Max Markson

The Election 2010 News Report That’s All About YOU!

In late May I started work on an Australian Election viral video that’s just gone live at www.australia2010.com.au. I was delighted when ex-A Current Affair reporter John Mort agreed to front the mock news report and I was doubly delighted that 6PR talkback host Howard Sattler and celebrity agent Max Markson agreed to appear.

Initially, we sent it to a select group of media followed shortly after by 90,000 Messages On Hold clients and opt-in recipients who’d enjoyed our previous offerings e.g. www.worldsgreatestbusinessmind.com.

This project involved more than 20 people and 400 man hours with all production carried out in-house. Luckily we recorded a Rudd and Gillard version. In fact, we had the Rudd version ready to go and had to re-edit when he was ousted. We did however miss one thing in this regard – maybe you can pick up the oversight. We also had our original domain election2010.com.au rescinded by the government without explanation, bastards!

So, what do we at Messages On Hold get out of this type of project? Firstly, good will. People just love seeing their name on screen and anything we can give people that they deem worthy of sharing with others is just fantastic by all accounts. Secondly, brand awareness. World’s Greatest Business Mind has been viewed by millions to date and with your help I think this election video will go equally viral. And thirdly it generates business. Already a significant number of people have clicked through to our infomercial on the right of the replay screen, many of whom request a free demo after viewing the infomercial before going on to say YES to Messages On Hold for their business.

Thanks for your interest in reading this far. The only thing that’s left now is to see it for yourself! www.australia2010.com.au.

A Peek Behind The Scenes

We recognised Shane Warne’s star qualities in early 2006 when we pursued him to be an ambassador for Messages On Hold. After some nine months of negotiations with his brother and manager at the time, Jason Warne, we agreed to a sponsorship package that worked for both of us.

We launched our association at a press conference in Melbourne on October 2006. With every Australian media outlet (and a number of overseas TV crews) assembled, the reporters were eating up the story. Some were distracted by the “ironic” link between Messages On Hold’s recorded promotional messages and Shane’s text messaging. The fact was, we don’t do text messaging, but various media chose to ignore that fact as it would have ruined their “angle”.

Shane “padded away” the stupid and insolent questions and chose, like a true professional, to steer the focus back to the business association. He was a focus machine – I guess that’s what separates the good players from the great ones.

During that same conference, Shane mentioned confidentially to a well-known Channel 9 journalist, that he was separating from Simone. After the press conference, that journalist (who was also a friend of Shane’s) ambushed him, shoving a microphone in his face asking questions about the split. PR whiz, Max Markson, had to jump in and shepherd Shane from the zealous reporter.

Unfortunately that didn’t stop Channel 9 Melbourne from leading off their bulletin with a story about “Shane’s Split”. Interestingly enough, they were the only ones to run with that story. Fortunately for us (and of course, Shane), the launch was a huge success.