NBC-affiliate/9News turns to Denver PR consultant, Maggie Holben, for PR perspective concerning the Aron Ralston climbing accident that recently resulted in self-amputation in the wilderness
Aron Ralston, 27, was hiking Saturday, April 26, 2003, in southeastern Utah when he became pinned by a boulder, according to news reports. Using a pocketknife, Ralston cut off his right arm below the elbow and applied a tourniquet and administered first aid. He then rigged anchors, fixed a rope and rappelled 60 feet to the canyon floor. Ralston was found the following Thursday and taken to a Grand Junction, CO, hospital for care. Both prosthetic and PR professionals contemplated Ralston's situation in a recent TV news story in Denver, which aired in the May 9th , 6 pm news on KUSA, Channel 9. Ralston is currently recuperating with his family in Centennial, CO, according to the 9News report.
Lakewood, CO -- "He is just truly inspiring and has complete integrity as he tells his story. He'd be the dream client so to speak," says Maggie Chamberlin Holben, APR, owner of Lakewood's Absolutely Public Relations, in a recent interview with 9News regarding the sudden fame of Aron Ralston, an Aspen resident who recently cut off part of his arm to free himself from a boulder during a hiking accident in Utah.
According to Holben, in her May 9th interview, Ralston could parlay the incident into a lifetime of money and fame, if he so chose. "Certainly the book deals, the movie deals, the speaking engagements. Those could go on for his entire life literally," Holben says.
As the reporter pointed out in the television news story, Aron Ralston may also consider using his powerful story to motivate others, after he recovers from the loss of his arm, and the shock of instant celebrity. Holben observes: "He was selected by this 800-pound boulder to, in essence, be an inspiration to amputees. And as it's turned out, he's really an inspiration to everyone."
Holben is not consulting Ralston at this time, she simply partook in the interview as a public relations expert. According to 9News Anchor Ed Sardella, "Ralston's family has a friend in the public relations business who is handling all the media requests and he's gotten calls from the Oprah Winfrey Show, among others, and from media organizations from as far away as Germany and Japan."
Maggie Holben has more than 25 years of public relations consulting experience. She is an accredited by the Public Relations Society of America and is a member of its Counselors Academy. She has taught advertising and public relations on the university level.
Holben's company, Absolutely Public Relations has been in business since 1999 in Metro Denver and has worked with: Adventures In Color Technology; http://www.savemountcarbon.com; Crestone Research Group; The Colorado Center of Traditional Medicine; Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation (now called Tetra Tech FW, Inc). and Arcadis, Inc., through Lakewood's Consensus Communications; McKinley Marketing Partners, InfoNow Corporation, ICG Communications, Grubb & Ellis/Martens Commercial Group, LLC; Early Music Colorado; the Joint Initiatives Sign Blind System; and Holben Building Corporation. Last year, Absolutely PR announced its online press kit product, accessible at http://www.online-presskit.com
For more information, go to http://www.absolutelypr.com or http://www.denverprnewsroom.com
Or, call Maggie Holben at 303-984-9801. Her e-mail address is maggie@absolutelypr.com.
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