Casting call

Who says bill stuffers don't work? North Central Telephone Cooperative, a 20,000-line telco serving parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, was looking for a way to boost sales of DirecTV using a promotion called “More Orbit Digital Entertainment (MODE).” As part of the promotion, the company wanted to develop a MODE mascot, appropriately named Orbit.

Beginning early last year, the company started using bill stuffers asking existing customers to send in photos of their pets to be Orbit.

“We were looking for a local pet with classic features, a loveable face and a perky expression,” writes Ramona Wilmore, marketing specialist for NCTC.

The result was an avalanche of around 200 photos.

“We got a picture of a huge bull (beautiful animal), a rabbit, a goat and a lot of cats and a ton of dogs,” according to Wilmore.

Using the company's back conference table as the jury room, NCTC employees settled on Petey, a half Pomeranian and half Shih-Tzu mix (pictured above). Petey has since gone on to star in print ads and made several appearances for the company, including the Scottsville-Allen County Fair and Harvest Homecoming in Scottsville, Ky.

“We always take pictures with Orbit and the children at the functions and give the pictures to the children. It has been so much fun,” Wilmore said.

The owner got nothing beyond the ability to act like proud parents, but Petey is the owner of an embroidered NCTC shirt and hat. No word yet on whether NCTC is paying health benefits to Petey.