Coming up with a story angle is always a fascinating process. Especially when it works! Our Placemaking Group colleague, Mike Vernetti, had an interesting challenge a number of years ago with one of his clients.
Mike has worked in the arena of high tech and especially wireless communication a lot over the years. His client in this case was Sprint and they were debuting a new technology – digital wireless. This is the way almost all cellular phone calls are made now, but there was a First Call. Mike’s job was to figure out how to make that into a national story.
He was also very aware of the fact that digital wireless wasn’t going to change the average person’s life right away. It WAS going to change the phone companies’ though. With digital they could place an enormous number of calls at once as opposed to the much slower and bandwidth clogging analog that kept dropping calls. He knew the major press wouldn’t be interested in it as a technology story. So he started brainstorming. Who should make the first call? And then it came to him, the first call should be made by the First Family. This was during the Clinton Administration, so he contacted the White House to see if President Bill or First Lady Hillary would like to make the first digital phone call, perhaps to their daughter, Chelsea.
That took nerve all by itself. He called the White House! And he was turned down. But, Mike wasn’t dissuaded. The Vice President had let it be known that he was very high-tech friendly. In fact in the years to come he would be credited with starting the internet! So, Mike talked Al Gore to make the first call to the Mayor of Baltimore. With press at both sides of the call there was radio, TV and newspaper coverage of the first call.
What inspires me most about this story is you have to think as big as the story needs to be and then not be afraid to make it happen!
