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Anyway! Vern's insurance stores are spreading southward from their base in greater Seattle and everyone should get used to seeing more Fonkiness in the subprime advertisers (you know, KPTV 12 and channels with higher numbers).
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I'm not that crazy about FOX 12, but there are some bright spots, and the chemistry and fun the GDO crew have are definitely worth watching.
Here's Some Interesting stuff about The Fonkster:
- Vern Fonk hasn't (as far as we know) actually appeared in any of his commercials. He, as a matter of fact, died in 2006: he was 75 years old. He did love the commercials, however. His obituary (and an actual headshot of Vern Fonk) can be seen here (via the Seattle Times)
- The bald fellow in most of the Fonk commercials is Rob Thielke, who, according to Wikipedia's article on Vern Fonk, is the manager of the Everett location–and who has been described elsewheres as a part-time actor.
- Rob Thielke has come up with most of the ideas for the commercial campaign, and he's been so identified with Fonk that apparently quite a few people think he is, in fact, Vern Fonk (the Forrest Gump parody commercial probably went a long way towards that)
- The Good Day Oregon report about The Vern Fonk Experience can be seen here (if this link doesn't work, go to the FOXified 12 videos page and look for the video titled The Genius Behind Vern Fonk Commercials).
- Oh, and before I forget, here's a link to Vern Fonk's commercials on YouTube, and here's a link to the commercial video library on Vern Fonk's site honkforfonk.com (beware of the Photoshopped images in the left sidebar, tho...they give me that uh-oh feeling). You could probably buy car insurance there too. We recommend the commercial titled "Slapped Around".
Tags: Vern Fonk Insurance, TV Commercials, Good Day Oregon, KPTV 12, FOX 12 Oregon, Pete Ferryman, Andy Carson
2 comments:
Glad to see such interest on here, as I work for Stevenson Advertising, the ad agency that represents Vern Fonk. Here's a tidbit for you: Vern Fonk actually does appear in one ad himself. It's "Fonkway" a parody of the Subway ads. You can see it at vernfonk.com.
Great work by KPTV!
Thanks for that bit of info. I've been to your site and I did see the "Fonkway" commercial; I didn't recognize that fellow as Vern but few pictures of him are on line (that I was able to find–just the head shot of that Seattle Times obit.
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