<VV> Press Coverage:::::::::::

[Mark Corbin]

There WAS a hook, just not specifically a local one. This was CORSA's 40th
convention, and there were several people there that had been at the first
one in '71. In addition to the "three musketeers" there were at least four
others there, as well as two of the cars that said members had at the first
convention. Tried all week to get everyone together for a photo-op, but
managed only to get the musketeers' traditional pic, along with a pic of
myself and Tom Seversin with our two cars.

-Mark

> [Original Message]
> From: Vairtec Corporation <Vairtec at optonline.net>
> Subject: Re: <VV> Press Coverage:::::::::::
>
> There is a lesson here for future event organizers.  It is very 
> difficult to get the attention of media outlets, be they print, 
> broadcast, or online.  You need more than an event taking place, you 
> need a "hook" that is relevant to the media outlet's audience.
>
> I know nothing about the Cedar Rapids media market, and I do not know 
> what the Cedar Rapids convention committee may have done, so what 
> follows is purely hypothetical:  Let's say that the local club has a 
> member who owns a Corvair bought new.  That's a "hook" around which you 
> can craft a press release that has local flavor.  Let's say that the 
> local convention organizers are aware of two members, one in the East 
> and one in the West, who were buddies in the Army and who now are each 
> driving their Corvairs to Cedar Rapids.  That's a hook.  Let's say that 
> Dollie Cole, widow of the man who championed the Corvair at Chevrolet, 
> is coming to Cedar Rapids.  That's a hook.
>
> Multiple releases to the same outlets need to be submitted over a period 
> of several weeks if not months -- but NEVER the same one twice.  Always 
> a new angle, a new hook.  But always the same basic contact info, a 
> consistent message.
>
> Often, what will get the attention of an assignment editor is not "what" 
> (a Corvair owners' convention) but "who" (Iraq war veteran bringing his 
> Corvair to town).
>
> For Denver next year, Steve Goodman is a possible story angle.  He's a 
> local guy who has been servicing Corvairs since, well, since forever, 
> and now the Corvair convention is returning to "his" town.  Perhaps 
> there are Denver-area residents who attended the last Denver convention 
> (1981, I think) and who will be attending this one.  Even better if they 
> didn't live in Denver then but do now, or the opposite, lived in Denver 
> then and are returning now.  And there are certainly Denver-area members 
> who will be attending their first convention now that it is in "their"
town.
>
> Got a local politician or celeb who owned a Corvair at one point?  Find 
> them, interview them, issue a press release.  Doesn't matter if they 
> HATED their Corvair -- controversy is good for publicity.
>
> Think about it:  If you were watching the TV, and there was a story 
> about the convention of the Barbie Doll Collectors Association, you 
> would pay not attention to it -- unless there was a compelling personal 
> story connected to it.
>
> Ya gotta think like an old-fashioned "press agent," looking for angles, 
> looking for hooks with which to get the media's attention.
>
> --Bob Marlo