Vanity - Thy Name is Golf!

In case you haven’t noticed, I have a rather fanatical passion for numbers. I have been investing in, and patiently building a business around numeric domains for several years. In addition to being a practicing Numeric Domainer (NuDom), I am also the President of a little known Toronto-based company called 1800Golfing.com. Our golfing portal is being totally revamped to meet the needs of today’s discerning, and increasingly demanding, golf enthusiast. 1800Golfing.com is aiming to claim a substantial part of the golf travel and related products and infotainment services market, in part by leveraging one of our other key assets.

You see, we also own the 1-800-Golfing vanity telephone number, 1-800-465-3464.

So you can imagine my (kid-in-a-candy-store) surprise when I discovered the lopsided statistics detailing how vanity telephone numbers command substantially higher recall rates when compared to their numeric equivalents. Actually, I knew vanity telephone numbers were easier to recall. I was just pleasantly surprised by how much easier.

800response and their friends at Infosurv and e-Rewards teamed up to determine the consumer recall rates of vanity 800 numbers compared with recall rates of numeric toll-free phone numbers that are used in visual and audio advertisements.

What they found supports our original supposition that 800 vanity telephone numbers retain significant value that continues to grow over time.

Over 70% of respondents recall the vanity telephone number over the numeric version. In addition:

* Advertisers can expect an 84% improvement in recall rates for vanity 800 numbers vs. numeric phone numbers shown in visual media (TV, billboard, print) - and a much more significant 9-times higher recall rate in the case of audio (radio) ads.

* 58% of consumers prefer to dial a vanity 800 number vs. a numeric toll-free to reach a local business.

* 94% of consumers surveyed could identify 800 as toll-free, vs. 70%, 56% & 55% recognizing 888, 877, and 866 as toll-free, respectively.

Hundreds of businesses have harnessed the tremendous marketing power of 1-800 vanity numbers. When combined with a world class Web site, vanity telephone numbers can help drive business and spin off profits that create fortunes.

Why would a couple of successful financial gurus abandon Wall Street to start a diapers company? Who would have thought that there was a ton of dough to be made collecting Junk ? And you mean to tell me that a New York florist now runs a billion dollar flower shop?

Yep.1-800-Diapers, 1-800-Got-Junk and 1-800-Flowers are some of the world's premiere Web sites that use vanity telephone numbers to dominate their respective categories.

We'd be delighted if we can come close to matching the success of these marketing wizards.