The latest way to land new business is to pretend you’re not in PR at
all.
Yes, in a world where doing thing in the same way as everyone else just
gets you to the back of the queue, Debbie Flynn, of the agency Brighter
PR and her partner Jane Richards have just landed a year-long contract
from the luxury cruise company Silver Sea by pretending to be in, er,
pharmaceuticals.
Earlier this year Ms Flynn was at the Geneva incentive travel show
representing the interests of her client, the millionaire Peter de
Savary and in particular, his luxury Scottish retreat, the Carnegie Club
at Skibo Castle.
Standing with a crowd in a hotel bar at midnight, she was approached by
a couple of travel trade types; one turned out to be with Aris
Zarpanely, boss of Silver Seas UK. ‘We’d had enough of talking travel,’
said Flynn, ‘so we said we were in the medical business researching
impotence just to liven things up. I’d once had a boyfriend who worked
in impotence so I could talk about it with great authority,’ she adds.
‘I think they thought that as a pharmaceutical company, we’d be a great
sales lead for his cruise business.’
The following day, however, Flynn bumped into the two at the incentive
show and spilled the beans, whereupon Zarpanely said if she could do as
good a communications job on his business, as she’d done on him, she
could have a trial project. ‘Now he’s given us a year-long contract. It
certainly beats cold calling.’
