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The call came late in the day and I was on deadline for a project. It was a Chicago number – I needed to let it go into voicemail. Twenty minutes later and with my stellar copy sent, I took a listen to the message. Fifteen years in the business and you’re still never quite ready for a call from Tarana Harris, Producer for the Oprah Winfrey show. Heart pounding, palms sweating, jaw planted on my keyboard space bar, I vowed to pull myself together. After all, I KNEW Tarana, right? I’d sent her how many emails over the years? Left her how many VMs?

And so I called her back, enthusiastic but cool. Excited, but level-headed. We needed to get the ClearCount Medical Solutions Smart Sponge System out the door, that day preferably, if we were going to stand a chance for having Oprah’s Dr. Oz talk about the technology on his show about medical errors. I had that emotional moment that any PR-pro with a true love for her client should have, the “No DUH they want to have the SmartSponge System on Oprah. Isn’t it about time?” After all, between 1,000 and 1,500 surgical sponges are left behind in patients each year, causing untold pain, heartache, lawsuits and more – thank god ClearCount is doing something about this, in an easy way that actually has the potential to SAVE hospitals money.

Of course when Tarana and I talked, she was very explicit that there were NO GUARANTEES. They were having a few patient safety technologies shipped (I didn’t ask if any of them were SmartSponge competitors – didn’t want to put any ideas in her head!).

What a great client. ClearCount was exemplary about turning on a dime – in less than 24 hours we had the system shipped, the CEO had reviewed our letter and communications package and emailed it off to Tarana. And now there was only the waiting.

I don’t think it crossed anyone’s mind that the system wouldn’t even get to go through the “visual” test. Tarana had said that they’d have to see how it looked on-screen, on-stage, next to Oprah, etc.

But as the week up to the scheduled taping day transpired, it became clear that the system hadn’t really made it past Tarana’s office. It was a long show, with a big name celebrity, and only a minute or so that was dedicated to technology (something smaller than our technology, but thankfully not a direct competitor). She lets us down gently and spent time explaining what happened. It was a “great looking system,” she said, but they’d never even sight-tested it because as the show’s planning unfolded it just became more clear that there wouldn’t be time. That’s all it was. No time. Our system was an extra that never got filmed.

We heard later in the week, as we worked to have the system shipped home, another company in Pittsburgh with a cool medical device had had a similar experience years ago – only they made it all the way through filming. They heard the footage would be used – but it never showed up on-air. O, to arrive in this manner, and not really arrive!

O, the agony.

But you know, when she calls again (and O she will – that’s how cool our clients are) – O, we will do it all Over again!!!!

Which brings me to some lessons learned:

Lesson #1: I heart Oprah as much as the next guy.

Lesson #2: Relationships are relationships – Tarana will (fingers crossed) remember how accommodating we were, and maybe she’ll introduce us to a new Executive Producer coming on-board.

Lesson #3: There are never any guarantees – until someone 1-degree separated from Oprah has a sponge retained during a surgery (and unfortunately it’s possible), there’s no such thing as a “no-brainer.” That’s why this job is so hard, so exciting, so crazy.

Maybe we should pitch the other O, Ozzie. He’s still crazy, and gory enough to do a video featuring a retained sponge, right?