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Calum MacRae: Author & Analyst for Just-Auto.com & Director of Product Development for Aroq

Please provide your job title and media outlet(s), as well as a brief description of your duties:
I’m Director of Product Development for a UK B2B publisher called Aroq. I work across its four industries – drinks, food, style and auto – but the majority of my time is spent on the automotive side of the business (just-auto) either running its automotive research and writing for the news and analysis site just-auto.

Can you tell us what types of stories, trends or issues are on your radar now?

All things CASE, ACES which ever way you want to put it. They’re pretty hot right now and they’re going to be the main talking point over the next decade or so at least.

Describe the craziest or most fun story you have written.
I do like a musical reference in my articles. Last year when Volvo Cars was getting a lot of publicity about ditching the internal combustion engine (it really hadn’t) I wrote a comment piece entitled Last Night a PR Saved Volvo’s Life (a play on Last Night a DJ Saved My Life a 1980s dance floor filler)

What elements or characteristics do you look for in a story?

Hard facts, numbers, costs anything. It’s a very homogeneous world out there in terms of content so anything that adds colour is always appreciated.

How long have you been in journalism and how did you get started?

I’ve been an industry analyst for nearly 30 years, the past five I’ve turned my hand to a few bits of journalism. As for the auto industry – I’ve always been interested in it. My final year dissertation at university was on the economics of the industry, so that helped me secure an analysis job after graduation.

Finish this sentence: If I am not reporting, I am …

Crunching the numbers.

What advice do you have for PR people that want to pitch you?

Keep it short and fact-filled!

Any pet peeves with PR people?

None to report so far!

Tell us a little about yourself (family, interests, hobbies, background, etc.)

Married with two teenage daughters to whom I’ll always be their biggest source of embarrassment. When not making my daughters cringe I’ll be out running, watching Norwich City (soccer team) or searching out interesting real ales and craft beers.