What's inside the BIG BLACK BOX?
Radio listeners in the North East have had their eyes and ears peeled in the hope of winning a spectacular competition.
What's inside the BIG BLACK BOX? was devised by local company HM Plant, who are the UK's sole distributor of Hitachi Construction Machinery. The competition was aired on Century FM and offered three fantastic prizes including a holiday for four to Rome, a 42" plasma television and £2,007.
A huge HM Plant and Century FM truck travelled around the entire Tyne Tees region, from Monday 8 to Friday 26 January. Century FM listeners were asked to guess what was in the back of it.
Thousands of people called the radio station in a bid to be the lucky winner, with the only clue being that the object was related to the prizes. Each day caller 100 and some of the more creative online attempts were played live on air.
Following a huge response the winner was finally announced as Paul McDonald from Sunderland. The mystery item was confirmed as a director's chair and the link was the 1953 classic film ‘Roman Holiday' starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.
"We would like to congratulate Paul as the link wasn't an obvious one," admits HM Plant Chairman John Jones. "It was interesting to hear some of the answers that were being given during the competition. It definitely got people thinking."
"This has been a very addictive competition," remarks Mark Patterson, Key Account Manager at Century FM. "We have been inundated with callers and received some weird and wonderful answers. A formal presentation of the prizes is currently being arranged and will take place in the next few weeks."
