they were doing with Linda Ronstadt. Their problem: They were telemarketing the tickets; and as soon as the people they called heard they were the police, they found every excuse under the sun, moon, and stars to get off the phone! The LAPD tried to sell tickets for six months; and for all their efforts, only 300 were sold.
An additional dilemma: They only had one month left. My solution: I obtained a major five-column article on page two in the Los Angeles Times with a story that showed poor Sergeant Gomez sitting at his desk, stacked to the rafters with unsold tickets to the concert. The implied message waqs that he couldn't do his important police work until the tickets were sold. Result: We sold out the concert in one day ... 36,700.
Another time, I was asked by the United Nations General Assembly to do a fundraiser for Bosnian women and children with Sophia Loren as Hostess. Problem: As the situation in Yugoslavia was in crisis, we had to prepare the event in as little as two weeks' time. This kind of event usually takes at least four months' preparation. Solution: Sophia Loren and a lot of other celebs were sent to every major television, radio, and newspaper outlet in Los Angeles to inform everyone of the event. Result: We raised $3 million dollars in one night. That's the power of PR.
My history with Vincent Bugliosi is one for the PR books. Because of the controversial nature of his book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder", Vince's original publicist, a very pricey Park Avenue firm, was only able to obtain three interviews in two months.
But through an unexpected set of circumstances, I met Vince, he engaged my services; and in the first two weeks I obtained 40 interviews, including C-SPAN and the NY Times.
I have full bragging rights for this accomplishment. With Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, we challenged the Pentagon when they teamed up with the Christian crusade, and Tim LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins (the "Left Behind" authors) to send a so-called "Freedom Package" to every soldier serving in Iraq and Afghanistan including a controversial apocalyptic Left Behind: Eternal Force video game. My concept of "The Rapture is not an Exit Strategy" fully engaged the media resulting in a fierce public response that aborted the Pentagon's foolish strategy.
Be aware: The next time you pick up your local newspaper or turn on the TV and find out about a story of, say, the latest nutritional news, look for the source of information. Chances are the "expert" quoted is someone like yourself. But why is your competition in articles, while you're not? The clue is Public Relations, which is behind almost every media mention that you read. But don't fret and don't regret -- our publicity campaign can get you to be the "expert" in the media, too.
But publicity doesn't just happen overnight. Sometimes it takes months of hard work to become an "overnight success." Publicity requires effort, attention to detail, product knowledge, creativity, and salesmanship. Once you learn to think like a publicist, ideas are out there waiting to happen.
The Art of Public Relations
To publicize an Italian restaurant, I literally saturated their press release heavily with a mixture of garlic and other heady aromas, so when editors picked up the release and read "PLEASE DO NOT EAT THIS PRESS RELEASE" they were so delighted they called me immediately to make a reservation for a review. For another restaurant, ANDRIA'S HARBORSIDE in Santa Barbara, my plethora of publicity resulted in multiple awards from Elmer Dills to the California Restaurant Writers Association and the Southern California Restaurant Writers Association etc.