Behind every winner…
For those who don’t know, Effective helps Camelot to promote National Lottery winners in Wales and the South-West of England. Just last week, we were at the Bath Spa Hotel, helping to host the press conference for the UK’s largest ever lottery winner Nigel Page.
Nigel, from Cirencester, won £56,008,113 – not forgetting the 20 pence – on the previous week’s Euromillions draw. Effective has carried out around 20 Lottery Jackpot winning press conferences over the years. And they remain one of the few events in this world-weary life where everyone seems to get genuinely excited.
From early on the morning of the press conference I was getting texts and emails from friends and clients who had heard about the win on the early morning news. “Were we there?”, “Had we met the winner?”, “What were they like?”, “What were they going to spend the money on”…..just some of the many questions myself, Peter and our colleagues were asked. It is a fascinating experience for us.
Much of a Lottery press conference totally passes us by as we manage the media, making sure everyone’s in the right place, ensuring there are no uncomfortable moments for the winner, and trying as best we can to get the maximum coverage of the event. But we are also so close to people who have just become overnight multi-millionaires whose lives have just changed forever.
In a few hours time, we will be returning to our other jobs and tasks….they are likely to be heading to a five-star hotel or a luxury holiday in the sun. We are so close to the money, but never touch it! It’s quite surreal. It reminds me of a tale my old colleague Michael Boon once told me about Pablo Picasso. He was working on the Daily Express and he and other colleagues from Fleet Street were following the great artist on some skiing holiday in the Alps, writing about his every move. They even followed him into a restaurant, and dined next to the Picasso entourage.
You would like to think that any similarities ended there….except they didn’t. As the artist’s table wined and dined on the most expensive items in the restaurant, the media pack followed suit. But at the end of the night Picasso duly paid his bill….the hacks scratched their heads, emptied their pockets and wondered how they were going to pay for their enormous bill. Picasso lent over and autographed a napkin. He gave it to the waiter and said, “That should cover the bill.” I am guessing it did, and more than once sold off.
The moral? You may mix with Kings (or Lottery winners) but it doesn’t mean you are one!
Tags: Camelot, Effective Communication, EuroMillions, National Lottery, Nigel Page, £56million
