Publicity Man No. 1
The above title rightfully be¬
longs to Bill Sharpe, u hose work
as head of the State's !\’eus Bu¬
reau during the past two years
has hern of outstanding value.
H
К
Itl'I's a young ninii who has
4*01110 I" 1 lu* front in North Car¬
olina «IlirillK •ho last oouplo of
years in ns pronounced (ashion as
probably any other individual in the
state.
I 'lit il that time, hi* was a some¬
what obscure newspaperman in
Winston-Salem, practically unknown
except in his own bailiwick. Today ho
is know’ll not only to thousands of
North Carolinians, but to editors of
magazines ami newspapers all over
the country.
He’s Itill Sharpe, head of the News
Bureau of the State Advertising
Commission. Individually. In* has
«lone more to advertise North Caro¬
lina than any other person probably
ever has «lone before. He is 3(> years
old. rather slight in luiild but wiry,
and full of unlimited pep and energy.
He is enthusiast ie about his work and
is making a fine job of it.
Started Two Years Ago
The News Bureau, it might lie ex¬
plained, opened its offices uinler the
supervision of the Department of
Conservation ami Development on
July 1. 1037 exactly two years ago.
Publicity work for the state started
from scratch. There wen* no publica¬
tions (exrept one. the old Variety
Vtu-ationliiml), there was no file of
information and no morgue of pic¬
tures. In these two years, the office
has sent out thousands of releases
and thousands of pictures to editors,
hook-makers, inn p manufacturers,
post-card houses, textbook editors,
and many others.
The personnel of the News Bureau
is composed of Mr. Sharpe. Bill
Baker, photographer; Kmrnett At¬
kins. of (iastonia, who does much of
the writing, a secretary, and a stenog¬
rapher. In the Ailvertising Division
also, but not attached to this office.
i> John C. Miiskerville. who bandies
s|M*eial projects, such as writing a
textbook, handling the drum fishing
tournament, rooting window dis¬
plays, etc. Paul Kelly is the nominal
head of the advertising division and
is assistant to It.
В
nice Kthcridge,
head of the Department of Conserva¬
tion and Development.
But let’s have Mr. Sharpe him-
self tell us something about the de-
tailed workings of his office:
How the Job is Done
“We starteil out." said he ill a re¬
cent interview, "with this idea of
state publicity: In handling a whole
state, as big as North Carolina, it
seemed best to function mostly as a
bona title source of information, fea¬
tures. and pictures. The end in view
was to try anti establish ourselves as
a sort of official state clearing house
for such material, thus building up
confidence on tin* pari of editors and
syndicates. We have never pronmte«l
any event or situation merely to at¬
tract attention. In addition, we have
adopted a policy of cooperating with
Outside agencies in getting material
which does not strictly lie within the
province of promotive publicity. (For
example: we maintain a complete file
of North Carolina reporters, photog¬
raphers. etc., and pass on many as-
signments to them the windstorm
down east a couple of years ago. for
instance.)
"It seemed to us that most press-
agent ry stumbled over one big handi¬
cap. The press-agent always offered
the material which lie wanted to have
printed. The reporter, on the other
hand, offered material which his pa¬
per wanted printed. We have tried to
issue our stuff as if it had been as¬
signed to us bv an editor who didn't
care a hoot about North Carolina,
lint who cared a lot for a good story.
In this manner, we tell rod-and-giin
editors when the fish are not running,
as well as telling them when they
яге.
It is not true, of course, that we offer
a complete news service that would
In* im|K>4sible — bill we <!o try to give
information of value to the editors or
his readers, ns well ns of value to us.
" In covering a state so diversified,
there must be some degree of speciali¬
zation. To this end. we have broken
down the field into many classes. One
release of news or pictures, for in¬
stance, will go only to rod imd-gnn
editors; another to Nundu\ editors,
a third t" editors of rotogravure sec¬
tions, a fourth to textile IllUga/ines.
and -so on. We luive several scores of
these editors on our lists, all of them
earcfuly indexed. The list also in¬
cludes trade publications and lioilsp
organs. In adilit ion, we have a serv¬
ice for movie profile anil last year
brought more than a dozen film short
crews into the state.
"In dealing with all these people,
we have undertaken to establish with
them friendly relations for the state.
(Continued on page eighteen)
