More room than you can poke a stick at.
That will be the typical Sam Kekovich commentary attached to images of the former North Melbourne legend’s Kyabram visit on Monday when a commercial promoting the Kyabram Greens Estate airs on WIN television next week.
Mr Kekovich, who has made a name for himself as an Australia Day “lambassador’’ for Meat and Livestock Australia, was filming the commercial with Kyabram Greens developer Gary Evans.
He had an Echuca-based production team following him to five different locations, including walking tracks, cafés and Parkland Golf Club, where he produced the catch-cry of the commercial to extol the virtues of living in the Campaspe township.
Filming started at 9am and continued until 5.30pm; Radiant Media Productions producing the commercial to promote the town and the new estate.
Creative director Scott Christian said Radiant Media Productions had just completed a flood documentary, and cameraman Joel Crane had joined the team after working on the sets of feature films in the United States.
Mr Evans said the adverts were to promote the area and bring people to the town.
He has made a long-term commitment to Kyabram, agreeing to pay the membership of every Parkland Golf Club member aged 80 years and over, and is also a major sponsor of the football netball club.
“I will be in Kyabram for a long time,” he said.
“This project won't be finished overnight, but it will blow people’s minds.”
Mr Evans has made a commitment to start work on the fully sold stages one and two of the development, 52 lots in all, in the second half of the year.
As for the advert, he said it would be a message in keeping with the Sam Kekovich branding, a “light hearted'’ reminder of what Kyabram has to offer.
“The ads will go to air as soon as the (Australian Open) tennis finishes,” Mr Evans said.
Mr Kekovich, who grew up at Myrtleford, was last in Kyabram for a sportsman’s night and said he valued his country upbringing.
“I am a farmer’s son and this setting is very familiar to me, being a country boy at heart,” he said.
He said Mr Evans was a good friend of his and he felt the project was compatible with his branding.
“It is an Australian development and someone having a go,” he said.
“I get hundreds of calls a week to promote things, but I am very picky.”
Of his most recent commercial, Mr Kekovich said the new theme, which features him being banished for an “un-Australian’’ remark, was reflective of society.
“During the 20-year period I have been doing the commercials they have continually reflected society in general,” he said.
As for the Parkland course, he said he could easily live on a golf course.
“It is a unique golf course (with all holes par threes), but it makes a lot of common sense,” Mr Kekovich said.
“Who really wants to spend half a day walking around a golf course when you can get it over and done with in two hours?”
Mr Evans said inquiries to the Kyabram Greens website had been steady and he was excited to continue to promote Kyabram.
"We want people talking about Kyabram and I feel like I have a connection to the golf club,” he said.
“A good friend of mine, Craig Easton, was born in Kyabram. He was among the people who started the golf course.”
Of agreeing to pay the membership of everyone aged over 80 at the club, he said cost-of-living pressures were being felt the most by seniors, and it was “the least he could do’’.
Mr Evans also made a commitment to use “locals’’ wherever possible in the estate’s development.