Social media did it again. Chuck Fried, TxMQ’s President, was scrolling through his Twitter account after an evening workout Tuesday, July 1, 2014, when he saw a tweet from actor, impressionist and comedian, Kevin Pollak. Pollak tweeted that he had lost his sponsor for the World Series of Poker Main Event and was looking for a new corporate sponsor. He promised for a $10,000 sponsorship, a couple hundred thousand dollars in air-time advertisements. Out of 336k followers, Pollak got 1 response…Fried.
This is what transpired:
After a series of conversations with Pollak, Chuck agreed that TxMQ would be Pollak’s sole sponsor for this year’s run at the World Series of Poker.
Because Chuck was heading on vacation early for the Fourth of July holiday, the entire deal was inked and signed within hours and shirts were sent to Pollak overnight. In 2012, Pollak outlasted celebrities like Ray Romano and Jason Alexander, finishing 134th out of 6,598 entrants. He’s become a huge hit on the World Series of Poker circuit because of his comic relief and social media skills.
We have been having a blast this week with the Twitter comings and goings and chatting with Kevin as he ups his ante and moves forward. There have been some ups and downs, but it looks like (with 2 hours left in yesterday’s Day 2 play), he will be advancing to Day 3. He was up to about 60k chips, having doubled what he started with at the beginning of day 2.
TxMQ is Pollak’s exclusive sponsor and Pollak will be wearing the blue TxMQ polo shirt throughout his run at the 2014 World Series of Poker.
Being a social media geek and a believer of all things social, I am loving this exchange. It renews may faith that social media can have SOME impact for businesses. I don’t know if we will get a new client out of this effort, but I do know that it will do wonders for the noise out there about TxMQ as a small company in Buffalo. And if just one more person can recognize our name and think of us down the road, then I would say this is money well spent.
However, if you happen to be reading this and you’re a CIO or even better, a Poker-Playing CIO, then you know what company you want in your corner helping you out with your IT needs 🙂 Call us!
