Thursday, April 1, 2010

Four Year Old Advertising Prodigy Wins Simi Valley Yellow Pages Design Competition



(SIMI VALLEY, California) – Four year old, Jason Whittier’s crayon drawing of a truck with his father’s plumbing company logo and phone number was submitted to the yellow pages directory as a mistake, but was nevertheless the most frequently called phone number during a call tracking competition.

“The yellow pages rep screwed up,” declared Bill Whittier, owner of Peaceful Valley Plumbing. “My son was coloring a truck and tracing our name, phone number, and tagline. I showed it to the yellow pages rep and joked that maybe this would outdraw the ads created by the directory. The idiot took me seriously, but the biggest joke was it did outdraw the other ads.”

University of Southern California marketing professor, Dagesh Ruel, claimed that the Peaceful Valley Plumbing ad succeeded because the yellow pages directories have become little more than a world of sameness.

“When everything looks the same,” said Ruel, “Different stands out. It’s fundamental marketing. They zig. You zag.”

Noting the amounts charged to design yellow pages ads, Whittier has started a new business featuring his son’s graphic designs.

“Jason will create an ad for any plumbing, air conditioning, or electrical company for only $2,000,” quited Whittier. Compared to everyone else, it’s a bargain.

5 comments:

  1. Awesome! 85% of local purchases are made or heavily influenced by women.

    building trust and attention means communicating with your audience.

    I'll be that on a subconscious level, many women associated good feelings with hand drawn children's art.

    Would love to see a copy of the ad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hook, line, and sinker.

    I was at the Association of Directory Publishers convention two weeks ago doing a presentation on marketing.

    One of the publishers in a small market said that they do competitions in schools awarding prize money to the winning school for children's art.

    They then publish the kid's art in their directory, and they said that it's a huge success.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think this is just a made up story, I've tried to find the company through the contractors state license board, no such company, I tried to find the owners name through the cslb. not listed, I've completed a local internet search, no such company found. I'm a Plumbing Contractor in Simi Valley. I know most companies in the area, and as far as I can tell, no such Company exists,

    ReplyDelete
  4. Please check the date the article was published.

    ReplyDelete
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