[ Ссылка ] The Story Of The 1st RE/MAX Hot Air Balloon by Darrel Stilwell

Told by Dave Liniger, co-founder of RE/MAX with photos added by Darrel Stilwell, the owner of the first RE/MAX hot air balloon, created in Albuquerque NM in 1978.

Darrel was the co-owner and founder of the New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada Regional Franchise of the then-named RE/MAX of America - the name has since been changed to RE/MAX International.

Tommy Thompson, an office manager/broker in one of the Albuquerque brokerage offices, lived next door to George Hartnett, a Kodak employee and George had just received his hot air balloon pilot's license, but had no balloon. Tommy approached Darrel with this idea of creating a red, white and blue balloon as an advertising vehicle for the local offices. Of course, Darrel loved the idea but was concerned about the costs involved. Wherever the money came from... it happened and the rest is history of one of the best-known corporate logos on the planet!

Darrel said, "I'm not sure who is responsible for the 'Above the Crowd!' phrase, but it came about at the same time we created the 'RE/MAX 100' name for the balloon". The original balloon had the '100' after the RE/MAX name on the side and future editions of the balloon carried the ® mark instead.

Interesting fact: the RE/MAX logo at the time was red letters with a blue 'slash'... however the balloon manufacturer recommended that it be reversed to blue letters with a red 'slash' because the red color would be more difficult to read when the balloon was flying at altitude...

As Dave tells it in this video, everybody at the home office did not like the idea of a balloon as the company logo... they preferred the red, white and blue yard sign. You will have to watch the video to find out what changed their minds...

Published by Darrel Stilwell

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