Rusty Ruiz and Allen Bryson, co-owners of Hung Right Doors, like to mix things up a bit. From the start of their business in 1998, this team has done whatever it takes to stand out from the competition. The business started with just Rusty and Allen and has grown substantially every year. “We focus on customer service at least as much as garage doors. We enjoy making people happy and trying to wow them with great customer service,” Rusty shares.
To make his business draw attention in a crowd, Rusty and Allen started with the name itself – Hung Right Doors – and then followed with bright fluorescent green work trucks. Recently Rusty and Allen decided to take their marketing to a whole new level. “Video is so popular on the internet right now. We wanted to make something that wasn’t typical, that people would click on and watch,” says Rusty. What resulted was definitely not your typical garage door sales pitch video. The title alone, “truck drives through garage door at 74 miles per hour,” should give you an idea of why.
The video idea came to Rusty and Allen after a work truck needed expensive repairs. Instead of forking over a large amount of cash, they decided the truck was ready to retire to the junkyard, but first it had one last mission – to be a video star driving through a garage door. “Garage doors aren’t super exciting, especially if you don’t want one right now,” says Rusty. “So we thought, how can we make a video that people will enjoy watching that will spark them to remember us?”
Before they could actually make the video, Allen and Rusty spent many hours building the set and retrieving the proper permissions. Their insurance company recommended the Satsop Development Park for the setting because it seemed an easy fit for what they wanted to undertake. Rusty says he wanted to hire a stunt driver, but Allen would not hear of it. He was determined to drive that truck through the garage door himself. “I just thought it was easy, and I just didn’t see any real risk involved,” Allen says with a smile on his face.
The goal was to get the truck up to 100 mph but the old truck maxed out at 74 mph, still making for an exciting video. Rusty could finally breathe a sigh of relief. “For me the best part was when it was over and Allen was good because I was really nervous about that the whole time.”
Allen says the best part for him was driving the truck. “It’s not an experience everyone gets to have – and usually when you crash something you have to pay a lot of money.”
Because they produced almost the entire video themselves, Rusty and Allen say the video costs were low. Rusty’s uncle, Ted Ruiz, owner of Ad-Venture Video handled the video editing. The truck went into retirement with a bang and everything else got recycled. Hung Right Doors only had to pay their cost for the garage door itself. “The cost per view was cheaper than anything we’ve ever done.” Rusty and Allen say they have tried all different types of marketing, including commercials and door-to-door advertising.
The video, one year in the making, is already grabbing attention, inspiring a few laughs, and creating a lasting impression for Hung Right Doors. Rusty and Allen tell me the response has been very positive, but Allen and Rusty are still not sure if they will do something like this in the future. However, I did offer one of my own ideas – what do you think of an exploding garage door?
Whatever the future holds, it is obvious Hung Right Doors has proven they are willing to do almost anything to make sure people know their name. Between Thurston, Grays Harbor, Mason, and Lewis County there are still plenty of broken garage doors for them to fix and replace. “We like putting smiles on people’s faces. If we can do that, we’ve done our job.”
Watch the Hung Right Doors video here. If you would like more information, visit the Hung Right Doors website or Facebook page.
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