When Troy Winkel relocated his family from Utah to Las Vegas 12 years ago and started his own contractor business, he knew he had to make a big splash. “Las Vegas is a crazy town to do business in,” he says with a laugh. “We have to compete with a lot of attractive women on billboards. Advertising around here is a little different than other places. How do we compete and get noticed?”
Winkel, the owner of The Honest Plumber Heating & Air, solved that quandary in a hurry. He put his mother-in-law, Debbie La Rocca, on the side of his 10 plumbing trucks and in all his advertising. La Rocca is depicted in a frantic state holding a toilet plunger (complete with toilet paper stuck to it) and making a phone call to request emergency plumbing service.