:37
memorable and the most recognizable? That's a great question. I would have to say I supported Annheiser Bush and the
19:44
Budlight brand for several years. And for a while, Bud Light, their advertising campaign was up for
19:50
whatever. They were really trying to appeal to a younger beer drinker. You know, as you look at that category right now, people have a lot more choices.
19:56
Whether that be don't drink at all, whether that be spirits, whether that be wine, whether that be a beer, whether
20:01
that be a craft beer. So, as they were really trying to own the market with younger beer drinkers, they had this
20:06
idea of, okay, it's up for whatever. It kind of the sense of you only live once. Yeah. And through that, we did some town
20:13
takeovers where we actually made two cities Bud Light towns. And I mean, these were the most intricate,
20:20
incredible events I've ever been a part of. The first one was Impressive, Colorado. That became whatever USA for a
20:26
weekend. They would bring in talent like Vanilla Ice, DJs like Diplo for these
20:31
very private sets. Of course, it was all you can eat. It was free skiing, mountain climbing, all these wild
20:37
experiences. So, the first year was in Crescent and then we did a fast file. And the second year, Bud Light rented
20:43
out to put it simply the entire Catalina Island, California. That was whatever
20:48
USA year two. And again, completely incredible. In Catalina, we had over 150
20:54
members of the media there with us to cover these experiences. You don't sleep much and of course you're certainly
21:00
dealing with a variety of requests and things coming in, but was super impactful for the brand and they did
21:05
start to see the needle move somewhat in terms of reaching that younger beer drinker. A polarizing category and a
21:11
polarizing brand right now with all the things happening in the world. But, you know, some amazing experiences. Very cool. Well, buddy, let's take our
21:18
final break. When we come back, we're going to talk about your new job at the National Corvette Museum. We've got Ryan
21:23
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And now back to the only current podcast on Corvettes, Corvette Today with your host, Steve Garrett. Thanks for
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listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette. Corvette Today is brought to
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you by Wheelcraft. You want your Corvette looking its best. We'll dress it up with bright chrome or black chrome
24:09
wheels. Visit wheelcraft.com and learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels
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or do a wheel exchange and you get a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or call them 833-639-4231.
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I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is the new director of marketing at the National Corvette Museum, Ryan Ikler.
24:31
Ryan, in this third and final segment, we're going to talk about your new job there at the National Corvette Museum.
24:36
You've had over two decades of PR and agency marketing experience. So, tell me about the story about how you got the
24:42
opportunity there at the museum and how you got the job. Well, Steve, like every good Corvette
24:47
story, it begins early where I really grew up around Corvettes. I applied for
24:52
the job, actually saw it online, and you know, I thought in my mind, oh my god, there is probably 10,000 people that are
24:58
more qualified than I am to be able to go to the National Corvette Museum and lead marketing and communications. And
25:04
as I started having conversations, I mean, of course, you get more and more excited, and you never want to get too
25:09
excited because you don't know what other candidates are out there. But it really started out with seeing the job posted online and then doing some
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investigation to see where the opportunity was. And then we have a amazing HR team here that really, you
25:22
know, operates with such transparency, but also made me feel like I was part of the Corvette Museum family from really
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the first conversation. So, as the conversations progressed and then had a chance to meet our CEO, Sharon Bronner,
25:35
I was like, not only is the opportunity right in terms of where the museum is now and where it's going, but Sharon is
25:42
a inspirational leader. She has a very clear vision of where we're going to go with the museum to be able to really
25:48
carry on our mission of really sharing and protecting that legacy of Corvette, but then also bringing in new fans and
25:55
bringing in people outside of the Corvette world to see really everything that we have going on here. So once I had a chance to spend some time with
26:01
Sharon, I think my follow-ups and questions of, hey, you guys need anything else from me? Is there anything
26:06
I can do? I probably started to overstay my welcome a little bit. But yeah, it was really an amazing process. You know,
26:13
a lot of times I'm fortunate enough my girlfriend is in human resources and we talk a lot about the candidate
26:18
experience because right now in the world if you're looking for a job, the candidate experience isn't always great. You get a lot of ghosting from
26:24
companies. You'll apply online and never hear anything. The candidate experience here at the National Corvette Museum is
26:30
really amazing. And I encourage all your listeners visit our careers page on national corvette museum.org to see
26:36
current openings, everything from our collections team to delivery. So, we have opportunities for all here at the
26:42
Corvette Museum right now, but that candidate experience is really second to none. Yeah, absolutely. So, tell me, as you're
26:47
looking through, you see this online, what really attracted you to this position of marketing director?
