Hahaha. No. It’s just a marketing gag cooked up by amaysim — with the aid of the man himself. It comprises two parts: a YouTube clip / advert explaining the deal and Hasselhoff dropping the first part of his surname from his Twitter handle. That’s about it.
I’m sure it appeared a confusing move to Hasselhoff’s 520,000 Twitter followers, so in terms of generating attention, that definitely worked.
As to how many of those followers immediately stopped what they were doing to sign up with amaysim? I think the numbers are quite a bit lower.
What about the punchline? Well, I’ll let Andrew Balint, the telco’s chief commercial officer, explain:
“This is part of a broader campaign we’re launching today to remind Aussies that taking at least one hassle out of your life can be as simple as changing your mobile phone plan,” Balint said.
“Anyone can relate to wanting to kick a few of life’s hassles to the kerb, and we were buzzing at the thought of working with a global icon like The Hoff to have some fun while showing people how easy it is to make life a bit simpler.”
Fair enough, I suppose. That said, I always found Australian companies using American actors to market their products locally a bit strange, though it’s less bizarre than getting an Australian actor to pretend to be American.
[YouTube]