During the closing ceremonies at Photoshop World in Boston there were a lot of humorous moments. Not the least of which only came to light days after NAPP president Larry Becker announced the winner of APC’s “Ultimate Canvas Studio Makeover.”
Despite the fact that it was the biggest prize to be given away in the hall that day, there was a surprising lack of excitement or enthusiasm when the winner was drawn and called to the stage to claim it.
In hindsight, the winners’ reaction at the time really shouldn’t have come as a surprise – but it was still pretty unexpected (and funny) when the winners later contacted us to reveal they spent the afternoon thinking they’d won “a day of beauty at the local salon and massage parlor.”
Perhaps due to the ceremony running long – or maybe because Larry had to be at least a little disoriented with the running gags appearing on the jumbo video screens behind him – he forgot to read the prize description or even point out “Artistic Photo Canvas” as the prize sponsor. “Makeover” was pretty much all the audience heard as the prize was hurriedly announced.
It wasn’t until returning home from the conference and opening the prize envelope that the winning couple realized their luck had landed them a lot more than a mani-pedi. Back at the APC offices – after a few days of smarting over our ginormous PR misfortune – we at least managed to garner a good laugh out of that one. [Note to self: Rethink use of the word “makeover” when planning future giveaways!]
Happily, we did not end up disappointing our winners, Richard and Robin Gross of Lakeville, MA. What did they actually win? $1,500.00 worth of custom APC gallery wrapped canvases!
Richard – we’re sure breathing a sigh of relief – wrote us a nice letter after discovering that he and his wife were not themselves going to be subjected to a “makeover.” We especially enjoyed reading about their Photoshop World highlights…
