Vince Martin ... who is he?

Press, 15 July 1985, Page 11

Vince Martin ... who is he?

By

BRAD

TATTERSFIELD So who is this Vince Martin character anyway? You know, the bloke on the television tyre commercials who comes across like your best (or worst) friend. “Hello, I’m Vince Martin and this is the wife’s brother’s mate who fell over in the shower.” “Gidday, I’m Vince Martin and this is a blunt axe.” “Gidday, I’m Vince Martin and this an awful photograph.” Many New Zealanders felt they ought to know who

this straight-talking, superconfident Australian was after he first began appearing on Dunlop advertisements early last year. Interest was so high that Martin was flown across the Tasman to appear on “Fair Go” and tell everybody who he was — there were even two Vince Martin fan clubs formed. It turns out that the brash Australian was born in Holland, although he has lived in Sydney since his boyhood. Married with a young daughter, he works as an actor, jazz-rock singer and television producer — and his name really is Vince Martin.

Since his six Dunlop commercials, Martin has begun appearing in an advertisement for Beaurepaires, a retail chain owned by Dunlop. The new commercial (there are four more) shows him sending up his earlier deadpan image. The producer of the commercials, Mr Len Potts, of Colenso Communications, in Wellington, said that Martin was chosen from about 40 applicants. “We were looking for someone who could deliver lines without inflection — a toneless, take it or leave it approach.” The advertisements were all made in Australia, and

have made him much more well known in New Zealand than he is in his home country. What is Martin’s reaction to all this? “He thinks its great,” says Mr Potts. “He likes doing the ads because they are so easy to do — he can videotape them to fit into his schedule.” A “Fair Go” presenter, Mr Kevin Milne, said that Martin was “most surprised” at New Zealanders’ interest in him. “He’s a very nice, fashionable guy. He arrived here in leather trousers. He’s quite reserved, not your typical brash Ocker.”