The care and handeling of the media

My father was a carpenter in the Air Force during WW 2. He was stationed in Peterborough, England. It's there that he met my mother. Dad built barracks mostly during the time period. Dad never got over building things. Even though his career was built on selling tools and supplies to farmers. Dad built things ie, houses, barns, garages bedrooms and kitchens. There were no do it yourself centers, there were lumber yards. There was no do-it-yourself movement. Being the kid of a man with the ability to do it meant he would do it himself. That really meant the kid would help.   I learned to do those things, mostly out of self defense. It should come as no surprise that by the age of three his grandchild would have  a hammer collection. That kid now has an MFA in metalsmithing, no surprise.
     Most Do It Yourself centers have really become a strong argument for the concept of hiring a professional. I have a contractors hat that I wear in the DIY center, mostly to get the people that have no clue, to get out of my way.  
     "I design and make custom gold and silver wedding bands"  was the classified ad I ran weekly in the newspaper my last three years of college.(I wrote it myself) That single ad was my total advertising and media exposure during the time period. There was an amazing thing that happened at the end of the time period. The newspaper people began to know me, they became customers. They gave me a graduation gift. They gave me a double truck story about my little business. The article was the bridal edition of the paper that year. It's funny how it all came about.
     Placing my ad became a weekly thing to do. In part because I had things to deliver you my customers there and because there might be new thing to make. It was no surprise when the editor of the paper called me into his office. on one of those trips. I built pieces for his wife. This time he had something to present to me. His paper was going to do a story about me. I had to do some things in preparation. I had to write the story and plan the photo shoot. They weren't going to use the story I would write. Their writers would do that and their staff photographer would actually do the shoot. I had to be prepared for the interview. Here's an interesting side bar. The pieces I built for the people at the newspaper more than paid for the ad I placed with them! Because I was prepaying months ahead I got a great rate for my ad.
   My professor had the two full page article on the door to his office the day it came out, The head of the art department had it on his window. All my professor had to say to me that morning was, "Brad you can't buy advertising like that."   More coming on this topic.