I have no idea how many media releases I put out in the last four years – it would be close to a thousand. I had a pretty prodigious output in my first couple of years (this isn’t actually a good thing – I didn’t feel like I could refuse to write a release on a dumb topic back then). Occasionally I was allowed to put out releases with puns in the headings – when they weren’t too cringeworthy (or rude, I might post my rudest (and funniest) one in the comments).
- Kopi cats dropping an inimitable brew – This one was special because it is my biggest and most successful story of all time. It’s also about cat poo. Cat poo coffee. This release made it to Indonesia, India, the UK and Europe. Kopi is Indonesian for coffee – and the cat poo coffee is called Kopi Luwak.
- Operators hit a Homer – Ulysses beds locked in – I had a lot of fun writing really high brow headings about this story. There was a saga where Townsville couldn’t secure enough advance beds to house the Ulysses Motorcycle Club’s AGM. They wanted to be able to book guaranteed beds two years in advance. Other headings included – Ulysses offer not a Trojan Horse, and Space problem means Ulysses Club may take 2008 odyssey elsewhere.
- Be blown away by North Queensland – a release about helping the tourism industry recover from the perception that we were damaged by Cyclone Larry.
- Cummins: recipe for marketing with bite – Advertising guru Sean Cummins came to Townsville to run a marketing workshop.
- TREC joins starship Enterprise – I really like puns based on acronyms. I don’t know why. This one was about the Townsville Regional Engineering Cluster joining Townsville Enterprise. Here are some others. ACASPA: a friendly host (about a conference that came to Townsville because it was a friendly city), ATEC’s message for tourism operators (about the Australian Tourism Export Council’s conference), Townsville operators AIME for success (about the Asia Pacific Incentives, Meetings and Events expo) and Tourism industry hunts pieces of ATE treasure with island rebranding (about the Australian Tourism Exchange – a Tourism trade show).
- Regions join fellowship of the zing – I wrote a lot about energy generation. This one was about Townsville joining with Mackay, Mount Isa and Cairns to lobby for energy.
- Solar plea: don’t stick it where the sun don’t shine – K-Rudd’s solar flagship program will put billion dollar power stations around Australia. Townsville wants one.
- McDonald no longer on the farm – our new Economic Development manager (at the time) had a background in agriculture.
- Dream time becomes a virtual reality* – About a local indigenous tourism operators use of some grant money for AV equipment.
- New flights to boost capital expenditure* – About Virgin Blue launching four new routes to Townsville in one day.
* These ones had rude or politically incorrect alternatives.