In the profession I practice it's a great rarity that I counsel a client to believe that 'longevity' is a really strong news hook - i.e. a good reason for making it into the newspapers. However, I was delighted to see that maxim of PR tossed aside when it came to the great landmark my grandfather recently achieved - the age of 100!
Not only did Willem Frederik Sinoo receive a letter from Beatrix, the Queen of the Netherlands, on his birthday, he also received visits from two reporters and two photographers affiliated with national newspapers! The most notable of the two - the Algemeen Dagblad (circulation 550,000!) - published the story in its "Close to Rotterdam" supplement, which apparently brought Opa quite a good deal of attention during his neighborhood walk the next day!
For those of you not versed in Dutch I am pleased to report that I applied the principles of Media Relations very carefully in my management of the interview. Scandalous questions were deftly bridged and carefully prepared jokes and quotes were meticulously inserted.
I'm particularly proud of the paragraph that reads: "One of Willem's grandchildren, born in 1972, recounts another family joke: 'He likes to say that he is the most expensive customer the Piet Smit pension-fund has ever had!' Mr Sinoo spent most of his working life at the shipbuilder, Piet Smit."
I see from the picture at the top left of the page that Opa's looking good for his age. From that I wouldn't put him a day over 45.
Posted by: ian | January 01, 2007 at 01:29 PM