Gossip

Flying fish - a comfortable way to catch them in mid-Atlantic, without getting sea-sick.

PR stunts sometimes go awry, and sponsoring a trans-Atlantic yachtswoman must have seemed a pretty good bet for an Internet phone company. Keeping in touch with a lone (bikini-clad) sailor in the treacherous high seas! - romantic, thrilling, and (of course) bloody hard to do, because you can't send a cameraman.

So when ProVu sponsored Lia Ditton's trimaran, they expected good coverage... and didn't get it. What the world's press needs (they reasoned) is a trans-Atlantic solo sailing venture, but one in the middle of London, where photographers can easily go.So they called it "Performance Art" and strung Lia's boat up outside the Tate, and stuck two Webcams pointing at it.

And did anybody mention it? Not a sausage!

Desperate for a gimmick, the spin team came up with a mid-Atlantic "flying fish" ceremony. She's doing her virtual 24 by 7 lone sailor thing, so half way, virtually speaking, let's do the traditional catching and preparing of flying fish. The only problem: no bloody flying fish in the middle of the Tate car park.

No problem! - do flying fish fingers instead. Lia said: "I will be having my mid-Atlantic party on 18 June, which traditionally involves a flying-fish feast. However, thanks to ProVu's VoIP system I’ve been able to encourage supporters to throw fish fingers on to ProVu, which I will then prepare in the semi-time-honoured fashion, perhaps by symbolically removing the breadcrumb coating."

OK, it worked...

Tag: flying fish, VoIP

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