What do Overseas Shipholding Group, Diana Shipping, Frontline and equity analyst Jonathan Chappell have in common?
All three are featured on T-shirts modelled by a bodacious bartender named Megan- the unofficial mascot of a blog by market veteran Mike Reardon.
TonMileTrader.com (TMT), the self proclaimed “home of the alpha male”, used to be one of the blogosphere’s best kept secrets but is quickly gaining mainstream momentum with the support of the sultry siren from Spring, Texas.
The site saw a noticeable spike in traffic when Megan started anchoring shipping-inspired web casts late last month but what really keeps devoted followers coming back for more is its creator’s clever commentary and comedic quips about the freight markets.
Reardon fine tuned his repertoire while working as the vice president of research and marketing at Imarex before becoming a trader for a Texas oil major, which gives the blogger more clout than most of his rivals in the increasingly competitive world of social media, fans say.
TMT launched in 2008 and receives several thousand clicks each month but Reardon, who jokes that he spends more time “marketing FFAs to unsuspecting widows and orphans” than blogging, doesn’t have immediate plans to capitalise on his cult following.
“The T-shirts are extremely popular and we do mail them out on request to friends of TMT but right now we don’t sell them,” he told TradeWinds. “We love shipping, we want people to learn about freight and FFAs and for now we are just going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
As for Megan, who was dubbed the “Ton Mile Tempest” when she first started modelling TMT apparel in 2009, Reardon says she has been "contracted" for at least one more webcast but more may be on the horizon due to popular demand- stay tuned.
