Related Events

Keywords

Infomercials pack direct-marketing punch

Eye doctor’s program is a viewer favorite

When vision-correcting laser surgery was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, MD, in October 1995, Walnut Creek, CA-based ophthalmologist William Ellis, MD, had to reach a mass market quickly. He wanted to beat potential competitors to the punch.

His challenge was to inform near-sighted individuals in the San Francisco Bay area of the benefits of the new procedure and of the benefits of using him as their laser surgeon.

His approach: Take the message to the people via television. His staff produced an infomercial to explain the procedure and get his name out to as wide an audience as possible.

"It runs on a number of cable networks throughout the area," says Bob Lim, director of patientIn Praise of Nobby Clark, Legendary Motorcycle Mechanic

Great racers become famous, but a great motorcycle mechanic labors in obscurity. Nobby Clark, however, deserves to be well known.

By Richard Backus

| November/December 2009

Nobby Clark in 1972.Photo by Australian Motorcycle News

Somebody needs to write a book about Nobby Clark. Nobby, if you've never heard of him, was one of Honda's top Grand Prix wrenches during the heady years of the 1960s, years when Honda was trying — and succeeding — to establish supremacy not just in the showroom but on the track as well.

Born in Rhodesia. Nobby was hired into Honda's GP program in 1962. He kept Honda's racing machines in tune until 1968, when Honda and other Japanese manufacturers pulled out of GP racing. When Yamaha climbed back on the