It seems the word is spreading pretty quickly. From schools to gyms, restaurant conversations and the office, most of Jo'burg is hunting down The Gold Reef City / 94.7's Fugitive competition target. With a total prize pool of R3 million and a prize bounty of R1000 that goes up every hour the man is on the streets, it's no surprise that the competition has set tongues wagging.
"South Africans are a naturally curious, problem solving people," says Ravi Naidoo, 94.7 Highveld Stereo's Station Manager. "If we needed any more proof of this fact, The Fugitive provides plenty of it. The whole of Jo'burg seems to have gone a little bit nuts trying to find the man. I'm sure the money is one motivator, but judging from the responses we've been getting it looks like people are focusing on the challenge as much as they are hunting for the money."
With R69 000 given away to successful bounty hunters in the first week of the competition, and R20 000 awarded to accurate informants at Gold Reef City's FBI (Fugitive Bureau of Investigations), Jo'burg is awash with amateur sleuths of all shapes and sizes – and the delightful stories just keep rolling in.
"The Fugitive has really taken off as a concept," says Gold Reef City's Marketing Manager, Claudia Crooney. "The buzz has been fantastic, and the word has spread really fast. Judging by the number of leads being given to the FBI every day, we can safely say the competition is reaching fever pitch! More so the promotion is proving a winner in terms of driving traffic to Gold Reef City."
T Fugitive's virtual headquarters (located at www.highveld.co.za) has received a flood of correspondence from listeners, ranging from frustrated hate mail to wistful poems on the man's potential whereabouts. The Fugitive's daily diary is also rapidly taking its place as one of South Africa's 'must-click' internet locations, with hits to his regular musings increasing hourly.
Idea Engineers
