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January 27, 2007
Tour bits: Las Vegas
We launched our book tour in Vegas this week, and I was honored to meet one of the deans of public relations: Al Golin of GolinHarris. He began his PR career in 1951 and today his company has offices in 29 countries.
One ingredient of Al's success has been having McDonald's as a client for 50 years. In 1957, Al cold-called Ray Kroc, the legendary force behind McDonald's. Kroc hired him and put the firm on a $500 monthly retainer. (I'm sure the retainer is a bit higher today.) It's remarkable for anyone to have a client for 50 years.
I've been to Vegas a lot. Back in the day when I worked at IBM and was evangelizing VisualAge, I couldn't tell you the number of times I was in Vegas for the now-deceased Comdex. For this trip, I was glad to get away from the Dockers gridlock and stay at the Red Rock Resort, which is about 30 minutes from the Strip. The Red Rock is less than a year old and very cool with four-foot long plasma TVs in the living room and bedroom and even a small flat screen in the bathroom. Makes me want to get a TV in my bathroom at home.
...
At least a dozen times in the past two years I've wanted to rant furiously about the Transportation Security Agency. But whaddayagonnado? I know I'm not the only one.
Instead, here's a story of a break in the clouds: I was putting my bulging quart bag of liquids back in my suitcase at the security line at O'Hare when the baggie suddenly broke open. I asked a nearby TSA agent if she had any extra baggies.
"No, the TSA does not provide bags for travelers," she said sternly.
"But my bag just broke, and I need one for the return flight from Vegas."
My pained look of exasperation must have done it. She told me to wait a minute, went off to a side room, and came back with an empty quart-size baggie.
"I just took my sandwich out of this, but I think its clean."
That made my day.
she could have given you the sandwich!
