A buyer at a certain poster specialist once received a phone call
from a notoriously urbane Scottish PR man. The PR bloke offered our hero
the job of managing director at a brand new outdoor company. It would,
drawled the Caledonian smoothie, offer an entirely new concept in
outdoor media.
It turned out the PR bloke was negotiating a contract to install poster
sites on Thames barges. These giant posters would sail up and down,
capturing the attention of riverside strollers and office workers alike.
The canny Scot had already commissioned a firm to start constructing the
sites.
Our hero thought this was a great idea and negotiated a salary. He was
all set to hand in his resignation when he and the PR man met to
finalise matters.
’Ah, there’s been a hitch,’ says the embarrassed spin doctor. ’I’ve
discovered that for the posters to be visible from the riverside,
they’ll also be too big to fit under any of the bridges.’
The idea of a concertina device to lower the posters was summarily
dismissed.
As was limiting their range to the stretch of the river that passes
beneath Tower Bridge.
All of which meant the poster buyer stayed in his job. Just as well -
he’s running the place now.
