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Time Trials - Marketing Tribulations

Posted By Kym Illman on 24-Aug-09 16:44

Targa West is a three-and-a-half day tarmac rally around Perth. I entered my Mitsubishi Evo 9 in the event and was delighted to finish 21st out of 53 competitors. The reason I bring this up is because something marvellous happened as a result of me entering the rally.

You see, I installed 5 cameras in the car and recorded the 30 special stages. Each day my team would edit the vision and upload it to youtube.com (check it out here)

The marvellous bit? Well, along the top I ran a web address - www.donaldtrumpwontshutup.com - a link to a viral video that explains Messages On Hold in a fun way. Within hours of posting the first video, I started to see motoring people going to the "donaldtrump" site after spotting the address on the racing video. It's impossible not to see it. As a result, we saw increased web traffic and additional sales.

It would have been easier for me to just stick some logos on the car (which I had) and leave it at that. But by investing money and time in producing high-quality, multi-camera racing footage and getting it out to the masses quickly, I reaped a reward.

The quirky site name was a definite attention grabber. I know this because all weekend people involved in the rally would ask me what it's all about and in marketing terms, you know you're on a winner when people ask you to tell them about what you're selling.

Humble Beginnings

I was sacked from a Perth TV station in 1988, it was the best thing to ever happen to me. Today, Messages On Hold is one of a number of businesses I own and operate under The Message Group banner. Customer service tops my list of passions, followed closely by car racing and ambush marketing.

Kym Illman