By Matthew Bellwood
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Creative Advertising

I've had an incipient migraine for the last few days and yesterday morning it finally manifested itself - exploding in my head in a shower of coloured lights and rendering the world around me ten times louder than it normally is. They're funny things my migraines - a bit like Guy Fawkes Night without the politics and the baked potatoes - and like that particular celebration of political insurrection, they generally only happen once a year. So to get one now could be considered a bit of a misfortune.

I'm five shows into the festival run and I haven't been getting enormous audiences, so wandering up to the Royal Mile and waving flyers at people each day seems like a bit of a must. Yesterday however, I simply couldn't face it. Everything was just too bright. So I decided to stay at home and hide my head under a blanket. Of course this left me with a bit of a problem. I'm currently sharing a flat with my housemate's nine-year-old, who has taken to flyering like a duck to water and who was very disappointed at not being able to go and "look cute" in an effort to promote the show.

So in order to console her, we decided to spend the morning making a special flyering mask instead. Admittedly we were rather short of materials but being a pair of creative types, we improvised with what we had and I think we did a rather good job.

Luckily Daisy's mother has recently joined us in our Edinburgh crib and being a woman of heart and mind, she kindly agreed to take her daughter out to test the efficacy of our creation. Apparently it was extremely successful and they handed out a good two-hundred flyers with no trouble whatsoever.

At last, I thought, a cheap and effective means of distributing publicity. Sadly however, they are both going home this afternoon, so it looks as though I shall be left wearing the mask myself and, in conjunction with the eagle I have been carrying round to promote the show so far, I have a feeling that I am going to end up looking like a bit of a nit. What's more, if the rain continues as it has, I fear I am likely to end up encased in a kind of papier-maché body suit made of my own flyers.

Ah well. At least the thought of being mummified by my own advertising puts the migraine in perspective. And I guess that if it did happen, it'd be pretty good publicity for the show ...

- by Matthew Bellwood

Any opinions expressed above do not represent the view of Whatsonstage.com nor any of its staff or contributors beyond the bylined author.

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	Slightly Alan - 14th Aug 2011 blog
	Awe and Wonder - 12th Aug 2011 blog
	Washes Whiter - 6th Aug 2011 blog
	Mild Blasphemy - 4th Aug 2011 blog
	Good Omens - 4th Aug 2011 blog
	Child Psychology - 1st Aug 2011 blog
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