Even from my seat in the back of the sheriff's car...

Yep, another "first" yesterday... just three blocks from home, after stopping at a 4-way stop sign, I proceeded into the intersection and got t-boned.

It was a wide open intersection and I'd seen the guy coming from the right but I saw that he was slowing, the front of his car had dipped as he had applied the brakes.

So, I assumed he saw me and pulled into the intersection and whack...nailed right in the center of the passenger side.

Neither of us were hurt, thankfully, but an accident report was necessary so I called 911 and waited. Pretty soon two sheriff deputies showed up, one for each of us. And after taking my license, registration and insurance documents, the officer invited me to get in the back of his car... it was about 5 degrees here... so in I went... for the first time in my life.

If you've never been in the back of a police vehicle, you may not appreciate how little room there is... a big person with claustrophobia might be in serious trouble.

Through the wire mesh I could see into the front of the car and there were all sorts of gadgets... radar gun, computer and a bunch of other stuff.

But there on the dash, where it could not be missed, was a promotional stick-on calendar from "Tony's Towing Service" and the phone number.

I couldn't help but smile... this is "target marketing" perfected. I have no clue who Tony is but he obviously figured out where one of the best places would be to have his name and also how to get it there... a custom imprinted stick-on calendar on a police car dash board... how could it be more perfect!

Years ago I wrote a tagline that is still used by my old company... "Tools for Targeted Marketing"... and I still think it is one of the best positioning statements ever for our industry... (yes, I may be a bit biased!)... but that's precisely what promotional products do.

I'm not sure if we sold Tony his promotional calendars but we help hundreds of customers every day find the right "tool" to reach their targeted audience.

Next time you are looking for a way to deliver a message to a target audience, think of Tony and then call us!