Ben Clarke-Groom's Fuckup

"The Sunday Times were on the phone. The business editor had heard that Iron Maiden were investors in the new Soho hotel I was marketing. When we won the pitch, the hotel’s owner had taken great pains to explain that he didn’t want any press about the association. There was a month to go until launch. The guest list didn’t have enough celebrities, the photography was behind schedule, the press release needed to be re-written, and now The Sunday Times were on the phone…I took the call, panicked, and forgot to say three important words, ‘off the record’.    

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‘London’s Iron Maiden Hotel’ was page three news that Sunday, and the story included one of the cringiest quotes: "It's not a hotel for throwing televisions out of the window. It's going to be a sexy hotel," Ben Groom, the hotel's publicist, insisted.    

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The story went viral. I had fucked up and my name was all over it.    

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It didn’t take long for the client to call my boss. I started packing my desk.    

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A doyenne of PR and always one to have your back, my boss answered the call by celebrating the unprecedented column inches I had achieved by taking full advantage of a leak. Within a few minutes it went from ‘fuck up’ to one of the greatest achievements of my career.  

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Thanks to all the attention the hotel’s launch party was the hottest ticket in town.    

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Three lessons: pause to gather your thoughts; support your team; and it never hurts to be rock and roll."

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