Our engineering team here at Ooma was baffled earlier this month when thousands of calls flooded into a single Ooma Office phone number within just a few days. Was this a denial of service attack? Robocalling software that went off the deep end? A company selling $20 bills for $10?
We did some digging and found a very unexpected answer: “South Park,” the popular adult animated TV show, which just wrapped up its 23rd season on Comedy Central.
At the end of the December 4th episode, titled “Basic Cable,” there was a pitch to call 719-838-4002, an Ooma Office phone number that belongs to one of the show’s creative talents. “South Park” also spread the word on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Callers were rewarded with “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker telling jokes via the Virtual Receptionist feature in Ooma Office.
The result was 150,000 calls in the first week after the episode aired, with a one-minute peak of 1,919 calls at 10:30 pm Eastern on Dec. 4. We’re proud to say Ooma Office never missed a beat, either for “South Park” or for other customers. Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny, we’ve got your backs!
Jim Gustke, vice president of marketing at Ooma, has a wealth of experience at the intersection of consumer and technology marketing. As vice president of marketing for Intuit, he helped lead the reinvention of Quicken and launch the first SaaS version of the popular personal finance software. Prior to Intuit, he was responsible for business unit management, global branding and product marketing at Lexar Media, helping grow the flash memory company to over $850 million before its acquisition by Micron Technology. He also served as the founding vice president of marketing for Ofoto, an online photography service, acquired by Eastman Kodak in 2001. A pioneer in internet marketing, he joined America Online in 1996 as the marketing leader for GNN, the company’s first Internet Service Provider, and in 1995, as a marketing manager at Polaroid Corporation, he led the team that launched the company’s first corporate website.
