Britain’s most famous fish is dead. Benson, the apparently ‘iconic’ celebrity fish has been found floating on the surface of Bluebell Lakes. Terrible news for Benson, and indeed for the angling community who are said to be devastated and in mourning.
And yet the timing of Benson’s death is, all things considered, good news for the now deceased. If he’d passed away in November, April or pretty much any other month except August, then it’s likely the champion fish wouldn’t have received more than a quick mention on page 42 of the local paper. As it was, he (I presume, though it could be a she I suppose) got front page coverage in The Times and has had continual airtime on BBC News all day.
The reason for this is the oft-discussed phenomenon of ‘silly season’, the time of the year when hard-hitting news is thin on the ground, most of the FTSE 100’s top brass are floating on the Med, and those left behind are desperately searching for anything even half-worth reading or writing.
As someone who spends his days concocting ways to get clients into the papers and onto the TV screens, silly-season presents something of a double edged sword. On the one hand, political and economic news is much reduced, which means there’s more space to fill and hence more opportunities to fill it. But on the other, as dear old Benson demonstrates, it takes something genuinely different to make the grade.
The lack of political or economic news is also something of a barrier – there’s much less to hook onto than usual. And even if you do succeed, chances are that a large proportion of those people you’re trying to reach and influence are either not paying attention as much as they would usually or are too busy enjoying the delights of a 99p with a flake and some raspberry sauce. All in all then, silly season is just as challenging as any other time of the year, only for very different reasons.
And with that in mind, I’m off to research Britain’s other animal superstars with a view to potentially offering them and their owners life insurance policies in the unfortunate event of another one of them 'doing a Benson’.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This blog used to be about anything that caught my fancy. Now, I've moved to New York and intend to use it to offer an insight and guide to expat life in this crazy city.
My Blog List
About Me
- Northern Dave
- Dave is an old-fashioned Yorkshireman stuck in the 21st Century. After living in London for five years he now resides somewhere in Manhattan, trying to figure out the craziness of New York City. He concentrates on the three S's in life - sport, socialising and sinking beer, and now blogs on these topics from the New York point of view.
No comments:
Post a Comment