26:53
Well, the first one was the varying amount of responsibilities. My background has been in really consumer
26:59
public relations, but I've touched everything from paid media campaigns to events, and this really encompasses
27:05
everything. So, I may start my day having a conversation about one of our billboards and I65 that is working hard
27:10
for us or are there ways to push that and then transition into the latest and greatest social media trends that we can
27:17
pull into our channels and then we start planning for what the next exhibits are going to be. It's just the varying
27:23
nature of the position and the responsibilities that really excited me. And then of course it being Corvette and
27:29
the Corvette Museum. Obviously the history here and the reputation the museum have is absolutely incredible. So
27:36
it was really kind of that mix that made this really a no-brainer as I kind of proceeded through the process.
27:41
Yeah, absolutely. So what's going to be your focus there at the National Corvette Museum as you go forward? you
27:46
know, like what are new opportunities that you could see the NCM capitalizing on as you move forward?
27:52
So many opportunities, right? I mean, number one is making sure that we're keeping, I'll call it, museum product
27:58
fresh and and you see that right now with our latest and greatest exhibits. We just opened an American Love Affair,
28:03
70 years of Corvette on Corvette's birthday, June 30th. So, we're bringing in all these amazing new exhibits that
28:09
include these incredible Corvettes. But then how do we make sure that we're telling that story across all of our
28:15
channels and making it known that this is the only place that you can really learn about Corvette's pop culture
28:20
connection and all of those pieces. So just making sure that we're utilizing all the tools at our fingertips and then
28:25
growing our audience. You know, as I came through for a tour on my initial interview, I was really amazed by our
28:31
new Mcichael Family Education Gallery. Yes. For folks that have been to the museum previously, you know, we had a
28:37
kid zone and it was a lot of fun. But that Mcichael Family Education Gallery, I mean, that is inspiring the next
28:42
generation of automotive designers, engineers, all the people that could touch the future of transportation. And
28:50
for me, that's just really, really energizing because not only is that making a big impact and making a
28:55
difference on kids that are coming through and showing them what the opportunity is, but that's really growing that next generation of Corvette
29:01
fans and Corvette lovers, which is so important for us here at the museum, but as well as for Corvette itself. So, it's
29:07
again capitalizing on all the things happening in the I'll call it the media world right now, telling the stories of
29:13
what we're doing within the museum and then growing our fan base to really kind of reach that next generation of fans.
29:18
Yeah, absolutely. Now, I got to ask you, moving to Bowling Green, how's that lifestyle change been? Moving to Western
29:24
Kentucky, you know, Bowling Green has been amazing, is an amazing place, and the amount of growth that we have in Bowling
29:31
Green right now is really second to none. When you look at it from a tourism standpoint, I mean, that is a huge
29:37
important piece of the region, of course, driven by the National Corvette Museum. Coming from Chicago, I can say I
29:43
do not miss the traffic. I don't miss being on top of everybody. It is green.
29:48
I mean, it is beautiful. There's trees. There's open land. It's easy to get outdoors. So, it's really been an easy
29:54
transition for me. Everyone is as friendly and as wonderful as can be. I will say the biggest shock has just been
30:00
the pace. You know, coming from living in downtown Chicago, you're constantly racing, trying to get here, trying to
30:06
get there, catch a train, get here on time. So, the pace is still really fast. And certainly, we have a break nick pace
30:12
here at the National Corvette Museum with the plans that we have and the plans we're putting in place. But from a community standpoint, it's been nice to
30:17
be able to kind of hit pause and take a breather and have a seven minute commute to work versus what could be 70
30:23
sometimes in Chicago. Oh yeah. I'm sure it's a welcome change, isn't it? Big time. Big time, buddy. Thank you so much for taking time
30:29
to be on Corvette today. Welcome to the Corvette family. Welcome to the Corvette Museum and thanks for being on the show,
30:35
Steve. Thank you. And I look forward to welcoming and meeting all of your listeners as you guys all come through
30:41
the museum. A lot of exciting plans as we look to 2024. Thanks for listening to Corvette Today and please be sure to
30:47
tell your family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast. And thanks to our
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31:35
with Steve Garrett. If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette
31:41
today, you can email him at stevegared djgmail.com.
31:46
That's stevegared djgmail.com. Garrett has two Rs and two T's or
31:53
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32:00
Thanks again for listening to Corvette today.
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