Ken Morgan Death – We are extremely saddened and devastated to announce the death of Ken Morgan, a well known car sales man, who ran a well known toyota dealership and gave much to charity has died at 87.
Morgan has been giving cars as prizes to viewers of Hey, Hey since 1983, handing over the keys to at least 50 Toyotas. His semi-regular appearances on the top-rating show have helped make Morgan one of the best-known car dealers in Australia, and arguably the first car salesman to achieve _ and maintain _a national profile.
As the butt of Hey, Hey announcer John Blackman’s jokes, Morgan, 49, comes across as a bit of a clown. But behind the wide grin and gold jewellery lies a shrewd marketer. Morgan’s exposure on Hey, Hey has been more valuable than millions of dollars of paid advertising. His brief TV appearances have helped make Ken Morgan Toyota the biggest Toyota dealership in Victoria and one of the two largest in Australia, with annual sales of $120 million from two Melbourne car yards. Every month, Melburnians buy between 450 and 500 cars from Ken Morgan Toyota.
The marketing strategy that has made Morgan one of Australia’s most successful car dealers was devised six years ago, when Morgan and some friends bought a dealership in the Melbourne suburb of Nunawading; the dealership had just gone into receivership. His partners included accountant Tom Linardos and advertising executive Tony White, part-owner of ad agency Thomson White &Partners.
The partners are still together, with Morgan owning 51% of Ken Morgan Toyota and the remaining 49% split between White, Linardos and Mark Riley, the general manager of Morgan’s Nunawading dealership. While Morgan and Riley run the car yards, White plans the company’s marketing strategy and Lindardos looks after the finances. Television, newspaper and billboard advertising for Ken Morgan Toyota is created by Thomson White & Partners.
Morgan and White met in 1967 when White, who had just started his own ad agency, Anderson White & Partners, borrowed 10 cars from Morgan to use in a promotion for a client. At the time Morgan was new-car manager at Pitstop Motors, one of Melbourne’s biggest car retailers, and he and White worked together on and off during the late 1960s.
