A pop star, an Olympian, an American Idol and Punky Brewster walk into a bar...

The Rogers Healy Blog

Posted August 10, 2009 by Rogers Healy

A pop star, an Olympian, an American Idol and Punky Brewster walk into a bar...

and they're all wearing a "Rogers Healy is my Realtor" t shirt. The question is...WHY?

Over the years, I've been fortunate to have had some of America's most recognized "celebrities" (yes,Joe Simpson is a celebrity) sport my t shirt but I've never really explained how I came up with such a random idea. I'll try to make this brief.

In 2005, I was in the midst of one of my infamous day dreaming sessions. My thought of the day: "what could I do to maximize exposure, all while having fun with it?" When you and I think about Realtors and their methods of advertising, we probably can list off at least 10 or 15 places we've seen their faces. Phone books, newspapers, postcards and grocery store shopping carts are just a few (feel free to email me your list). I wanted to try to gain the same presence as my competitors, but I wanted to stand out.

I wanted to buy a billboard! Then I called the billboard companies and realized that if I purchased one month on the corner of 75 and Mockingbird, I would be back home, living with my parents, trying to save up enough money to buy you a beer at the Loon.

So...what's almost as good as a billboard? A...t shirt! Eureka. I had struck gold. No one had ever advertised on a t shirt before...especially a Realtor! Kidding. Every t shirt with the "We'd like to thank our sponsors" section has at least 14 local real estate firms, including mine. I wanted my t shirts to stand out. I wanted them to have an original logo and most importantly, I wanted them to be trendy.

The "Rogers Healy is my Realtor" was then born. I know what you're thinking. How in the world did I come up with such a catchy slogan? Research. Hours and hours of research.

There's a book I kind of read a few years ago, called "The Tipping Point." In short (at least according to my resident librarian, Sam Sawyer), a trend can take off with the help of a specific group of people. Whether it's teenagers, Dallas Cowboys fans or stockbrokers, you need to have a following. My tipping point for the "RHIMR" shirt occurred when my personal hero, Britney Spears, was spotted wearing it. Of course, she was touring the world, giving speeches to underprivileged children about how blessed she has been...so the timing couldn't have been better.

Actually, wait. It was rumored that Ms. Spears was in the middle of a "mental crisis," so the timing may have been absolutely awful. Either way, the world soon thought that yes, Rogers Healy was her Realtor. The truth is, I've never met the pop princess.

So, from there...I decided to make it my mission. The new trend in Hollywood wasn't Girbaud jean shorts or slap bracelets, it was the "Rogers Healy is my Realtor" t shirts.

The next four years have been quite fun, seeing what celebs my friends have captured with the shirt. In fact, there's even a contest going on at local frozen yogurt parlor, Tasti D Lite.

If you'd like to try your hand at one upping me with the celeb t shirt game, I challenge you to a duel. Here are a few more-hopefully these will help get your engines running! Email your pictures to Rogers@RogersHealy.com for a chance to win the big prize...a date with Tim Brown!