One of the few people who did more than just talk about starting his own car company: 

Many guys dream about creating their own car, but Henry was just crazy and talented enough to design/produce this award-winning conversion kit (selling 162 of them... and still counting [note: Tucker sold 51 cars]); per:
   CAR and DRIVER: “A cool, affordable, back-to-basics, home-built street rod.”
   Popular Mechanics: “Here’s the ticket to a low-buck, fat-fendered hot rod.”
   HOT ROD: “... there’s a lot of hot rodding room here.”
Link to: rodster.com (Be sure to check out some of the cool DIY stories on the Owners’ Pages.)

 His book uses Disney* as a cautionary tale about the folly of putting quarterly earnings ahead of innovation: 

“…the book shines with wit and insight.”   Feb. 2005

“…it certainly stimulated my thinking on the subject.” Personnel Psychology, Winter 2007

Link to Amazon.com, where the book enjoys the highest-possible Average Customer Review of
*The book foreshadowed the impact of excessive greed on creativity... inside Disney and within our entire society.

 He was recognized with the likes of Paul Newman, Malcolm Forbes, etc.*: 

                “For innovation and generally ramming his head
                against the wall in search of fame and fortune as a car builder,
                we name Henry Caroselli to the Sons of Danger.”

*Sons of Danger is an über-exclusive group of extreme car nuts, whose membership is strictly by appointment only.

 While at Disney his creative work captured the fun... and the turnstiles spun: 

While heading up a 33-cast-member Creative Department in Disneyland’s in-house marketing division, the Park enjoyed year-after-year of record attendance. Key contributors to this success were the launch campaigns for the “Indiana Jones Adventure,” “Lion King Celebration,” “Mickey’s ToonTown,” “Fantasmic!,” and “An Offer So Hip Only Southern Californians Will Get It” initiatives –– in combination with the ever-popular “I’m Going to Disneyland/World” (Troy Aikman, Michael Jordan, etc.) TV spots. Admittedly Disneyland has a built-in emotional hook, but his creativity helped capitalized on it; and while he was there the Park enjoyed record attendance numbers.

“Heart of the Fun,” a commercial that ran nationally, took full advantage of the 1960’s rock classic “California Sun (Goin' Out West...)” and was rated as one of the Top-10 most popular TV spots ever tested by Gallup (Regional Markets-Advertising Tracking Study, Gallup, 1990). Talk about making a powerful emotional connection! This TV spot ran for years and was very impactful, particularly when it ran during the winter months in the North/East.

 He created some paradigm-changing creative work that kicked butt in the automotive world: 

Henry created the award-winning launch for Mazda Miata (a campaign that Advertising Age’s Bob Garfield called “Perfect” and gave four stars). Both the car and TV spots initiated an auto industry-wide paradigm shift toward a ‘newstalgia’ (for lack of a better word) positioning craze. In dreamlike sequences, these groundbreaking ads showcased in an artful way this combination of the best of the past with the best of today’s technology. The Mazda Miata has been a gigantic hit –– since its introduction, consistently the number-one-selling car in its class and ultimately the top selling open two-seater sports car of all time.

Wrote the theme line: “Mazda. It Just Feels Right.” In 1994, while using this theme line, Mazda had a record 282,799 car sales –– a U.S. sales record for Mazda cars that has yet to be beaten.

Acheived record total sales: In 1986, with James Garner as spokesperson (the ads taking full advantage of his chart-topping Q-score), Mazda total sales reached a record 379,843 units* –– an all-time high for Mazda, a record for U.S. total sales that may never be eclipsed.

And, record truck sales: In 1984, the “Sakes Alive” truck campaign helped push Mazda truck sales alone to over 100,000 (at a time when they offered only a pickup truck [no SUVs, minivans, or cross-overs], and way up from a measly 8,775 truck sales in 1980).

* for comparison, Mazda USA Total Unit Sales: 2007: 296,110; 2008: 263,949 (–10.9%); 2009: 207,767 total (–21.3%); 2010: 226,566 total (+10.5%); 2011: 250,426 (+9.1%, but still down –34% from the all-time high).

Henry created the the highly-successful, gutsy ‘instant-classic/silver-ink’ campaign that launched the original Mazda RX-7. The concept behind the ad was that every so often a great sports car comes along and the consumer shouldn’t let this one get away. In 1979, Mazda total sales increased +48% over prior year (5.9% share vs. 3.4% share) –– up dramatically from a U.S. import market share of only 2.1% in 1977 (a time when the Mazda brand was headed toward extinction in the U.S. marketplace). The Mazda RX-7, in concert with this ad’s artful positioning, is credited with saving Mazda and initiating “The Golden Years” (1980-1995) for Mazda in the USA. A total of 474,565 1st-Gen. (1979-1985) cars were produced; 377,878 (80%) were sold in the United States alone.

(Sales numbers from Ward’s Automotive Reports, AutoData, WSJ Market Data Center, and other industry sources.)

 Here’s a case where his design thinking made a big leap (this time against automotive engineers): 

BusinessWeek magazine sponsored a semi-annual pinewood derby race (with tight rules and specifications) between the automobile companies. The Grand Prize was a week-long, all-expense-paid, first-class vacation for two to London. Needless to say the competition was fierce between the automotive engineers in Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York. Henry was the first non-engineer to win the Great Auto Race (and with the Henry's help, his brother won the Great Auto Race V). Henry's cars won by car-lengths, while these races are usually won by miniscule amounts. The photo shows Sir Stirling Moss, the retired F-1 racing legend, holding Henry’s winning car (the Silver Sliver) in London’s swanky Grosvenor House. Obviously, the design was an effective/elegant solution.

 Even in the early days of Henry’s career, his “elegant-solution” creativity helped make things happen: 

At FCB/LA, what was at the time the largest ad agency west of the Mississippi, Henry did award-winning creative work on Sunkist Citrus Fruit, Albertsons Supermarkets, Ore-Ida Frozen Foods, Hughes AirWest, Knudsen Dairies, Suzuki Motorcycles, United California Bank, and Smokey Bear (USFS). Each in their own way, the advertising for these clients produced a powerful connection with the consumer. See also the two below –– and there are more examples on the Television/Print ad pages.

“It’s Joe Albertsons’ Supermarket, but the Produce/Bakery/Meat Department is Mine.” campaign scores 68% awareness after only two weeks running in a Denver test. Test scores are so high they are suspect. Re-test two weeks later shows 74% awareness. A clear example of advertising that connected on an emotional basis with the consumer. During the 10+ years Albertsons ran this particular campaign, they grew from a #10 player to #3 in size and #1 in profitability. At one time, Albertsons was the nation’s second-largest (behind Kroger) grocery chain. In 2006, Albertsons was acquired for $17.4 Billion in cash and the assets were split between Supervalu, CVS/pharmacy, and an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management. Currently, Albertsons is a subsidiary of Supervalu, and doing rather poorly because they have lost their connection with the consumer.

Henry did the original concept work that capitalized on the nickname customers had given the Hughes Airwest‘s planes (“the flying bananas” –– because the planes were painted a bright yellow); and artfully combined this with the fact that they offered more flights in the western United States (because of the milk-run nature of their operation). After only a few months using this new catchphrase, Hughes Airwest went from having the lowest consumer awareness of any airline, to #1 in the marketplace –– which contributed to a massive boost in ticket sales. Yet another example of creative thinking that led to work that connected with the consumer. By the 1980s, the airline had become so successful it was sold by owner Summa Corp. (dba: [Howard] Hughes Airwest).

Contact: