A Public Relations Missed Opportunity

Submitted by Mitch Seigel on Mon, 10/11/2010

Five hundred and eighteen years ago, on October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. As we all celebrate this remarkable achievement in the history of the world, I wonder how the word got out. While the first words may have been ‘Land Ho’ to those aboard the three small ships heading toward America, how long did it take for the rest of the world to know?

If there ever was a story for a public relations firm to expose, this was it! ‘Land Ho’ would have been well within a 140 character Tweet, a great comment to post on your Facebook wall, and a juggernaut of a message to send to your Linkedin connections. Imagine the emails telling the old world that we now have more locations for coffee meetings!

No Flickr to upload the first pictures of land, never mind the digital cameras to take the pictures, no phones (land or cell,) no television via satellite, no radio, no Morse code, no Pony Express; this was real word-of- mouth news. And it did take considerable time to tell everyone. In fact as long as it took for the first ship to make a return voyage to its homeland – that’s when the discovery of the Americas was announced.

Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, when we are watching our favorite news network cover the story of the thirty-three Chileans being given their freedom, after being trapped for months at a depth of 2,051 feet, consider the immediacy of the story being delivered to the world. While the significance of their freedom is great to the miners and their families, also consider the significance of the discovery of Columbus in 1492, and the time the world waited for the news.

I feel the greatest development as it relates to getting the word out over the last five hundred and eighteen years was the ability to send messages via Morse code. This connected the world, while slow in today’s standards; it was much quicker than waiting for the next ship to come in. What do you think?

What invention or change in the last half a millennium has been the most outside the box idea, allowing us to connect to the world, quickly? I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feelings…

Until next time, ‘Land Ho’!…