Kym Illman is an Australian motorsport photographer, entrepreneur and YouTuber. He became known in Australia during the 1990s for setting up Messages on Hold, which became successful through high-profile ambush marketing. During the mid-2010s he became a Formula One photographer and content creator.
Illman was born in Adelaide, South Australia to Betty and Brian Illman. His father had played cricket for South Australia and ran a small business.[1] [2] He worked a variety of jobs as a young man, including working in a bank, as a radio announcer in Darwin and as an audio engineer for Sky Television and Channel 9 in Perth.[3] [4]
After being made redundant in 1988, Illman founded Messages On Hold, an audio advertising company.[5] Illman became known for ambush marketing Messages on Hold at sporting events, most notably at Australian Football League (AFL) matches and at the 2000 Summer Olympics.[6] [7] Currently Messages On Hold has offices in Australia and Singapore, and is one of the largest audio marketing companies in the Asia-Pacific area.[8]
In 2015, Kym founded Canity, which is an online customer service training platform.[9]
Over the years, Illman has built up a significant property portfolio, with major holdings on the Gold Coast of Queensland.[10]
In 2005, Kym won the modern challenge category at the Targa West Rally, which was also the first year of the event.[11] Illman continued to race occasionally from then on, often registering in his own Mitsubishi EVO 9, and he would race in the Bathurst 12 Hour and the Targa Tasmania. At the 2011 Targa Tasmania Illman would crash but ultimately was unharmed.[12] [13]
In 2015, Illman and his wife Tonya released a wildlife photo book Africa on Safari which detailed their travels across Africa.[14] [15] [16]
After Illman was invited by Red Bull Racing to be a corporate guest for the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Kym applied for a FIA media accreditation and it was soon after approved. He started in the 2017 Formula One season and has since posted significantly more on his YouTube account, created on 20 April 2006, and has over 380,000 subscribers on the platform and over 60 million views.[17]
Kym is married to Tonya Illman. They met when Tonya joined Messages on Hold in 1990 as an administration manager. They have two sons.[18] [19]