Want to Make God Laugh: Make Plans

It's Monday morning and I want to share a story with you. Everyone of our clients here at D. Ericson & Associates Public Relations is special, and on occasion we get the opportunity to really land something special. This is a story related to one of those occasions.

Meet Jason McGuire, president and CEO of ABC Enterprise - operations and management company of Riverside Marina in Detroit. Here in Detroit you may be hearing, reading and seeing more about him and Riverside Marina - because that’s what we do. Riverside Marina is a special place because it's the only Black managed and operated marina in Michigan. It’s one of three Black developed, designed, owned or managed in the country. And Jason, holds some very unique marina management certificates that maybe five other Black people have in the world - yeah you and I have a better chance at being a brain surgeon than what he had to do to be where he is now. But I digress.

Detroit River Living magazine reached out to me to see if we had any clients interested in advertising in the summer edition. Humm a light came on. Sure we have a client interested but we have something even better - a story! We pitched Jason McGuire and Riverside Marina to the magazine’s publisher and editor, and landed a story opportunity. Wonderful! Then before we could get started with interviews and photo shoots something out of our control happens.

Days before our client’s interview he has a freak accident at the marina. While driving a golf cart around the property (the Riverside Marina is 67 acres big) he gets attacked by a Canadian Geese who flew directly at him - colliding with him head on, knocking him off the golf cart and unconscious. When he woke up six hours later he was in the ER with no memory as to how he got here - he had sustained facial lacerations, an injured hand, broken fingers, and a concussion. A day later I received a phone call from Jason saying he is hospitalized, and could not do any interviews - he sent me photos of his current condition that spoke louder than words.

The human in me was of course very concerned for his health and well-being. The publicist and crisis manager in me was immediately thinking OMG we worked so hard to secure this interview and photo opportunity and now it's all falling apart because the client is injured, and the publication is approaching its print deadline. What hell am I going to do? Is there anything I can do? This is what was running through my mind.

I called and sent text message to Jason every day checking in on his recovery process asking how he felt, and asking if we can we still schedule him for an interview and photos shoot. "No David!" Jason said.

Let me take a pause to mention a something important that hopefully adds context. If you know a publicist or someone in the PR world you probably know a person who by occupational hazard lives in a space of constant anxiety, and fear of the things they cannot control - the media, local/ national news, and any criss situation that will impact their client or the news cycle. I like to tell my clients on any given time when we successfully place them in the news its like throwing a dart - the client, at a tart board - the media, while it's spinning fast - the news cycle. That is art and science of placing a client story. That is PR ecosystem I live in.

Feeling the anxiety of the prospect of loosing a great story opportunity, I began pivoting to save the story - by asking for additional time for the interview, and time to see if Jason’s injuries would heal overnight with me praying for a miracle lol. I am sure God got a good laugh at me - trying to negotiate with him on getting a client prepared for an interview.

Anyway, Detroit River Living was very cool about the extending the story deadline time by a few days, and the editor was okay with conducting a phone interview. In addition, the magazine editor was okay with us submitting canned photos of the marina and Jason to tie it all together. After Jason’s phone interview we hit a one-day stretch of nice weather, sunny and warm in Detroit (the calendar said May- spring, but in Michigan we have a saying "if you don't like the weather, wait five minuets") that was perfect for scenic photoshoots at the marina. On this day Jason was feeling better so he offered to give the editor of Detroit River Living a tour of the marina for additional photo options to accompany the article. Could it be my prayers were being heard?

We had a great photo shoot with no issues. The next day the magazine editor and I discussed the best photos to go along with the story. Then I had another idea - I asked the editor based on interview copy and photos taken at the marina, if Detroit River Living would consider making this a cover story? Oh which led me to ask another question out of curiosity. I asked if in the ten plus years of the publication had there ever been a human on the cover? Side note, ninety-five percent of the Detroit River Living covers has been a scenic view of Detroit. However, on several occasions the magazine broke with its normal theme and had a human on the cover. The first time featured four kids of color playing at a Detroit park. The second was a scenic view with a human in the foreground.

Then I asked one final question. Has there ever been a Black male on the cover? The answer was no. So I called my friend Montez Miller (awesome photographer, multimedia professional, producer who worked at BET and Island Records forever) and I asked her for permission to submit a few photos she had taken of Jason six months ago. Her response was sure but she also said “David remember when you took that photo of Jason on his boat? I think you might have a great photo too.” Okay I have lots of photos of Jason and the marina but there is one I took in a spit second while he was posing for Montez, just for fun.

What you are looking at is the new 2022 summer edition of Detroit River Living, with my photo of Jason as the cover.

Thank you Montez for the creative advice. Thank you Detroit River Living for your patience and thoughtfulness for having Jason to grace the cover.

Thank you God who is still laughing at me but now I know why.