We're all lowly when we're on the outside of the CEO's office door
Though my own career in the media was confined to the hectic world of regional weekly Press, I do have some understanding of how quickly an entirely new product can be generated from scratch and with little or no prior warning.
We had a visit from Her Maj on my patch, as bad luck would have it on a Friday, which was our publication day, hence little point going big on it as the daily competition would have done it to death before we got anywhere near.
Der Management decided a full-colour, one-off souvenir paper, to be in the shops by Friday teatime, was the answer. We got a week's notice of this. There was little we could do in advance in any case from an editorial point of view as all the words and pictures had to flow from events on the day, but I was very impressed with how quickly and smoothly the advertising and production departments swung into action.
We produced a darned fine product, though I say so myself, and blew anything the competition produced right out of the water.
. I also got a couple of very privileged vantage points during the day and have absolute, undying respect for our Queen as a result, but that's another story entirely.
