Tribute to our ARMOR ALL Champion
PETER BROCK’s appointment as Official Spokesperson for ARMOR ALL was announced at a Clorox Australia conference at Cypress Lakes in the Hunter Valley in August 2002. In four short years and a bit ‘Brocky’ put in a huge effort to draw attention to ARMOR ALL’s outstanding qualities in the same way as he did for Holden.
He was only ever committed to things he was interested in doing and once he signed on as the ARMOR ALL Official Spokesperson there was no stopping him. His list of personal appearances and roles in television commercials for ARMOR ALL is a resume of an outstanding association with Clorox Australia.
Clorox Australia’s Managing Director, Andrew Cummings, drove Brocky to that Hunter Valley conference in ’02 and in the years after came to count his childhood hero as a personal friend.
“Peter was in the passenger’s seat on the way to the conference” Andrew recalls. “We saw an SLR 5000 Torana for sale on the side of the road. Brocky and I looked at each other and he said, ‘Do you want to stop and have a look?’
“Peter and I were chatting about the car when suddenly the owner of the car walked up. You should have seen his face when he recognised Peter, his jaw dropped to his feet.
“‘You’re Peter Brock,’ he said. ‘That’s right,’ said Peter. The result was that a quick look at an old Torana like the one Peter used to drive turned into an hour’s diversion, with Peter, the owner and me, talking about this car. At the end of it the owner got Peter to sign the car and said, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t sell it.’
“Peter loved cars, cars were the way he expressed himself and the child within him. Around workshops he was like a kid at Christmas, cars were big toys for him.
“He brought the same passion and enthusiasm for ARMOR ALL products. He was great with our customers. At trade shows he would spend time explaining the benefits of our products and how he used them. He was a great spokesperson for the brand.
“Just a few months before he died he was working with our guys and the Woolworths team to overcome some challenges we were having in demonstrating the growth potential of ARMOR ALL in the car care segment of the Automotive Category.
“Peter and our guys solved the problem. He was incredibly commercial minded and he had this ability to really work with people and motivate them to try something different, to think outside the square.
“He was more than a sports star and a racing car driver. He invited me to his house for his sixtieth birthday, it was a normal house, there were no obvious signs of his car racing accomplishments.
“He was deeply interested in the environment and causes which he thought would benefit people and society. He was quite an accomplished artist. He had imperfections but life around Peter Brock was never boring. He was so generous of spirit with his time. I lost a friend and as a company we lost a great ambassador for our business and our ARMOR ALL brand.”
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